19
The ghost of Weimar: how consent becomes control
In 1930s Germany, democracy died not by coup but by vote. The Weimar Republic, born of postwar hopes, dissolved under the weight of emergency decrees, economic despair, and populist manipulation. Adolf Hitler did not storm the gates of power; he was handed the keys under the guise of constitutional legality.
In the digital age, in the citadels of Westernia, power no longer needed brute force. It encouraged, suggested, predicted, and manipulated thoughts and corrupted consciences. It used Westerners’ preferences and bad habits against them, always demanding more, and of course focusing on placing the burden of political failure on the unfortunate, whether they were immigrants or members of a race that had once suffered the torments of slavery. Using populist invective with murderous vehemence, crooked politicians sold the illusion of choice while reducing the real space for dissent. The autocrats of Westernia did not need to burn books; like the libraries did Julius Caesar in Alexandria in 48 BC or Caliph Omar in 642, they simply cut funding for scientific research and removed from the flow of information any documentary material that might awaken people’ s consciences, replacing it with mediocre entertainment celebrating ignorance and the flesh.
Flashmag! Issue 160 May 2025
And like the Weimar elites who underestimated the monster they had empowered, Westernia’ s democratic institutions were often complicit, either because they were too slow to act or because they were too eager to profit from it.
19