People who try to convince you that words are meaningless are never up to any good. I’m sure it makes you feel real good about yourself to pretend I’m too stupid to understand instead of smart enough to see that words that are often misused still have meaning.
Look, western nations do often hypocritically point out authoritarianism in their geopolitical rivals for cynical reasons, but to pretend that the word was invented for this purpose and is meaningless just makes you look like an autocrat worshipping moron. It’s the same as how Trump supporters after being accused of being fascist insist that the word is a meaningless insult. The word authoritarianism exists because there’s a spectrum between a democratically elected benevolent leader and a ruthless dictator. You don’t want to confront the fact that they may have a point.
“Authoritarianism” isnt even real
It is difficult for me to imagine how someone could possibly convince themselves of this. What do you call it when a leader consolidates power around themselves, removing checks on their position and making unilateral mandates that are enforced through state violence against all who dare oppose?
Still, there’s no point in making it easy for them. The sooner you accept that your rights won’t be protected, the sooner they’ll disappear entirely. You must act as if your rights are natural laws of the universe, and if enough people do then they may as well be.
Oh I’m so scared, I’m shaking in my boots. How are the auto executives going to feed their poor, starving shareholders? These are dark times indeed.