Many people on lemmy.ml deeply respect and admire authoritarian governments and organizations.
Iran, China, North Korea, Soviet Union…
The West has many flaws. But our flaws are nothing compared to these guys.
Iran hangs homosexuals. Iran shot 30,000 people in less than than 2 weeks. The Soviet Union had to build a fucking Iron wall to prevent people from escaping. The Soviets lied about the Chernobyl nuclear explosion. China censors the internet. China wants to eliminate Islam. North Korea is a totalitarian hellscape. Watching anime is a crime.
Why is lemmy.ml so fascinated with authoritarians?
It’s not so much not being able to understand how an individual could choose to support their community without being compelled.
But if you fail to consider the likelihood of enough individuals choosing to do that to make it work, then you’re walking in blindly.
And to assume that everyone will just chip in and do their part out of pure altruism is to be radically out of touch with the way people tend to be.
Come on now. We’ve all met people. I grew out of my days of utopian idealism a long time ago.