• Grapho@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    15 hours ago

    What the fuck is an authoritarian government? The entire point of government is to wield authority.

    • Libra00@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      15 hours ago

      authoritarian /ə-thôr″ĭ-târ′ē-ən, ə-thŏr″-, ô-/ adjective

      Characterized by or favoring absolute obedience to authority, as against individual freedom.

      “an authoritarian regime.”

      Look, it’s right there in the example even.

      If you would like to argue definitions I encourage you to spend some quality time with a dictionary. Google can point you to several.

      • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        14 hours ago

        “Authoritarianism” is usually just coded language to demonize anti-colonial countries. It’s almost never used to refer to the “civilized” capitalist metropoles like the US and Europe, who have done their best to strangle every country that dares to exist outside their orbit.

        • Libra00@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          7 hours ago

          Yes, I too am aware that people often misuse words. It might be safe to assume that the guy who just demonstrated that he knows how to operate a dictionary probably isn’t one of them though. Especially if you had read my comment that they were replying to, because then you would have seen that the nation I was calling an authoritarian regime (in fact, a ‘whole-ass authoritarian regime’) was Nazi Germany, so I don’t think we were in any danger of not labeling Western colonial powers as authoritarian in this thread.