Dignity, Authoritarians, and An Uncertain Future

Dignity the belief that you and I have intrinsic, fundamental worth.

Dignity is the psychological architecture that holds a person's identity together.

Dignity is the internal conviction that life has value, that we are entitled to moral consideration, that we must not be treated - or treat others - as an object.

Dignity is deeper than pride, sadness, confidence, envy, happiness, or even self-esteem. These emotions fluctuate, but Dignity is not so fleeting. It is an assumption, a preconception, an intrinsic belief about 'the Way the World Is'.

Dignity is the bedrock of society. It creates moral boundaries, lines we will not cross even under pressure. It Shapes the way we treat others, and thus Shapes society as a whole. If I recognize my own dignity, I have self-respect. If I recognize the dignity of others, it becomes a moral principle; others must not be humiliated, tortured, or reduced to instruments. Shared moral principles are the foundation of a just, equitable society.

In this way, dignity is politically vital. A person with dignity can say "the state exists to serve human beings", "authority must justify itself", "my suffering is not meaningless or deserved", "I have the right to judge those who govern me", "obedience for it's own sake is not a virtue", and "silence is not a virtue".

Dignity is the foundational belief that self-respect, moral boundaries, agency, responsibility, and resistance to humiliation are the pillars upon which a fair, just, and equitable society is based. Without dignity, these values become easy to bargain away for the sake of "getting by". When we surrender our dignity, people cease believing that they deserve anything better.

Authoritarians thrive in environments where people have replaced dignity with shame, helplessness, dependency, and gratitude for basic survival, because it means they don't require the love, respect, or consent of their subjects to rule. The Authoritarian merely needs people to believe that they deserve their lot in life, and to strive for more is perceived as foolish, unrealistic, an impossibility.

In this way, a lack of dignity is a more powerful tool of oppression than fear. Fear says "do not resist or you will be punished", while indignity says "do not resist because someone like you has no right to demand a better existence". An Authoritarian doesn't need to inflict fear or reprisal or punishment to make you comply. They just have to make the cost of self-respect too high to be worth paying.

How can you have dignity when you stand in food lines for hours every day, only to be turned away empty-handed?

How can you have dignity when any bureaucrat or shopkeeper or nurse or secretary can bar you from receiving the goods & services you need to survive?

How can you have dignity when your friends and family spurn the very notion of demanding more from your rulers as unrealistic, foolish, and childish?

To an Authoritarian, a society of humiliated, dependent, and helpless people is ideal, because in such a society you are socialized into indignity without even realizing it. In a society where indignity has become a culture, a way of life, "the way things are" - dignity is perceived as too costly to hold. When you complain about your humiliation, your friends & family say "Who are you to make such demands? You have money, no power, no connections. You aren't better than the rest of us. You are nothing."

When the cost of self-respect is social ostracization, you learn to stay silent. You pare yourself down to fit between the lines society draws.

When the cost of independence is imprisonment & torture, you learn not to act without permission. You learn play along, keep your eyes down, and not speak up.

When the cost of speaking up becomes your very survival, you learn to avert your gaze. You learn to take the humiliation the system gives you without flinching, without speaking, without resisting.

In such a society, it is simple for Authoritarians to retain their power. Your self-respect does not need to be policed by the state when it is already done by your boss, by your coworkers, your media, your neighbors, your friends & family. Merely by existing within the system, you are conditioned to cede ground on your fundamental rights to demand just & equitable treatment in exchange for stale bread and hard water.

We live in a period marked by geopolitical instability, economic uncertainty, social unrest, and democratic backsliding. To those of us in 'the West', we are being roused from our post-Cold War complacency by consecutive crises, spreading conflicts, rising costs of daily necessities, fuel & energy instability, the disruption of globalized supply chains, political extremism borne from & exacerbated by social media, and an increasing disconnection between the priorities of our elected representatives and those of the citizens they nominally represent.

In such circumstances, it's easy to fall into hopelessness & despair.

In such circumstances, it can feel as if we cannot do anything to change the course of our own lives.

In such circumstances, demanding more from those that wield power over us can seem foolish, pointless, laughable.

Do not allow yourself to give in to such feelings. We are not without hope. There are actions we can take to improve out lives. We have the power to demand that our representatives to represent us.

And those who demand our silence when we stand up for our values & beliefs, those who shame us for demanding that power be held to account, those who suggest that they have a simple solution to all of life's woes if only absolute power & authority be given to them without condition nor limits: These are Authoritarians; avaricious opportunists who seek to exploit your fear, your uncertainty, your shame for their own self-serving ends.

So to you - the anxious, the tired, the downtrodden - I say this: Don't let the bastards grind you down! No matter how hard they grind your self-worth into the dirt; No matter if they spit on your rights and demand that you submit to their rules, their order, their truth; No matter how much they insist that this is just 'the Way the World Is'; No matter how much they insult you to your face and tell you to "grow up"; Never, ever, ever let them fool you into believing that you don't deserve better than this.

Don't let yourself become socialized into accepting humiliation.
Don't be shamed into silence for the sake of convenience.
Don't let go of your self-respect just to keep the peace.
Don't take abuse without raising a hand to defend yourself.
Don't ever forget that You & I have intrinsic, fundamental worth.

Why Putin Needs Russians to Believe They’re Worthless; Konstantin Samilov - Inside Russia
Anonymous - Silent East