Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, who has a political talk show on Fox News, made similar observation about social (and regular) media in a recent video called "We're becoming an
authoritarian society."
But China is a repressive,
authoritarian society with or without big data.
It's not surprising that an
authoritarian society prefers to spin, threaten and manipulate individual journalists than to allow their people to communicate with the world outside its borders.
It describes an authoritarian state: ruled by 'a supreme autocrat,' regimented by 'continuous terrorism,' wracked by 'confidential reports' and 'cowardly accusations' of 'anonymous traitors,' ruined by the lack of 'security of the home' and 'tranquility of conscience.' Many of us will find these aspects of authoritarianism familiar, because we have just emerged from an
authoritarian society or backsliding into one.
Among many Asian societies, Taiwan stands out as a shining example of successful transition from a traditional and
authoritarian society to a modern and democratic one, marked by the historic turning point referred to as the End of Martial Law in 1987.
In Marilena Chaui's "Comemorar?" from Brazil: Mito fundador e sociedade autoritaria (89-95), she aptly draws correlations between Brazil's colonial framework and its post-colonial makeup as an
authoritarian society, linking public and private spheres.
Iran (like North Korea or any
authoritarian society) could simply not accept the kind of international presence required to prove compliance.
More poignantly, Sanders identified four main dynamics driven by President Trump that he believes are moving the US towards a more
authoritarian society. First, Trump has been discrediting and undermining the mainstream media and has positioned himself, mostly via Twitter, as the only source of truth - a dangerous myth spread most recently by Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, chairman of the House Science Committee.
However, rather like Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, Madeline finds her society debut overwhelmed by larger events, including warfare, poverty, and the breakdown of an
authoritarian society built on the backs of slave laborers.
Set in a dystopian near-future, an
authoritarian society is at war with Pregnant...
There are two main threads to the story, the first being the way that the families survive in the oppressive
authoritarian society surrounding them; the second is how they become involved in the Motherland's plan to pressurize neighbouring countries by pretending to have landed on the Moon, and having based weapons there.
One series included in both of these earlier exhibitions, "Handshake," 1981, a group of paintings with a handprint motif that the artist distributed to family and friends, embedded a statement of solidarity within a formal motif; each symbolized the profound significance in an
authoritarian society of even so simple a gesture of physical connection as a handshake.