Having Thoughts Is a Crime under Totalitarian Rule

jiejing

Having Thoughts Is a Crime under Totalitarian Rule

Xuefeng

July 16, 2025

If you have committed no crime, yet the rulers still monitor you day and night—or even imprison you—then congratulations: you are a true human being in the fullest sense.

Under totalitarian rule, the moment you begin to pursue a beautiful life, the moment you form your own views and independent thoughts, you are guilty. The regime will move quickly to control you, fearing that you may become someone it can no longer restrain.

If your life remains calm under totalitarian rule—though your stomach is empty and your days are bitter—and the authorities turn a blind eye to you, it means you have no thoughts, no aspirations. You are merely a shell, a body without spirit.

This is easy to understand. Imagine raising a group of pigs and dogs. One day, some of them begin to form their own ideas and develop goals of their own. You would feel uneasy. You would worry: will they become human? Will they challenge your authority? In such a case, it is not hard to understand why you might harbor the urge to eliminate the disobedient ones.

In the eyes of a totalitarian ruler, the people are expected to be pigs and dogs—without mind, without spirit, without purpose. A pig that doesn’t want to be a pig is not a good pig. A dog that doesn’t want to be a dog is not a good dog. If any pig or dog begins to speak differently or act unusually, immediate control measures are put in place: around-the-clock surveillance, instant arrest at the first sign of deviation. And when necessary, the order is simple—eliminate without mercy.

Thus it becomes clear:
Under totalitarian rule, those who are monitored, suppressed, arrested, or persecuted are people—true human beings.
And those favored, praised, and protected by the regime are, for the most part, pigs and dogs—those who have been fully tamed.