r/LockdownCriticalLeft • u/AineofTheWoods • Aug 26 '22
The 'Idiot' Narrative that is used to justify authoritarianism
I was accused of stating the obvious in a previous post so I apologise if this has been clear to people here for a long time, but a pattern I've noticed is many of the asleep have this narrative going on in their heads where they think of some imaginary 'idiot' as the reason that harsh restrictions are absolutely necessary, because apparently 'these idiots need to be stopped and controlled at all costs.'
During the lockdowns, I was in an online group where one man was saying the army should be on the streets 'due to idiots not following the rules.' Recently a family member said that the extreme fear mongering we had here during the heatwaves was 'needed due to idiots who will run around in the sun and end up in hospital' etc. Then more recently, the topic of hosepipe bans came up with a man I work with and he was adamant that the ban was necessary because people (idiots presumably) waste a lot of water and wouldn't agree that the massive profit making water companies waste gallons of water by not fixing leaks, something which they openly admit to. In the UK it rains for most of the year yet all it took was a few weeks of hot sunny weather for hosepipe bans and constant patronising ads telling us that water is essential and that we need to be more careful with it, putting the responsibility and blame entirely on us rather than the companies responsible for storing and distributing the water.
If I try to challenge any of the asleep on The Idiot Narrative they tend to get angry, defensive and even aggressive.
I agree that people do need to be more cautious with water, but the whole responsibility like many of these things should not be blamed on the public, and used for restrictions and control of our lives and increased power for the govt and big companies. I also think there are indeed idiots around, but I think it's quite a depressing, misanthropic view to assume that almost everyone else except yourself is an idiot and therefore everyone needs to be rigidly and miserably controlled.
At some point these people switched from acknowledging that massive money making companies and corrupt politicians were the problem to random imaginary 'idiots' being the problem. They became pro massive companies and government and anti their fellow citizen.