"Trump's an Authoritarian!", screamed the Post-Modern Totalitarian. You must Enjoy on MY terms, or else feel "guilty"
Slavoj Žižek uses the contrast between the traditional authoritative father and the postmodern permissive father to illustrate how modern power and ideology control us not through open force, but through hidden psychological demands. [1, 2, 3]The Traditional Authoritarian Father
- The Command: He issues a direct, external order with no pretense about your feelings (e.g., "I don't care how you feel, you must go visit your grandmother").
- The Dynamic: It is an explicit external rule.
- The Space for Rebellion: Because the authority is clear, outward, and external, you can easily disobey, talk back, or rebel behind his back. Your inner life remains your own. [1, 2, 3]
The Postmodern Permissive ("Obscene"/ Totalitarian) Father
- The Command: He masks his demand as a gentle suggestion or free choice (e.g., "You know how much your grandmother loves you, but you should only visit her if you really want to").
- The Dynamic: It is an insidious psychological trap. He does not just order you to go; he commands you to want to go out of your own free will.
- The Loss of Inner Freedom: This creates what psychoanalysis calls an obscene superego injunction. If you refuse, you cannot just blame a tyrant; you have to feel guilty for being ungrateful or lacking genuine desire. There is nowhere left to rebel because the system has captured your internal motivations.
Cancel Culture Re-Ascendant?
