Privet, Tovarish! Here's your Borscht!
Tovarish, today I will teach you how to optimize your speech in an authoritarian environment!
Yes, comrade. If you find yourself under a totalitarian regime, these may not work or be enough.
For the purpose of this writing, I credit my experience to fictional country Donovia, taken from the US military OPFOR simulations.
If you can't see why I'm using a fictional country, you have just failed the first step: off to the gulag you go, comrade.
Under an authoritarian country, a certain traits emerge and you must memorize them and the bad examples:
- Social stability
- Focused criticism
- Regime image
- Do not challenge the power
- Watch the wind
- Allowed pressure valve
- The news tell you what's wrong
- Read between the lines
- Vague posting
- Run from the fire
- Off limits
Social stability:
An authoritarian country's best friend is social stability, which is where it gets it legitimacy from. You must not disrupt it.
Bad example - organizing a protest and spamming
Bad example 2 - ultranationalists killed a foreigner, you take to the app and celebrate it
Focused criticism:
Low level criticism is generally allowed, such as these complaining about a broken road or sign; no more. Complain about the symptoms, not the system.
Bad example - "the government doesn't care about the people! Look at the roads!"
Regime image:
Authoritarian systems absolutely hate it when you make the image, ideology, and higher columns look bad. To ensure more protection, frame your writings with praises — "the party has done a lot for us, with the rapid development and the trains, and it will be much appreciated for the review of the trains failing to function"
Bad example - the state is promoting African cooperation, and you take to the social media and confront those users directly in English.
Do not challenge the power:
Remember the power dynamics — it is universal across all countries, but remember that the party or government tend to protect each other.
Bad example - "the president should be replaced!"
Watch the wind:
Laws are a vibe, not strict guidelines. They are deliberately written vaguely to allow for selective enforcement.
Bad example - the government invited NBA stars you hate to your country, and you critique the figures without waiting 1-2 weeks after they leave and the whole thing quiets down.
Allowed pressure valve:
Ironically, for the strict speech policing, authoritarian regimes tend to let users blow off stream, redirecting frustration from the government to an allowed target, such as the West, as long as it doesn't lead to attacks.
Bad example - you wanted to be racist but you criticized a protected ethnicity designated by the country.
The news tell you what's wrong:
The news tend to amplify political persecution cases, while downplaying daily criminal cases due to socoal stability and regime image). If you see NGO members consistently dying suspiciously (dark) or a cabinet keeps being purged for "corruption, reorganization" etc; generally the purged people tend to have something in common.
Bad example - union leaders keep falling off from buildings, and you went to post about unions online
Read between the lines:
Authoritarian regimes tend to craft their rhetoric with lots of say-nothing words, such as national glory, spiritual renewal, and lots of euphemism . These words tend to be filler words or used to set the mood (good or bad).
Often rhetoric and reality differs quite a lot.
Bad example - your country had a oil spill (no fuel) and told you it's spiritual renewal talking about the advantages of walking and disadvantages of driving and cars, and you insisted on driving.
Vague posting:
It is necessary that you have to critique a proposed idea from the top column, you should do it in a vague way. Do not say "invading international students", instead ask about the culture of the University, sarcastically meme about its future.
Bad example - direct complaining.
Run from the fire:
Sometimes a trend heats up and go viral. If it can harm the regime, like a mass hashtag movement with political messaging, don't join in.
Bad example - joining in to spam the hashtag.
Off limits:
An authoritarian regime does not like when you explore obviously off limit things.
Bad example - the country has committed genocides before and has banned titles, and you persist.
Tovarish, today I will teach you how to optimize your speech in an authoritarian environment!
Yes, comrade. If you find yourself under a totalitarian regime, these may not work or be enough.
For the purpose of this writing, I credit my experience to fictional country Donovia, taken from the US military OPFOR simulations.
If you can't see why I'm using a fictional country, you have just failed the first step: off to the gulag you go, comrade.
Under an authoritarian country, a certain traits emerge and you must memorize them and the bad examples:
- Social stability
- Focused criticism
- Regime image
- Do not challenge the power
- Watch the wind
- Allowed pressure valve
- The news tell you what's wrong
- Read between the lines
- Vague posting
- Run from the fire
- Off limits
Social stability:
An authoritarian country's best friend is social stability, which is where it gets it legitimacy from. You must not disrupt it.
Bad example - organizing a protest and spamming
Bad example 2 - ultranationalists killed a foreigner, you take to the app and celebrate it
Focused criticism:
Low level criticism is generally allowed, such as these complaining about a broken road or sign; no more. Complain about the symptoms, not the system.
Bad example - "the government doesn't care about the people! Look at the roads!"
Regime image:
Authoritarian systems absolutely hate it when you make the image, ideology, and higher columns look bad. To ensure more protection, frame your writings with praises — "the party has done a lot for us, with the rapid development and the trains, and it will be much appreciated for the review of the trains failing to function"
Bad example - the state is promoting African cooperation, and you take to the social media and confront those users directly in English.
Do not challenge the power:
Remember the power dynamics — it is universal across all countries, but remember that the party or government tend to protect each other.
Bad example - "the president should be replaced!"
Watch the wind:
Laws are a vibe, not strict guidelines. They are deliberately written vaguely to allow for selective enforcement.
Bad example - the government invited NBA stars you hate to your country, and you critique the figures without waiting 1-2 weeks after they leave and the whole thing quiets down.
Allowed pressure valve:
Ironically, for the strict speech policing, authoritarian regimes tend to let users blow off stream, redirecting frustration from the government to an allowed target, such as the West, as long as it doesn't lead to attacks.
Bad example - you wanted to be racist but you criticized a protected ethnicity designated by the country.
The news tell you what's wrong:
The news tend to amplify political persecution cases, while downplaying daily criminal cases due to socoal stability and regime image). If you see NGO members consistently dying suspiciously (dark) or a cabinet keeps being purged for "corruption, reorganization" etc; generally the purged people tend to have something in common.
Bad example - union leaders keep falling off from buildings, and you went to post about unions online
Read between the lines:
Authoritarian regimes tend to craft their rhetoric with lots of say-nothing words, such as national glory, spiritual renewal, and lots of euphemism . These words tend to be filler words or used to set the mood (good or bad).
Often rhetoric and reality differs quite a lot.
Bad example - your country had a oil spill (no fuel) and told you it's spiritual renewal talking about the advantages of walking and disadvantages of driving and cars, and you insisted on driving.
Vague posting:
It is necessary that you have to critique a proposed idea from the top column, you should do it in a vague way. Do not say "invading international students", instead ask about the culture of the University, sarcastically meme about its future.
Bad example - direct complaining.
Run from the fire:
Sometimes a trend heats up and go viral. If it can harm the regime, like a mass hashtag movement with political messaging, don't join in.
Bad example - joining in to spam the hashtag.
Off limits:
An authoritarian regime does not like when you explore obviously off limit things.
Bad example - the country has committed genocides before and has banned titles, and you persist.
