"If sharp criticism completely disappears, mild criticism will become harsh; if mild criticism is also not allowed, silence will be considered malicious; if silence is no longer permitted, insufficient praise will become a crime; if only one voice is allowed to exist, then the only voice that exists is a lie." We cannot verify whether this statement was made by Plato, but it does not diminish its persuasive power in describing totalitarian politics.
As for the assertion that "the only voice that exists is a lie," Solzhenitsyn, who experienced extreme environments under totalitarian rule, illustrates this vividly: "We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, but they still lie." It is an obvious lie, yet it is proclaimed as a great truth and widely accepted. Is it meaningful to repeat such lies every day? Of course, it is meaningful, because repetition is a form of power; "a lie repeated a hundred times becomes a truth." This is the "Goebbels Effect" practiced by the totalitarian Nazi Party, turning hollow slogans or blatant lies into truths that the ruled consider self-evident, thereby maintaining their totalitarian rule.
Totalitarianism means that social order is entirely achieved by political power or state power, with private space compressed to a nearly non-existent state, and freedom reduced to a minimum, including the freedom to express opinions or even to speak. What can be said and what cannot be said falls within its realm of control. As Hannah Arendt stated, "It means that every aspect of private and public life is encompassed within an all-encompassing ruling process."
After 1920, fascism arose in Italy, characterized by a worship of power, emphasizing that citizens should sacrifice personal freedom for the interests of the state, advocating for a national interest above civic interests. Friedrich and Brzezinski summarized six characteristics of totalitarian rule from a comparative political perspective: an official ideology that everyone must adhere to, a single mass party, a reign of terror enforced by the party or secret police, a monopoly on mass media, modern techniques of personal and psychological control, and central organization and control of the entire economy.
Goebbels, the "creator of Hitler," understood well the ways to maintain totalitarian rule, mobilizing nationwide support for the Nazi Party's political and religious ideology, promoting and glorifying the great leader through controlled mass media, and advocating for personal worship, ultimately leading Adolf to a state of extreme arrogance, losing his mind and feeling omnipotent. In the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany, the most concentrated embodiment of the ruling ideology was the "Leader's Thought," also known as "nationalization of thought."
For human society, this is a terrifying thing. Once totalitarian rulers hold absolute power, combined with the flattery and promotion of their followers, they invariably lose their minds and become foolishly self-assured, falling into a vicious cycle of "knowing everything and wanting to guide everything." The only voice they emit is filled with undeniable brutality, and any questioning or opposing voices will be drowned out in the uniform plans of totalitarian rule, even if that plan is merely an empty slogan.
It is said that someone once questioned Stalin: "He guides the army in war, instructs scientists in research, directs painters in painting, advises writers in writing, and instructs workers in technology. Is he a god?" Totalitarian leaders absolutely do not tolerate any dissenting voices; if you dare to have any opinion different from theirs, you will be thrown into a mass grave, and the entire country can only have that "unique" great voice emitted by the "great benevolent father."
Until Khrushchev came to power, he criticized Stalin in his famous "secret speech": "He is just a peasant from Georgia; he has guided science, military, economy, medicine, education, and even directed writers in writing... In fact, he knows nothing." Khrushchev rehabilitated the victims of the Great Purge, revitalizing various fields, especially the arts, which experienced a thaw.
Ironically, after just criticizing Stalin's autocracy, Khrushchev himself fell into the foolish cycle of "being omnipotent, knowing everything, and wanting to guide everything." It is said that during a visit to an art exhibition, he pointed at the abstract sculptor Neyzivisny's work and said, "Even a donkey waving its tail could do better than this." Neyzivisny could not bear it any longer and asked directly, "You are neither an artist nor a critic; on what basis do you say such things?" Khrushchev roared in response: "I didn't understand when I was a miner, I didn't understand when I was a grassroots cadre; at every step of my promotion, I didn't understand. But now I am the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the Party; do you mean I still don't understand?"
Historian Tuchman said that politics is composed of the smartest people, yet they always make the most foolish decisions. This is a prejudice and delusion; those in power, due to their excessive obsession with power, engage in foolish behaviors that do not match their intelligence. History proves that rulers with absolute totalitarian power, due to their arrogance, greed, panic, and resulting "foolish governance," always leave a lingering shadow. Troy was destroyed by superstition, the Pope by greed, and the British Empire by arrogance...
In human civilization, why has no effective self-correction mechanism evolved for rulers throughout history? Tuchman states, "For a head of state, admitting mistakes is almost impossible." Just like the once-mighty Pope of Rome, "the people around him always flatter and praise him, and no one ever tells him what kind of person he really is; in the end, he does not wish to hear the truth. Every autocratic monarch in history has never heard the truth."
The distortion of information leads totalitarian rulers to develop a false sense of arrogance and confidence, resulting in "tyranny and oppression, excessive ambition, incompetence or decay, foolishness or depravity." Clearly, only by allowing diverse voices can we avoid extremism.
The speech control in Showa Japan stimulated the tradition of Japanese militarism. They suppressed political pluralism and individualism, striving to unify thought and mobilize people to support national goals, ultimately resulting in an unprecedented disaster for Japan and the world. Before World War II, all newspapers in Japan had to be reviewed by the military, and only those opinions that conformed to fascism would be published. This led to the existence of only one voice in Japan before World War II: "Japan has been bullied enough; we must fight." This singular voice ignited extreme nationalism among the populace, and even many years after the defeat, far-right forces still defended and glorified its history of aggression.
Every society is pluralistic, with both extreme left and extreme right ideologies always present. In fact, the existence of these two ideologies is not frightening; what is frightening is when such extreme ideologies become the mainstream of society. A healthy and civilized society must have diverse thoughts and viewpoints, which inevitably leads to the emergence of different voices. Various voices should be allowed to be expressed. This way, both the diversity and vitality of society are maintained, and the country will not be hijacked by extremist forces, leading it down a wrong path.