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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@AntiWokeMemes Therapy. And to Google to search the counter cultures “goth” and “emo” of the 80s and 90s and then realize that’s all you are doing here. You’ll outgrow it in a couple years.
@stitchiot@FknWazowski Then call yourself goth or emo, because that’s all this is. Look at pics of that counter culture from the 80s and 90s. This isn’t new. But having body mod surgeries and taking hormones to match your fashion trends and self expression is new and frightening.
@stitchiot@blujack1232 Nobody should attack anyone, but it is in fact a mental disorder. It’s no different than an emaciated anorexic demanding to be called fat and taking ozempic . And if people loved you, they would be truthful with you.
@morally___grey The medical and mental health industry has failed young men like you 😞. This is nothing more than what we used to call goth/emo- with the addition of self harm , it’s just been taken to the next level. So sad.
They keep saying that the Hep B universal birth dose decreased the incidence of Hep B by 99%😳
But the @CDC data presented at the ACIP meeting tell a different story:
Universal birth dose started in 1991 & mandated in 2005.
Decrease observed mostly in 20+, started prior to 1991 and plateaued by 2005.
The babies born after 1991 were only 15 by 2005.
Other interventions which targeted the high risk populations are responsible for the observed decrease! Risk based policies actually work!
@tracegallagher The shower caps, slippers, sports bras as shirts, leggings and pjs need to go. I don’t need to see your bellybutton or how you dress for bed on my flight. Bring back some sense of reverence for being out in public
@naomirwolf@ZohranKMamdani If you had told New Yorkers that THIS would be their number one choice for a mayor one day on 9/12/2001, they would think you were joking.
@AlexBerenson It’s literally like The Human Centipede . Chopping off parts and sewing things up , stitching pieces together etc… absolutely the stuff sicko horror films are made of.