Agenda of the Authoritarian Right: Dehumanize, Incapacitate, Transform into Extensions of the State

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Original Poster: National Archives
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Most readers are probably familiar with what has been happening to Jose Padilla, an American citizen accused of an ever-changing litany of terrorism-related offenses who has been held in strict isolation for two years and who, as a consequence, has developed severely debilitating mental problems. Everyone seems to agree that Padilla is now mentally disturbed and that this is a direct result of his treatment at the hands of the Bush administration — even psychiatric experts who normally testify for the prosecution in criminal cases have concluded that Padilla is incompetent to stand trial now.

All of this is almost too easy to criticize, especially given the weak "defenses" offered by the Bush administration. They deny that he was mistreated, though they don't deny that he's been mentally damaged and essentially insane. How do they suppose he got that way? How does genuinely humane treatment cause a person to change like this? According to one high-ranking official, "the objective of the government always has been to incapacitate this person," so they aren't particularly displeased with the situation.

Rather than criticize the specifics of how Bush had Jose Padilla treated, I'd like to point out just how unremarkable that treatment has been — not from a moral standpoint, but rather from that of the agenda and objectives of authoritarians. Padilla's experiences might be extreme on a personal level, but they represent no more nor less than what should be expected from authoritarians. Jose Padilla has been dehumanized, incapacitated, and transformed into little more than an extension of the state's case against him, which is precisely what authoritarians do to all of society in order to more easily control it.


Dehumanization: Jose Padilla's dehumanization was accomplished in large part through the denial of human contact over such an extended period of time. Humans are social animals and when denied real social interaction, mental imbalance is inevitable. For more than two years, Padilla had contact with almost no one but his interrogators, and that contact would have been scripted for particular goals — it can't qualify as real human interaction. Padilla couldn't even interact with his guards because food was slipped through a slot in the door; when moved to and from interrogations, he'd be placed in sensory deprivation via a hood and ear coverings. Inmates in maximum-security prisons, locked alone in cells for 23 hours a day, enjoy more human contact and interaction, yet they still develop serious mental problems as a consequence of this style of incarceration.

The authoritarian agenda for society requires dehumanization as well, and while it's obviously impossible to deprive everyone of human contact they still manage to achieve close approximations. One tactic is to deprive people of the genuine sorts of human social interaction which allow for the development of meaningful relationships. The threat of constant state surveillance through cameras, opening mail, monitoring telephone conversations, etc., makes it more difficult for people to speak spontaneously and say what's on their minds. People act differently when they know or even just suspect that they are being observed — they certainly don’t act naturally, saying what they really think.

Another tactic is to quash human sentiment so that it can't be applied to "undesirables" who are needed as scapegoats and enemies. The death of a thousand people in a foreign land at the hands of the state is treated as less morally significant than the death of a single soldier involved in those same events. The disappearance and of loss of civil rights of hundreds of "illegal immigrants" is quietly passed over because, as alleged criminals, they don't matter anymore. The authoritarian agenda seeks to have us care less and less about each other as equal human beings because it’s when we truly care that we can be united against authoritarian evil.


Incapacitation: Jose Padilla's incapacitation has been achieved through the elimination of his ability to make rational, informed choices in the pursuit of his own interests. Traditionally such incapacitation occurs in the context of confinement, but his confinement was so extreme that now he is incapacitated internally, not just externally. The walls of his cell have become walls in his own mind, preventing him from being able to have a mental life that is independent of his role as a prisoner of the Bush administration. If he were dumped on the street tomorrow, it's unlikely he would be able to survive on his own, much less pose any sort of threat to the interests of the state. Which, of course, is the whole point.

Authoritarians seek to incapacitate everyone in society, not just a few who have popped up on their radar. Not everyone can be driven insane, but the insanity of the rules, regulations, and relationships set up by the authoritarians can prevent people from leading sane lives — and thus the end result is not much different. People are led to believe that they cannot have legitimate interests independent of those who control the state. When the state tells them they should be afraid, they experience fear and act accordingly. People with enough self-confidence to articulate beliefs and goals that differ from those in power are denied any ability to promote those ideas in a manner that might lead to changes — and are openly derided as being divisive or as supporting the enemies of the state. Some might even call for these people to be incarcerated, thus allowing them to be given the Bush treatment on a personal level just like Padilla was. The ultimate goal is to narrow or eliminate avenues of political expression and protest in order to prevent people from effectively opposing the desires of those in power.


Extensions of the State: The goal of dehumanization and incapacitation is to eliminate independent thought or action. Authoritarianism is defined as a political philosophy where all individuals are expected to subject themselves to some authority, eliminating most if not all personal freedom. Jose Padilla's physical incarceration has eliminated his mental freedom as well and this has caused him to adopt the interests of the state over his own. His lawyers say that he has become so passive and fearful that he is "like a piece of furniture." He is not just unable to help in his own defense but unwilling as well: he feels safer in the custody of the government and objected to his lawyers' rigorous questioning of the FBI agents who arrested him.

This is similar to how authoritarians would treat all of society. By making people artificially dependent upon the state for safety from problems originally manufactured (or at least overly hyped) by the state, it's possible to prevent people from being able to imagine themselves as having legitimate interests outside of what the state tells them. It's not possible to put all of society in the same sort of physical incarceration as Padilla, but that's not necessary. Physical boundaries can be created through widespread surveillance, denying people personal space and privacy where they can exist without the state. More important are the mental boundaries, however — physical barriers are less effective at preventing people from taking action than preventing people from wanting to take certain actions to begin with. If people cannot imagine alternatives, they won't seek them, and that's more conducive to the authoritarian agenda than walls and barbed wire.



The Bush administration’s treatment of Jose Padilla demonstrates many things. It demonstrates just what Bush and his minions are capable of doing to American citizens. It demonstrates just how little they respect basic standards of morality, justice, and liberty when it comes to pursuing their goals — and that they consider such standards to be subordinate to anything else they might have in mind. What I have tried to outline here, though, is that Padilla's treatment also demonstrates some of the basic goals and tactics which authoritarians have in mind for society generally, not just those few unlucky enough to be physically incarcerated in special prisons. The treatment of Jose Padilla is just what should be expected from an authoritarian, dictatorial system — it should serve as a warning to the rest of us about what we face if we do not remove from power those able and willing to sanction such government behavior.

The "Freeper Viewers Rave" quotes are all genuine, by the way, but they are about the Saddam Hussein execution video