Totalitarianism’s novelty was so extreme it paralyzed even great minds
Evidence
Nearly every intellectual who turned to this project in the period immediately following the war cites the feeling of astonishment at the suddenness with which, as Harvard political scientist Carl Friedrich put it, totalitarianism had “burst upon mankind… unexpected and unannounced.” Its manifestations were so novel and unanticipated, so shocking, rapid, and unparalleled, that all of it eluded language, challenging every tradition, norm, value, and legitimate form of action. The systematic accretion of violence and complicity that engulfed whole populations at extreme velocity invoked a kind of bewilderment that ended in paralysis, even for many of the greatest minds of the twentieth century. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1134
Categorization
- XREF: The astonishment and paralysis theme parallels readings on information overload and the failure to comprehend new regimes of power. — connects to: Both totalitarian and instrumentarian power defied comprehension when new — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1122; Totalitarian hell proves human power greater than imagined; Totalitarianism introduces unprecedented concepts of power and reality (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Totalitarianism introduces unprecedented concepts of power and reality
#corroborates(0.90) - Totalitarian government rests on a human experience never before used to found a polity
#corroborates(0.90) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1037 - Totalitarian hell proves human power greater than imagined
#expands(0.85) - Only detached imagination, not direct witness, permits sustained thinking about totalitarian horror
#responds-to(0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 987 - Totalitarianism eluded systematic study until war’s end because of its secrecy and deliberate fact-torsion
#expands(0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1128 - Totalitarianism concentrates state powers in ways traditional despotism could not
#corroborates(0.80) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 31