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Abandoned world: the Awareness - стр. 16

There will always be someone who is against it. Again, it does not matter whether it is a question of narrowing or expanding the rights of all others – there will always be someone who will tell everyone that it is done wrong. And relying on these initial data, Bill Sterling has identified for himself two stages into which what can be considered the achievement of absolute power over the masses, called totalitarianism, is divided.

The first stage – individuals, opponents, can act on the basis of generally known norms of law, and sometimes exceeding them. This stage is very important in order to show the masses that there was once an option in which the system is not working properly, the system is weak, and the masses themselves are not safe.

The second stage – individuals, aka opponents, are reduced to the point where they are opposed not by their main opponent in the form of the current government, but by the masses themselves, who consider the actions of these individuals to be nothing but violations of the established rules and the law. Bill Sterling paid special attention to the latter because the established rules were not something official, documented, or even legal. The rules were ephemeral concepts created by the demagogues of the system, and it was impossible to orient oneself accordingly, because they changed from case to case. But at the same time they always led to the same charge – treason.

The term seemed absurd to Bill Sterling at the time. What kind of treason could we talk about if there were no oaths, no promises, no paltry contract? How could you cheat on something you didn't officially recognize? But, on the other hand, it was essentially genius, because it also meant that all citizens by default accepted the rules by their very existence. Exactly the rules, not the laws. And, returning to the previous point, it was safe to say that anyone could be accused of treason, because the rules were ephemeral and changed from case to case.

It seemed as ingenious as it was cynical. Sterling didn't care what had happened on Earth in years past, but when he heard the familiar term, he thought he wasn't the only one who'd read such literature.

And in this connection it also became very important to him what was written in his second favorite book, "The History of the Gestapo", where the main protagonist was a government body that called itself in direct text an instrument for finding state traitors, whom it could easily appoint on its own.

From time to time, the masses dream of a firm iron hand that will bring order. Because they associate this order with security. And this happens precisely because those same powerful demagogues know how to serve any dish with the necessary sauce. Tougher rules equal more

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