The word “totalitarianism” describes a political system in which the state has total authority over every aspect of life. In regimes of this kind, external conformity is just the first step—what they really want is your soul. According to Rod Dreher, we’re now seeing the rise of a new “soft totalitarianism” which is closer to Huxley’s Brave New World, than Orwell’s 1984. In soft totalitarianism, conformity is achieved by manipulating access to things like status and comfort, often by means of a social credit system. On this program, Shane Rosenthal talks with Rod Dreher about these and other disturbing trends that he outlines in his bestselling book, Live Not By Lies, which also happens to be the subject of a forthcoming documentary series.
SHOW NOTES
Resources by Rod DreherLive Not By Lies (book)The Axis of the Human Heart (essay)Exclude the Excluders! (essay)Live Not By Lies, Rod Dreher on The Jordan Peterson Podcast (video)The Fog of Propaganda: Rod Dreher on American Thought Leaders (video)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ResourcesLive Not By Lies (essay)A World Split Apart (Harvard commencement address)One Word of Truth (Nobel Prize speech)Solzhenitsyn at Harvard: The Address & Responses (book)The Solzhenitsyn Reader (book)A Portrait of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, David Aikman (Mars Hill Audio) The Christian Humanism of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Mars Hill Audio)Aleksander Solzhenitsyn: A Brief Autobiography (essay)
Other Related ResourcesLive Not By Lies: The Documentary Series (video preview)We Are Repaganizing, Louise Perry (essay)Why I Am Now a Christian, Ayaan Hirsi Ali (essay)Yes, The West is Becoming More Like China, N.S. Lyons (essay)Post Christian: A Guide to Contemporary Thought, Gene Veith (book)Post Christian, featuring Shane Rosenthal & Gene Veith (podcast)Modern Fascism: Liquidating the Christian Worldview, Gene Veith (book)The False Gospel of Fascism, Shane Rosenthal & Gene Veith (podcast)The Rise & Triumph of the Modern Self, Carl Trueman (book)Politics & Original Sin, Shane Rosenthal & Michael McClymond (podcast)How to Detect Deception, Shane Rosenthal (essay)
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