What Is The Origin Of Totalitarianism

All forms of government serve some human interest and some human end and all forms of government should ask the question ‘What is best for human flourishing and how do I achieve that?’ However, as Hannah Arendt showcases in her writings “The Origins of Totalitarianism” the rise of a new and separate form of government later named totalitarianism served no interest in human essence or human end but rather sought to destroy humanity. As Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved” shows characteristics about slavery that match with the workings of a totalitarian governments and the horrors experienced by those who fell under either of their leaderships.

In a totalitarian government, humans can be used as an instrument to create a better future, they are …show more content…
Totalitarianism seeks to have absolute control and power, in other words to make the entire world into a concentration camp. The goal of such camps are to destroy the human psyche while preventing the destruction of the body so that the prisoner is no longer living nor dead: “that, indeed, psyche, character, and individuality seem under certain circumstances to express themselves only through the rapidity or slowness with which they disintegrate.” (Arendt, 441). In order to justify the concentration camps, the government used liberal rationalizations which hid the actual reality of totalitarianism. Some of these rationalizations for the concentration camps might have included making the streets safe, in order to have better population control, or for economic reasons; however the real reason behind the concentration camps were to eliminate …show more content…
How do we serve justice to those who were wronged? What do we owe to the dead and to the past?” There is no answer to this as we cannot punish the wrong-doers when it is the entire world is at fault. Totalitarianism and the concentration camps, and slavery affected absolutely everyone. Everyday people were required to build the camps, transport people across the land etc. Again, there is no answer to how we must punish those who are so full of hatred they would enslave an entire race. In both cases the ones who have sinned are not being punished, and the innocent men, women and children who were direct victims of totalitarianism and slavery are suffering long after their supposed end. There are blurred lines between the ones who suffer and the ones who cause suffering upon the