this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
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"Authoritarian" is a meaningless descriptor. All states are authoritarian, what matters is which class is in control and thus exerting its authority. States controlled by the working class are demonized in the west as uniquely "authoritarian" because the corporate owners of the media cannot freely act as they please in the markets of "authoritarian" countries.
The US media is more than willing to praise Batista, Pinochet, even Hitler until later on, as long as they work with US Capitalists. Meanwhile, any country that attempts to assert its own sovereignty is immediately demonized and/or crushed via militant means.
What made you think I thought the US isn't authoritarian?
Authoritarian means the government deciding what people can do or say beyond preventing actual harm to others, or causing harm to their subjects to promote the government's interest to the detriment of the people.
Overthrowing other governments is imperialism, not authoritarianism - I'd define thr latter as largely internal, exceptions being eg. Singapore's laws applying to Singaporean citizens and residents even when they're outside of Singapore.
I never said you didn't think the US was authoritarian. My point is that western media portrays other countries as "authoritarian" if they don't play along with US economic interests, and will portray brutal dictators as defenders of democracy and freedom if they do play ball.
In the final analysis, "authoritarianism" is a matter of perspective, what matters is which class is exerting its authority, as all existing states are class states.