Introduction
Knowledge is power. The significance of this comes to life when one has to use knowledge to define his being and that of others. Ichikawa and Steup (2001) described knowledge "as a way of getting the truth." Knowledgeable people have a better capacity for understanding and learning skills and information that are critical in their lives. They are aware of their personalities and the things or people they require to boost and shape themselves. More so, they are eligible to make informed opinions about social constructions.
However, it is crucial to understand that knowledge becomes useless if people cannot use it to better their lives. Not every knowledge is accurate and genuine; some can be manipulative (Ichikawa & Steup, 2001). This aspect culminates in the concept of intellectuality that entails people to apply knowledge effectively. According to Paul and Elder (2013), intellectuality entails people's criticality process to determine which skills or opinions are applicable in bettering his life. Intellectual people are skeptical about the knowledge they feed because they are quick to research for the truth. . Thus, they are quick to research to find the truth, making them gain authority and power. Significantly, lack of intellect is one of the major causes of vices in society. Non-intellect people are always vulnerable to be exploited because they not liberal. They depend on other people's opinions and ideas, enabling the intellect to take advantage. One type of vice encouraged by lack of intellectuality is totalitarianism, which is a form of dictatorship leadership. Here, the leaders or people in power tend to limit their subordinates through oppression and repression. Studies show that these leaders tend to take advantage of the subordinates' lack of knowledge and intellectuality to manipulate them (the subordinates) that their oppressive and controlling leadership is morally acceptable. A society that is full of intellect is most likely to be democratic because the people will use their knowledge to stand by what is right without having to be manipulated.
The effect is reflected in George Orwell's novel, Animal Farm, which opposes the idea of totalitarianism. In the story, characters are seen as ignorant or blind to the vices happening in their society because they lack intellectuality. They seem to abide by the villains' knowledge without investigating to determine its appropriateness. Notably, this research tends to base on the novel's unfolding events to answer the question, "how does a shortage of intelligence and intellectuality integrate to totalitarianism?" The study will deeply explain the concept of totalitarianism and intellectuality and how the two relate both in real life and in the novel.
What is Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a form of leadership mostly practiced by government administration. This kind of leadership is a dictatorship in nature as those in power tend to limit their juniors' sense of liberty. People under this leadership are most to lack individual freedom, such as self-expression and self-development. The totalitarians' primary purpose is to intimidate their juniors by controlling their liberty to exploit them for their (the totalitarians) own gains. The gains can be monetary, political, social, or any aspect that boosts their powers and authority over others.
In her 1949 book, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt breaks down the totalitarianism concept based on the events that featured the German Nazi, under Adolf Hitler's leadership, raining terror and destruction on the Jews. She argues that the two distinct characteristics of a totalitarian rule are antisemitism and imperialism (Tsao, 2002). The term "antisemitism was coined to describe the German Nazi's hostility against the Jews (Tsao, 2002). In a general context, it can be used to describe a culture that is discriminative to certain ethnic and racial groups. Notably, totalitarians apply antisemitism against groups that pose a threat to their power. An excellent example is Hitler's hatred for the Jews because he believed in the myths that were the cause of the world's plagues, particularly Germany's defeat (Tsao, 2002). When a totalitarian leader discriminates against a particular group, he does so to repress its power and influence that may overturn his authority. The aim is to manifest his power by intimidating the threat.
Imperialism is also a form of leadership that gains total political and economic control through colonization. Here, the military becomes a power source to coerce people to abide by the imperialists' rules (Tsao, 2002). Arendt describes the concept of imperialism using the European colonial power in Africa (Tsao, 2002). The European colonies used the military to control the African natives and exploit their resources for their industrial needs. Notably, imperialism can also include other forms of hard power, such as forced labor, secret governmental executioners, and violent discrimination against certain groups (Tsao, 2002). The hard power's purpose is to instill fear among people in power, allowing them to continue exploiting and controlling them.
Another trait of totalitarianism is manipulation through propaganda. Notably, totalitarian leaders are always charismatic to fool people to conform to their policies, even when harmful. They usually have a way to manipulate people's decision process by providing them with baseless myths. Notably, a propaganda's success in selling an idea is mainly determined by how the propagandists gain the people's trust. The same applies to totalitarian leaders who have to pretend to be committed to their subordinates' needs, yet they are only concerned with empowering themselves. Once trust is gained, people become reluctant of the totalitarian policies since they have been conditioned to believe that the (policies) are effective for the societal good. An excellent example is Stalinism introduced by Russian president Joseph Stalin. Stalin manipulated his people to believe that his repressive policies, such as extreme labor, were Russian's hopes of becoming a superpower country.
Regarding propaganda, a totalitarian government tends to encourage a monopoly on communication mediums, targeting the public. The intention of monopolizing communication means is to control the flow of information to prevent the public from accessing information that would incite them to resist the governmental policies. An excellent example is during Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi's presidency. The media was restricted to report pro-governmental news, failure to which the media would be subjected to intimidation, legal harassment, and suppression by the government (Mak'Ochieng, 2006).
How Can Totalitarianism Be Prevented
One surprising fact about totalitarian regimes is that they do not survive for long. Bostrom and Cirkovic (2011) labeled totalitarianism as the world's global catastrophic risks as it entails the destruction of people's lives and properties. Regardless of its risks, it is still preventable, mainly when the citizens are empowered. Empowerment means that people are well educated to point out when the government goes wrong concerning their rights as citizens, such as freedom of expression and movement (Bostrom & Cirkovic, 2011). Notably, knowledge gives them the power over the totalitarian regimes as they can form or advocate for policies that exalts them as citizens instead of intimidating them. People can be empowered through media campaigns that can reach masses of audiences and create awareness about the state of the nation and what needs to be done (Bostrom & Cirkovic, 2011).
What is Intellectuality/ Intelligence and Why Its Shortage is Disadvantageous
As explained above, intelligence is the ability to apply knowledge and make it useful in improving living. Intellectuality supports' one self-awareness and that of others through critical analysis of information and events. Therefore, as Philosopher Immanuel Kant argued, intelligent people are aware of the thoughts that bring them maximum joy and fulfillment of their desires (Johnson, 2004). According to Kant, other forces in people's lives, whether other people or social institutions, do not have the right to decide what is best for them (Johnson, 2004). Therefore, intelligence as a personality requires puts people in a better position to behave morally with other people and set boundaries in cases their rights are violated.
Fundamentally, totalitarian regimes and rulers tend to enforce strategies on people, believing that they are the best in achieving the greater good. They are good at convincing the people that they will go to extreme measures to make them happy. They use the promises to gain the people's trust and later turn to the obedience rule, where people are expected to follow the strategies given without asking questions. Now, the shortage of intelligence among people makes them incapable of countering these fake promises that later become the centrality of the totalitarian regimes.
Consider Joseph Stalin's regime as an example in this discussion. Stalin came to leadership after Lenin died and transformed the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state. He began by coining the policy of "socialism in one country," where he promised to improve Russian's communism state that had been introduced during Lenin's regime (Patterns of Change, 2020). Using his policy, he began monopolizing the country's economy by renaming many towns and factories his names. He enforced forced labor, convincing the Russians that it would help build their land to a superpower level. He even killed his enemies, whom he convinced were blocking his efforts of providing a sense of security to the country's development (Patterns of Change, 2020).
Now, it can be argued that the shortage of intelligence caused the Russians not to see the truth about Stalin's leadership. For instance, they could have applied the concept of doubting, as explained by Philosopher Rene Descartes. Descartes argued that doubt was necessary before assimilating any idea as it was the best process of separating the truth from the lies. Notably, doubting entails critical thinking by analyzing the source of information and its effects to validate its importance. Descartes insisted that such a process of thing empowers people to free as they do not depend on others' ideas. Back to Stalinism's example, the doubt process could have enabled the Russians to determine Stalin's real motives of "socialism in one country" policy. They would have been able to evaluate Stalin's personality to know about his crudeness, and perhaps, they would have determined that he was unable to fulfill his promises of perfecting the Russian communism.
Summary of the Animal Farm
The plot centers on farm animals that overthrow their human master, Mr. Jones, the Manor Farm owner. Mr. Jones's excess drinking makes him incompetent of taking care of the farm animals. His laziness causes the animals to live in deplorable conditions of shortage of food and improper sanitation. As a result, the animals are unhealthy, and the aging ones suffer the most. Mr. Jones also treats his animals with cruelty by beating and killing those that are unable to work to his expectation. These maltreatments are what causes the animals to kick out Mr. Jones and take control over the farm, hoping to improve their living conditions. Two aid a smooth transition, two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, who also led the revolution, educates the animals how to read and write.
