Totalitarian domination targets spontaneity itself, not mere opposition.

Evidence

It is in the very nature of totalitarian regimes to demand unlimited power. Such power can only be secured if literally all men, without a single exception, are reliably dominated in every aspect of their life. In the realm of foreign affairs new neutral territories must constantly be subjugated, while at home ever-new human groups must be mastered in expanding concentration camps, or, when circumstances require liquidated to make room for others. The question of opposition is unimportant both in foreign and domestic affairs. Any neutrality, indeed any spontaneously given friendship, is from the standpoint of totalitarian domination just as dangerous as open hostility, precisely because spontaneity as such, with its incalculability, is the greatest of all obstacles to total domination over man. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1024

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the mechanism by which totalitarianism treats neutral or friendly behavior as dangerous — because spontaneity, not dissent, is the true threat.
• XREF: Mechanism parallels the construction of the ‘Other’ as always potentially threatening regardless of actual stance. — connects to: The productive apparatus becomes totalitarian by shaping individual needs, not just occupations. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 97; Totalitarian control targets the inner life, not just behavior — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1181