And yes, murder is bad. Torture is bad. But there is another distinction, made by Jeane Kirkpatrick:
Traditional autocrats leave in place existing allocations of wealth, power, status, and other resources, which in most traditional societies favor an affluent few and maintain masses in poverty. But they worship traditional gods and observe traditional taboos. They do not disturb the habitual rhythms of work and leisure, habitual places of residence, habitual patterns of family and personal relations.
Essentially, the autocracies protect their own power and wealth, but leave most other aspects of life relatively untouched. As the name implies, they are more concerned with who in society will wield authority, i.e. themselves, than with imposing any particular ideology. Because this is the case, they in fact preserve many of the institutions upon which democracy can later be built, whether the Church or corporations or other civic organizations.
Totalitarian regimes, on the other hand, as the name implies, seek to totally reinvent and control every aspect of society. This requires them to so violate the existing institutions as to render the society nearly incapable of evolving into a democracy.
In other words, the disrespect for the reality of personhood by totalitarian regimes is not specific, but general. And that violation means that even when it stops short of murder, destruction and violence, it continues to insist on itsr right to control all social and human institutions without regard to their human, and divine, foundation.
While I would regret being dropped from your list of friends (since I rather enjoy the exchanges from which I can, sometimes, learn), you will remain on my list of friends.
They both murder.
Traditional autocrats leave in place existing allocations of wealth, power, status, and other
resources, which in most traditional societies favor an affluent few and maintain masses in poverty. But they worship traditional gods and observe traditional taboos. They do not disturb the habitual
rhythms of work and leisure, habitual places of residence, habitual patterns of family and personal
relations.
Essentially, the autocracies protect their own power and wealth, but leave most other aspects of life relatively untouched. As the name implies, they are more concerned with who in society will wield authority, i.e. themselves, than with imposing any particular ideology. Because this is the case, they in fact preserve many of the institutions upon which democracy can later be built, whether the Church or corporations or other civic organizations.
Totalitarian regimes, on the other hand, as the name implies, seek to totally reinvent and control every aspect of society. This requires them to so violate the existing institutions as to render the society nearly incapable of evolving into a democracy.
In other words, the disrespect for the reality of personhood by totalitarian regimes is not specific, but general. And that violation means that even when it stops short of murder, destruction and violence, it continues to insist on itsr right to control all social and human institutions without regard to their human, and divine, foundation.
While I would regret being dropped from your list of friends (since I rather enjoy the exchanges from which I can, sometimes, learn), you will remain on my list of friends.