Do people know what it is?

Every now and then I read or hear comments from people making references to the concept of “totalitarianism.” And sometimes it appears to me that the people making the comments might not actually know what the word means.

I saw a post several months ago in which a person indicated that totalitarianism involved eating everything on your plate so you would be allowed to have dessert.

That seemed incorrect to me.

Here is a definition of the word “totalitarian” from the Free Dictionary:

Totalitarian: Of, relating to, being, or imposing a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed: “A totalitarian regime crushes all autonomous institutions in its drive to seize the human soul” (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).

Here is another description of “totalitarianism” from Wikipedia:

Totalitarianism is a concept for a form of government or political system that prohibits opposition parties, restricts individual opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high degree of control over public and private life. It is regarded as the most extreme and complete form of authoritarianism.

………

I’m not looking to stir up heated political debate in the comments of this post (although if someone wants to come to my backyard and wrestle I think that might be a worthwhile use of our time). I’m just providing some very simple information because this appears to be a misunderstood concept.