The Mirror section, to which this short entry belongs, comes relatively late in the sequence of the thematic sections of this book, which means that by this time some important conclusions regarding my Grundthemen have been made in a very determined fashion. Which is not to say that these conclusions may always have hit the bull’s eye. I’d rather venture to aver that most of these conclusions may have been… well, imprecise…
A good case in point is my defense of totalitarianism. Contrary to what most readers will assume, I am not a diehard, dyed-in-the-wool totalitarian. I am rather a defender of the "unjustly oppressed and persecuted." The critics of totalitarianism are… all! Some (and these are surprisingly few) out of conviction, but others ( and these are unsurprisingly many) out of complacency with what is perceived as conventional wisdom. Somebody, however, ought to speak out on behalf of the prejudicially maligned. A lawyer defending a criminal is not an implicit criminal, but, rather, a defender of judicial fairness. So am I, on behalf of totalitarianism.
For, as far as I am concerned, totalitarianism is not a life sentence, nor a caricature, but a legitimate political concept, and the more it is analyzed without historical prejudice, the more humanity can benefit from such an analysis.
Detractors of totalitarianism today are many. I am perhaps the only one who is not afraid of counting myself among its defense attorneys. Which makes me proud.
A good case in point is my defense of totalitarianism. Contrary to what most readers will assume, I am not a diehard, dyed-in-the-wool totalitarian. I am rather a defender of the "unjustly oppressed and persecuted." The critics of totalitarianism are… all! Some (and these are surprisingly few) out of conviction, but others ( and these are unsurprisingly many) out of complacency with what is perceived as conventional wisdom. Somebody, however, ought to speak out on behalf of the prejudicially maligned. A lawyer defending a criminal is not an implicit criminal, but, rather, a defender of judicial fairness. So am I, on behalf of totalitarianism.
For, as far as I am concerned, totalitarianism is not a life sentence, nor a caricature, but a legitimate political concept, and the more it is analyzed without historical prejudice, the more humanity can benefit from such an analysis.
Detractors of totalitarianism today are many. I am perhaps the only one who is not afraid of counting myself among its defense attorneys. Which makes me proud.
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