Last night I set my computer to download on my slow internet connection a number of videos I figured would be interesting. One was a short, informative film on despotism made in 1946 and now stored at The Internet Archive. It is as relevant today as it was when it was made. You can download the 40 MB version here:
https://archive.org/download/Despotis1946/Despotis1946_512kb.mp4
Other formats of the same video (most are larger filesize) can be selected at:
https://archive.org/details/Despotis1946
The documentary uses two scales to test whether a society tends toward openness or despotism: Respect, and Power. Whether these properties are held by ordinary people or are denied them, then this is a guide to the state of the society.
There are two more tests that give an idea of whether a society is moving towards or away from despotism: Economic Distribution, and Information. If these are evenly spread and accessible to all in society then its future looks bright, but if these things are weighted heavily toward a few then it is moving dangerously toward despotism.
(Crossposted from http://miriam-e.dreamwidth.org/322477.html at my Dreamwidth account. Number of comments there so far:![comment count unavailable]()
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https://archive.org/download/Despotis1946/Despotis1946_512kb.mp4
Other formats of the same video (most are larger filesize) can be selected at:
https://archive.org/details/Despotis1946
The documentary uses two scales to test whether a society tends toward openness or despotism: Respect, and Power. Whether these properties are held by ordinary people or are denied them, then this is a guide to the state of the society.
There are two more tests that give an idea of whether a society is moving towards or away from despotism: Economic Distribution, and Information. If these are evenly spread and accessible to all in society then its future looks bright, but if these things are weighted heavily toward a few then it is moving dangerously toward despotism.
(Crossposted from http://miriam-e.dreamwidth.org/322477.html at my Dreamwidth account. Number of comments there so far: