How to Escape from a Sick Society: A Treatise on Successfully Countering a Totalitarian Regime

I've just come across a video by Academy of Ideas named How to Escape from a Sick Society and it is really good! So good that I want to share it here. I'd rather you view it on Bitchute, at this link, but I'll embed it from Youtube below if you prefer.

Beginning with the following quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the discussion immediately addresses the how and why of resisting a totalitarian regime, pointing out how to do and not do it.

Solzhenitsyn wrote, regarding the Russian people's descent into their 70 year socio-political nightmare:

If... if... We didn't love freedom enough. And even more-we had no awareness of the real situation ... we hurried to submit. We submitted with pleasure! ... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward. (Emphasis mine, because I have long said the same thing about the way the world is headed now.)

The video first lists three ways of opting out of a totalitarian regime.
1. The Backward Escape: That is to say one zones out through alcohol, drugs, entertainment or cognitive dissonance (i.e., just pretending the status quo does not exist. This may provide short-term surcease of mental and emotional consternation, but will never end well. The necessary cognitive dissonance has a high psychological and emotional price, and it entrenches a posture of capitulation and submission, strengthening that which one initially avoided.
2. The Physical Escape: This entails relocation to a place that offers more freedom. This may be a legitimate personal solution if one is able physically and financially to remove one's self from the sphere of totalitarian influence, but it does nothing to correct the greater picture. And in a world that seems to be bent on universal totalitarianism, the places to carry out this escape my be few and nearly impossible to maintain. If totalitarianism is permitted to advance, it may encroach on the newly found location.
3. The Forward Escape: This is the one option considered in this treatise to be effective in combating totalitarianism.

First, this form of resistance must understand fully that totalitarianism cannot be defeated through compliance! Compliance only encourages and solidifies it; it is "the food that feeds totalitarians," and "Non-compliance and civil disobedience are essential to counter the rise of totalitarian rule."

However, the narrator goes on to say that "... in addition to resistance, a forward escape into a reality absent the sickness of totalitarian rule requires the construction of a parallel society."

This parallel society offers two main features:
1. It is a pocket of freedom to those rejected by (or who have rejected) the totalitarian system.
2. It can be the seed of the new order that will grow out of the destruction that a totalitarian rule inevitably leaves in its wake.

Vaclav Havel wrote, in his book The Power of the Powerless,

When those who have decided to live within the truth have been denied any direct influence on the existing social structure, not to mention the opportunity to participate in them, and when these people begin to create what I have called the independent life of society, this independent life begins, of itself, to become structured in a certain way ... (.these.) parallel structure do not grow ... out of a theoretical vision of systemic change (there are no political sects involved), but from the aims of life and the authentic needs of real people.

This speaks to me of where we are headed in the US, in the western world and probably over the entire planet.

I have never wanted to take the Backward escape; it's not in my nature.

The Physical Escape is tempting, but I don't think that it'll be very feasible in the long run as things are moving.

I find that the Forward Escape is what I have been thinking on of late.

Havel is cited later in the video:

One of the most important tasks the "dissident movements" have set themselves is to support and develop (.parallel socail structures.) ... to rid itself of the self-sustaining aspects of totalitarianism and, thus, to extricate itself ...

He then explains that this "dissident movement" is not and should not be seen as "a retreat into a ghetto and as an act of isolation, addressing itself only to the welfare of those who had decide on such a course." The is "dissident movement" should ideally be that which replaces the "official structures" as they begin to die off, offering a fundamentally different way of living, one rooted in freedom and growing from the grass roots will of those who have participated in it.

These "parallel social structures" are not just a hold out movement to offer a long-term solution to the inevitable effects of totalitarianism, but manifest to the totalitarian structures and to society at large that not everyone will acquiesce to the totalitarian fist, keeping totalitarianism in check and encouraging others who would extricate themselves. It promotes social and communal bonds between those who do so and presents a front against the encroachment of totalitarianism.

Perhaps the most powerful and most disturbing quote in the presentation was from Solzhenitsyn (A World Split Apart):

No weapons, no matter how powerful, can help the West until it overcomes it's loss of willpower.

Now, granted that if and once totalitarianism has gained its desired power (and even before this point)), this kind of resistance might be costly, but the question one must ask one's self is if that price is not more costly than the loss of one's humanity.

I'm not fan of Nietzche (who is quoted toward the end of the presentation). I do hope in a reality that I believe will be made manifest, and I believe that there is reason behind all that we experience and even suffer here and now, but I do agree that in addition to "mere hope," courageous action is necessary and called upon.

As I said toward the beginning of this post, this very thing has been on my mind of late, and I'm trying to figure out how, in my little sphere of influence, to see something like this happen. It think it's possible. I want to try to start a local bartering system that encourages people to trade locally, swapping what they have in excess for what they lack. I think that this would be a good place to start, but am trying to figure out how to do it. If not only meets material and economic needs, but can help to link people and strengthen community bonds.

Somebody has to start somewhere. We are collectively being walked through a process that is hardening hearts and numbing minds to what is coming and most are not cognizant of it. Does anyone else understand this? Here on these forums, I think many do (as I realize that many will come along and poo-poo this entire thread.

Lastly, here are two books in epub format that you may want to give a read:

The Origins Of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
and
Power Of The Powerless by Vaclav Havel
And here's the video embedded from YouTube.

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a reply to: incoserv

First, this form of resistance must understand fully that totalitarianism cannot be defeated through compliance! Compliance only encourages and solidifies it; it is "the food that feeds totalitarians," and "Non-compliance and civil disobedience are essential to counter the rise of totalitarian rule."

There is something else that feeds totalitarianism, and it must be overcome before the forward escape can be effective...

What happens when we value safety above all other values?

We are all too willing to give up our freedoms.

a reply to: Klassified

YES!

I'll watch this one, but Academy of Ideas also has one on the same topic that you gain benefit from. You can see "Fear Psychosis and the Cult of Safety - Why are People so Afraid?" on Bitchute or search for it on YouTube.

Actually, I'd say that the fear feeds compliance and the compliance feeds totalitarianism. Maybe that seems like splitting hairs, but ultimately the totalitarian regime does not want or need fear, they want and need compliance. Fear is the most powerful tool that gets it compliance. Bread and circuses can do the job also, though not as quickly and not as thoroughly.

Fear fed by mass psychosis is certainly what we're seeing in play now. The incoming regime is growing fat on it.
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a reply to: incoserv

I look at my friends and ask if they realize the media keeps telling us "We are not afraid as we should be. What is wrong with you for not being more afraid?" They make a living scaring the hell out of old people who used to get solid news when they were young and it morphed into liars at every turn.

a reply to: incoserv

Thoughtful and well written, thank you for that.

How rare it is these days that one takes the time to summarize, highlight, and provide additional resources for the content in their thread. Doesn't it get exhausting reading threads every day that have no real content, no effort, and no soul?

I just charged my tablet and will check out the ebooks you linked.

I've only seen a limited amount from Academy of Ideas, but what I saw was quite well done. It's a little slow for me, but I think they've done as good a job as possible keeping their content valuable for those with varying levels of exposure to the concepts. You can link it to a random on Facebook or a 333rd level ATS acolyte and both will likely find something interesting.

Years ago much of what's happening would have been criticized by progressive thought leaders, but unfortunately the progressive thought leaders are drinking the same poison that progressive politicians have been drinking. Now the party of the little guy is being run by the Big Guy, both literally and figuratively.

My fear is that as the metaverse picks up steam reality will be less and less a consideration for personal decisions and, absent reality, those decisions will become easier to control. I think augmented reality moreso than virtual, but the synergy will help speed the process. Augmented reality will blur the lines between the metaverse and plain old physical reality. As constructed digital environments come online alongside the real world the opportunity for manipulation does as well. There's no need for deepfakes when reality is fake to begin with, you merely program reality as you go.

It will be like COVID and Ukraine on steroids, pumped into their brains with increasing duration and frequency. Whole digital landscapes plastered with "current thing". Like a petulant child we will be given choices, but those choices will be loaded and meant to corral us in certain directions. Not much different than today, but they're getting better and will have even better tools.

Now is the time to stop the trajectory of global leadership. It won't become easier and eventually will become virtually impossible without external events causing changes to the power structure. Eventually they will breed out whatever genetic trait causes some people to see the bars on the prison while wishing for freedom, edit out whatever historical references we have to how things were, and they will shape the future like Machiavellian architects.

Right here, right now, where you stand, is the most concentrated place of your earthly power. I think you're wise to start where your power is greatest. Local bartering and community building is definitely at the top of the list. The more members of the community pooling their power the better. We've allowed surrogates at our state capitols and DC to have too much of our power and it's time it comes home.

a reply to: incoserv

I am looking into forming a co-op or similar to buy land. I think getting as self sufficient as possible is the best and pretty much the only thing anyone can do. I’ll elaborate later as I’m going out soon. But would be interested to hear others thoughts on this approach.

originally posted by: surfer_soul
a reply to: incoserv

I am looking into forming a co-op or similar to buy land. I think getting as self sufficient as possible is the best and pretty much the only thing anyone can do. I’ll elaborate later as I’m going out soon. But would be interested to hear others thoughts on this approach.

Communism type won't work because people become lazy. Some motivation to do your part like we have to do in an office setting is needed. Study places like "the Farm" in Tennessee. Having grown up in the Nashville and Memphis areas I have heard about the antics of the members. It took a lot of heartache to get it all sorted out too. That one damn near collapsed. No violence, but lots of laziness after a while of everyone getting their assignments settled. When I was in college my buds were buying the stinky green buds of Indica species of the smokable Hemp from "The Farm". It was definitely something that got some pooh stirred in a Conservative area full of Pentecostals, Church of Christ, Catholics and Baptists who believed too much in the old testament side of the Bible the Israelites use solely.

a reply to: incoserv

I lived in a single party state that was known for its particularly murderous communist government.

Things aren't that simple. As my friends or collages who were sent to labor camps will tell you.

People tried to protest, and tried to bring in reforms from within the government, and tried all kinds of things.

I didn't like what happened to them, it wasn't pretty, so I left with mostly what I was wearing and what I could carry.

originally posted by: AaarghZombies
a reply to: incoserv

I lived in a single party state that was known for its particularly murderous communist government.

Things aren't that simple. As my friends or collages who were sent to labor camps will tell you.

People tried to protest, and tried to bring in reforms from within the government, and tried all kinds of things.

I didn't like what happened to them, it wasn't pretty, so I left with mostly what I was wearing and what I could carry.

You took the second option, the Physical Escape. Certainly not a bad or wrong choice. I've kind of done that unintentionally as I moved out of the US a few years ago and am still here. But I don't think that thePhysical Escape is a viable long term option anymore.

I understand what you say about what happened to those who protested. As I said in my opening post, this can (will?) be costly. But the cost of surrendering ones humanity is high. People have to figure out what's worth what.

This third option looks, from the outside, like a passive protest, but it's really - I think - the most active course one can take.

a reply to: Justoneman

I'm not thinking of building a commune or even a cooperative. My idea is just encouraging people to realize that we have resources in our neighbors and I ourselves that "they" do not want us to recognize, and encourage them to use those instead of the state sponsored ones that "they" demand we use.

a reply to: Ksihkehe

Thank you.

I am sorry to hear that happened to your friends and neighbors. That is what is going to happen here if we don't find a way to come together and focus on the source of our issues.

People here just want to accept so much that is bad for them because they are often too busy living their lives to realize they are being duped. A small change in how they look at things can make a big difference just based on the what we see from the people believing the fake news stories. Try to read instead of watch the news has been my goal. Take the emotions of the presenters out of it when you just read the information for yourself. Research the news but don't watch it anymore.

originally posted by: AaarghZombies
a reply to: incoserv

I lived in a single party state that was known for its particularly murderous communist government.

Things aren't that simple. As my friends or collages who were sent to labor camps will tell you.

People tried to protest, and tried to bring in reforms from within the government, and tried all kinds of things.

I didn't like what happened to them, it wasn't pretty, so I left with mostly what I was wearing and what I could carry.

a reply to: incoserv

I always find it amusing when people on this forum start talking about their government using terms like "fascist" or "Communist", or describing how it as being authoritarian or controlling.

No matter how bad anybody here thinks that either Trump or Biden was are, or even Fauci for that matter. They're kind nurturing pushovers compared to some of the things that I've seen, and I didn't get sent to a labor camp. My friends or colleagues who did have some abject horror stories that put things like mandatory mask wearing into sharp perspective.

21st century America isn't perfect, but it beats living behind the iron curtain.

a reply to: Justoneman

That is what is going to happen here if we don't find a way to come together and focus on the source of our issues.

As bad as you think it is now, I 100 percent promise you that America isn't going that way. You're not even taking the first baby steps towards it.

In my case the country was an already an authoritarian dictatorship when it fell to Communism. It had never been a democracy. People swapped one unaccountable elite for another. And it was done by in a revolution fundedencouraged by Russia.

You're simply seeing a government that makes rules that you disagree with, not one that's putting people in camps, and as bad as you think Fauci and Biden are they're absolutely not going to order tanks to run down protestors. It's simply not going to happen.

Trump built a wall to keep people out, we had walls to keep people in.

a reply to: Justoneman

Communism type won't work because people become lazy.

My experience was actually the opposite. We looked at Americans and considered you to be lazy and needy, and to always whining about the least little thing.

There is this popular image that being in a communist country means that you get everything and you get it for free, but the truth is the opposite. People were given strict quota to achieve and if you didn't meet them the stopped supplying your with resources. Because they gave you everything they could also take it away.

They could reduce your rations, or downgrade your accommodation, or simply throw you in a camp. And this wasn't for individuals, it was for your entire division. If your division fell behind because one or two people made mistakes or didn't pull their weight you all starved.

Conversely, if you all pulled together and regularly beat your quota you could all get more food and better housing.

Personally kept my head down, educated myself, and quadrupled my basic income within a several years, and managed to get a good position with a good apartment. Then things got bad, there were a lot of protests. Particularly about people angry about the level of corruption, and about local officials taking good land from people for vanity projects and not properly compensating them. There were riots which were brutally supressed. Lots of people died or were imprisoned. I'd started getting involved in political things when it happened and I decided to get out before someone came for me.

I simply don't see this happening in the US, you're a two state system, when you change administrations one side is unhappy and says that the other side is leading them into a dictatorship. I've seen this happening every change of administration for as long as I can remember. And it's not even come close to happening.

No matter how bad you think it is, it isn't that bad.

originally posted by: Justoneman

I look at my friends and ask if they realize the media keeps telling us "We are not afraid as we should be. What is wrong with you for not being more afraid?" They make a living scaring the hell out of old people who used to get solid news when they were young and it morphed into liars at every turn.

Today and even in the past fear porn sells. People love it and I have no clue why. It seems it is even worst now with our massive social media and so its like everyone is on some level of psychosis trip that they fuel with their daily supply of social media. Maybe things are moving so quick that our brains can not adjust fast enough.

I kind of wondered how is it we can drive 100 miles per hour and feel fine when if we put a person in a car from 200 years ago their mind might not be able to handle it. I think something like this is happening with many of us who just can not handle the massive amount of information they pour into their brains and they freak out in the end.

I don't want to pick on the left but even Bill Maher is picking on them...Bill Maher...lol

They have lost any grounding in reality they once had and have already gone off the deep end into their own psychosis. The right still has somethings that are helping them to stay grounded but they are heading that way too at a much slower pace.

a reply to: Xtrozero

Nice post, but we do HAVE TO pick on the left. I am a middle of the road guy who thinks they are so far left these days it makes me look like i am far right. I want a balance of right and left but the left doesn't and the far right has no choice but to be their enemy since the left makes it so. That is why I think we need to do away with both political parties and start over now.

originally posted by: Justoneman

Nice post, but we do HAVE TO pick on the left. I am a middle of the road guy who thinks they are so far left these days it makes me look like i am far right. I want a balance of right and left but the left doesn't and the far right has no choice but to be their enemy since the left makes it so. That is why I think we need to do away with both political parties and start over now.

Well that just can not happen, so what is your next choice to fix it? The deal is that in Nov Congress will be full red like never before and in 2024 we will see the right take the oval office too. This is mainly as you said in people who were middle maybe on the left are now seen as far right, and that just what Musk suggests with this... How many voters will the left have in 2024? So maybe with the left gone a new one can replace that is better than the right, but don't hold your breath. People think Communion is better than Capitalism..lol geez

originally posted by: Ksihkehe
a reply to: incoserv

Thoughtful and well written, thank you for that.

How rare it is these days that one takes the time to summarize, highlight, and provide additional resources for the content in their thread. Doesn't it get exhausting reading threads every day that have no real content, no effort, and no soul?

I just charged my tablet and will check out the ebooks you linked.

I've only seen a limited amount from Academy of Ideas, but what I saw was quite well done. It's a little slow for me, but I think they've done as good a job as possible keeping their content valuable for those with varying levels of exposure to the concepts. You can link it to a random on Facebook or a 333rd level ATS acolyte and both will likely find something interesting.

Years ago much of what's happening would have been criticized by progressive thought leaders, but unfortunately the progressive thought leaders are drinking the same poison that progressive politicians have been drinking. Now the party of the little guy is being run by the Big Guy, both literally and figuratively.

My fear is that as the metaverse picks up steam reality will be less and less a consideration for personal decisions and, absent reality, those decisions will become easier to control. I think augmented reality moreso than virtual, but the synergy will help speed the process. Augmented reality will blur the lines between the metaverse and plain old physical reality. As constructed digital environments come online alongside the real world the opportunity for manipulation does as well. There's no need for deepfakes when reality is fake to begin with, you merely program reality as you go.

It will be like COVID and Ukraine on steroids, pumped into their brains with increasing duration and frequency. Whole digital landscapes plastered with "current thing". Like a petulant child we will be given choices, but those choices will be loaded and meant to corral us in certain directions. Not much different than today, but they're getting better and will have even better tools.

Now is the time to stop the trajectory of global leadership. It won't become easier and eventually will become virtually impossible without external events causing changes to the power structure. Eventually they will breed out whatever genetic trait causes some people to see the bars on the prison while wishing for freedom, edit out whatever historical references we have to how things were, and they will shape the future like Machiavellian architects.

Right here, right now, where you stand, is the most concentrated place of your earthly power. I think you're wise to start where your power is greatest. Local bartering and community building is definitely at the top of the list. The more members of the community pooling their power the better. We've allowed surrogates at our state capitols and DC to have too much of our power and it's time it comes home.

Well Said . I Agree with your Thoughts here . Get Ready , because Hell is Coming to Town SOON ......

originally posted by: incoserv

Lastly, here are two books in epub format that you may want to give a read:

The Origins Of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
and
Power Of The Powerless by Vaclav Havel

I was expecting to see Gene Sharp's books here serving as a guide for people making color revolutions around the world.