They just have to be unpredictable and unexpected. The idea is to have everyone terrified at all times. That is the most efficient scenario for control, as you don't have to police actual rules if the rules are made up and the consequences are lethal.

This is pretty typical in totalitarian terrorist governments like Russia, NK and past dictatorships like Cambodia, Libya, Chile and Uganda.

[–] partial_accumen 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The idea is to have everyone terrified at all times. That is the most efficient scenario for control, as you don’t have to police actual rules if the rules are made up and the consequences are lethal.

Doesn't this method have diminishing returns? As soon as the populace believes anything and everything will get them killed by the state, there's nothing preventing the populous from rising against the state because they have nothing to lose.

[–] ikidd 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

There's a balancing point. Most people aren't really able to process the idea of "they came for my neighbor and I said nothing" and do something about it.

[–] partial_accumen 0 points 5 months ago

Perhaps, but eventually one member of nearly every family will have been "came for". At that point it ceases to be a theoretical exercise and becomes a practical reality.