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This post is a response to the question How does societal ignorance play a role in a country's fate towards practicing totalitarianism? posed by 
I think that countries that move toward totalitarianism operate off of societal ignorance. I say this meaning that an uninformed citizenry is unable to disprove what government entities tell them. This is why in the United States we value the freedom of press so deeply. The more transparency that exists creates the opportunity for critique of the government. A totalitarian government can not allow room for critique which is control of information is so critical to their success and operation. For example, think of North Korea. In North Korea, media that doesn’t come directly from the state is not allowed because if citizens had knowledge of what outside countries were like, they would find that their government is abusive and unacceptable. This is also why many totalitarian regimes begin with changing school curriculum and policing what is and is not taught in schools, so young people can be indoctrinated. I think the level of societal ignorance is also important when determining whether it will lead to a totalitarian regime. Not every person is going to be fully and accurately informed as there is a lot of contradicting information in the world. For example, QAnon believers exist, but they do not make up enough of the population to make a substantial difference. However, when we reach the tipping point of people’s lack of trust in the government (often justifiably so), it is going to signal a new era for the United States. I’m not claiming that it will be a totalitarian regime, but that is a possibility as totalitarian regimes are more likely to take root during times of instability. Societal ignorance is necessary in order for totalitarianism to take root because no well informed citizens would accept that as a governing body. Additionally, totalitarianism begins with hiding information from their citizenry in order to manipulate them into adhering to what is proposed.