I think it's probably better to simply say that "authoritarian" is a buzzword, though your implied argument that all states work by exerting authority on (at least some portion of) their population is certainly true. Anyone who uses a term like "authoritarian" rather than even a marginally more-descriptive negative term like, idk, "bureaucratic" or "state capitalist" (which gets misused, but I digress) is immediately demonstrating themselves to have untrustworthy judgement on the topic

[–] IzyaKatzmann@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

maybe bring back totalitarian and use it against countries like the US? have a word that, like Huey P. Newton said regarding coining the term 'pig' for police, "highlights the contradiction", in this case, between the selective usage of a word and it's inherent meaning, none of which is understandable without contradictions from a prescriptive linguistic context

[–] GarbageShoot@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You are probably right, I was really just trying to talk about how, as it currently stands, the people who use the term are basically just expressing either that they fell for a thought-terminating cliche or are expecting their audience to fall for it.

[–] IzyaKatzmann@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago

rat-salute-2