【推文】Michael O'Fallon - One of the oldest - and most dangerous - justifications for totalitarianism..

連結

• 原推文1 - x.com/sovmichael/sta...

原文及個人翻譯

One of the oldest - and most dangerous - justifications for totalitarianism is the appeal to the “common good” or the “greater good.” It sounds noble. It sounds compassionate.

But history tells a very different story: every totalitarian regime wraps itself in this language, claiming the collective - the state, the people, the race - matters more than the individual.

And once you accept that premise, everything else follows: total control, forced sacrifice, the crushing of dissent.

Your rights don’t disappear all at once - they’re surrendered piece by piece, all in the name of some perfect, utopian, unified vision that always seems to require someone else to suffer first.

其中一個最古老——也是最危險的——極權主義辯護是訴諸「共同利益」或「大於一切的利益」。 聽起來崇高。 聽起來富有同情心。

但歷史卻講述了一個截然不同的故事：每個極權政權都以這種語言為自己披上外衣，聲稱集體——國家、人民、種族——比個人更重要。

一旦你接受這個前提，一切都會隨之而來：完全控制、強迫犧牲、壓制異議。

你的權利並不是一下子消失的——它們是逐步被剝奪的，所有的一切都以某種完美、烏托邦式的統一願景為名，而這種願景似乎總是需要其他人首先承受痛苦。

Totalitarianism always starts with the same lie: that society is some living, organic whole that matters more than the individuals who make it up. And once you accept that idea, total state control becomes easy to justify.

The so-called “common good” is redefined as some higher cause - national expansion, racial purity, a utopian future - anything except the real well-being of actual, sovereign individuals the way our Founding Fathers understood it.

And that’s the switch. Rights are no longer inherent; they’re conditional. Private interests are no longer protected; they’re suspect. You are told that you must surrender yourself to the collective, to “the people,” to the cause.

The Nazis had a name for it - Volksgemeinschaft, the people’s community - but the principle is always the same. Once the individual is subordinated to an abstract collective, freedom doesn’t just erode. It disappears.

極權主義總是從同一個謊言開始：社會是某種有生命的、有機的整體，比構成它的個體更重要。 一旦你接受這個觀念，完全的國家控制就很容易被合理化。

所謂的「共同利益」被重新定義為某種崇高目標——民族擴張、種族純潔、一個烏托邦式的未來——除了真正、獨立個體的福祉之外，任何事情都算數。

這就是轉折點。 權利不再是天生的；它們是有條件的。 私人利益不再受到保護；它們值得懷疑。 你被告知你必須將自己奉獻給集體，奉獻給「人民」，奉獻給這個事業。

納粹有一個名稱來稱呼它——Volksgemeinschaft，人民社群——但這個原則總是相同的。 一旦個人屈從於抽象的集體之下，自由不僅會逐漸消失。 它完全消失了。

And here’s the heartbreaking part: too many naïve Christian leaders have been pulled into this trap - embracing a totalitarian idea of the “common good” under the banner of what’s being called Christian Nationalism. But let’s be honest about what this really is. It isn’t rooted in the American tradition of liberty or the Protestant understanding of cognitive liberty. It’s far closer to Roman Catholic Integralism, just repackaged with Protestant language and symbols (sacralism).

And that should alarm every believer who understands the dangers of promoting a coercive, ever-evolving religioin with centralized power. When the monarchial episcopate starts defining righteousness, and the “common good” is used to override individual conscience, history tells us exactly where that road leads - and it never ends with freedom.

And let me be very clear about this: the so-called “common good” now being pushed by the totalitarian Right is no different from the tyranny of the “common good” we’ve been living under from the Woke, religious Left for the past two decades. The language is identical. Only the branding has changed.

而最令人心碎的部分是：太多天真的基督教領袖已經陷入了這個陷阱——在所謂的基督教民族主義旗幟下，擁抱一種極權主義的「共同利益」觀念。 但讓我們坦誠地說，這到底是什麼。 它並非根植於美國自由傳統或新教對認知自由的理解。 它更接近羅馬天主教的整體主義，只是用新教語言和象徵（神聖主義）重新包裝了一下。

這應該讓每一個了解推廣一種具有強制力、不斷發展的宗教及其集中權力的危險的信徒感到警惕。 當君主制的主教開始定義正義時，當「共同利益」被用於壓過個人良知時，歷史告訴我們這個道路將走向何方——而且它永遠不會以自由告終。

讓我非常清楚地說明：現在由極權主義的右派所推動的所謂「共同利益」，與我們在過去二十年裡一直遭受的、由覺醒（Woke）、宗教左派所施加的「共同利益」專制並無不同。 語言是相同的。 只有品牌發生了變化。

Covid lockdowns - for the common good.
Distributism - for the common good.
Mass surveillance - for the common good.
Social justice mandates - for the common good.
Forced compliance with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals- for the common good.
Vaccinations - for the common good.

新冠疫情封鎖——為了共同利益。
分佈主義——為了共同利益。
大規模監控——為了共同利益。
社會正義強制措施——為了共同利益。
強制遵守聯合國的可持續發展目標——為了共同利益。
疫苗接種——為了共同利益。

It’s always the same script.
Fear first.
Moral pressure second.
Coercion last.
And every time, you’re told that surrendering your rights, your conscience, and your freedom isn’t oppression - it’s compassion. Different sides, same poison. Because when the “common good” is used to override the individual, liberty is always the casualty.

這總是相同的劇本。 首先是恐懼。 其次是道德壓力。 最後是強制。 而且每次，你都會被告知，放棄你的權利、良知和自由並不是壓迫——而是同情。 不同的一方，同樣的毒藥。 因為當「共同利益」被用來壓過個人時，自由總是受害者。