Every country has at some point been called “totalitarian” by its detractors, and no country self-identifies as such. It’s so imprecise and vague it’s useless for serious discussion, especially when there are actual ideologies (that various governments claim, and that have some sort of useful definition) you can talk about instead.
The only thing it is useful for – as others here have pointed out – is clumsily equating fascism and communism because both systems exercise state power.
The excersizing of state power by liberal societies, that actively kills millions of people world wide is never considered in these arguments because its a form of exceptionalism.
Every country has at some point been called “totalitarian” by its detractors, and no country self-identifies as such. It’s so imprecise and vague it’s useless for serious discussion, especially when there are actual ideologies (that various governments claim, and that have some sort of useful definition) you can talk about instead.
The only thing it is useful for – as others here have pointed out – is clumsily equating fascism and communism because both systems exercise state power.
The excersizing of state power by liberal societies, that actively kills millions of people world wide is never considered in these arguments because its a form of exceptionalism.