Totalitarianism is a form of government that is ruled by a leader who possesses absolute power and
permits no privacy and freedom among its citizens. Countries that practice totalitarian government have
unhappy citizens because the government has complete control of their lives, like Oceania in Orwell’s
novel, 1984. Totalitarianism is harmful because it dehumanizes citizens in so many ways and as a result,
it only leads to human extinction. Living in a country like Oceania in 1984 without freedom of thought,
action and expression is horrible because these things are fragments of humanity and without these
freedoms, it makes people ignorant, unintelligent and unhappy. Moreover, …show more content…
Furthermore, totalitarian states restrict their citizens to act independently which causes
most people to become depressed because they can never reach eternal state of happiness without
freedom. A prisoner from Thailand says, “Without freedom, humans are not human” (Pruksakasemsuk
2011). The ability to act freely is important to human beings because it is the main factor of happiness.
Freedom permits human beings to do things that make them happy and taking this away from them is
basically like taking their happiness as well. For instance, in North Korea people are not allowed to leave
their country because it is one of their totalitarian rules. In 1984, Oceania citizens are also not allowed to
escape their country and they are separated from the rest of the world. They are completely clueless of
what is outside of their country aside from knowing there are Eastasia and Eurasia. If a person’s dream
from North Korea or Oceania is to travel the world, their dream is automatically crushed because they
are not allowed to leave their country. Therefore, lack of freedom makes people despair, unresponsive
and passive which cause human beings to become unable to think and