Totalitarian mass support comes neither from ignorance nor from brainwashing.

Evidence

No doubt, the fact that totalitarian government, its open criminality notwithstanding, rests on mass support is very disquieting. It is therefore hardly surprising that scholars as well as statesmen often refuse to recognize it, the former by believing in the magic of propaganda and brainwashing, the latter by simply denying it, as for instance Adenauer did repeatedly. A recent publication of secret reports on German public opinion during the war (from 1939 to 1944), issued by the Security Service of the SS (Meldungen aus dem Reich. Auswahl aus den Geheimen Lageberichten des Sicherheitsdienstes der SS 1939–1944, edited by Heinz Boberach, Neuwied & Berlin, 1965), is very revealing in this respect. It shows, first, that the population was remarkably well informed about all so-called secrets—massacres of Jews in Poland, preparation of the attack on Russia, etc.—and, second, the “extent to which the victims of propaganda had remained able to form independent opinions” (pp. XVIII-XIX). However, the point of the matter is that this did not in the least weaken the general support of the Hitler regime. It is quite obvious that mass support for totalitarianism comes neither from ignorance nor from brainwashing. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1944

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the core theoretical point that totalitarian mass support is consensual rather than coerced or manipulated — a foundational move in the scaffolding argument.
• QUESTION: If support doesn’t come from ignorance or brainwashing, Arendt leaves implicit what positive mechanism produces it — worth chasing across the book.
• XREF: Connects to Gramsci’s hegemony — genuine consent of the ruled rather than manipulation — and to later Islamophobia readings on ideological common sense. — connects to: Totalitarian ritual idolatry is an organizational device, not a religion; Fascist mass mobilization is repressive equality, not a reversion to barbarism.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1944