WHY IS PAX A DICTATORSHIP?
HOW MORALITY IS THE OUTCOME OF HISTORY
24 August 2022
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Tilden, Free Pax States - One might look at Pax as a thuggish misogynistic dictatorship and leave things there, but when you peel the layers of history, there is more nuance. I am not going to vindicate the tyranical rule of the Bedonite dynasty but explain the context in which their rule arose and how it shaped the way they govern Packilvania today and why their people are complicit. The Bedonite dynasty was at the head of the Carriers of Mercy an organisation that was once part of the Packilvanian Communist Party but declared war when the Communist leadership threatened to destroy them. That war was horrific and saw the first and last use of nuclear weapons by a government against its own citizens. The Communists had come to power by usurping the Demir dynasty.
Why are parties banned? The Bedonites saw that the Communist party was prone to factionalism, frivolity and cruelty and they saw their own quasi-political party, the Carriers, was able to usurp the ruling government. For them, parties are purveyors of instability and threats to the ruling class.
Why is the Parliament weak? In the 1910s, Parliament was powerful. It removed the Sultana as head of Paxism because she married a Thaerist foreign king and it was the oven in which revolutionaries were baked. Thus, despite reintroducing it as part of historically linking their own dynasty to the Demirs and dynasties before them, it wanted to prevent the Parliament from having the power to unseat their political system.
Why is the country theocratic? When the Communists took over, they introduced atheism and banned religion. As such, the Bedonites saw that atheism was bad, and created a theocratic state to counterbalance its influences. The older generations in Pax grew up under communism so their religious views are weak, but the youth see religion as a rebellion against the stagnation of their atheistic apologetics of their parents and grandparents. young men especially like the conservative Paxism of Pax because it strengthens their social role.
Why is the country misogynistic? Because the Paxist monarchy of the Demirs ended with a woman, the Bedonites reasoned that the power of their government would come undone if a woman came to rule. Furthermore, the Communists were much more pro-woman than the Demirs. The Bedonites and their supporters reasoned that gender equality breaks down social structures and is a symbol of the Communists and thus sought to dismantle it.
Why is everything heavily censored? Although the Communists watched everyone, they were not as effective at surveillance as the Bedonites, which enabled rebellions to form. Thus, to the Bedonites the solution was more surveillance and censorship. Furthermore, they saw the internet as both an opportunity and a threat that needed to be heavily guarded to prevent instability.
This shows us that beliefs about what is right or wrong are strongly influenced by historic context. This does not mean that Packilvania is justified in the way it rules nor that they should be ignored. Further, it does not mean that the people are stupid for allowing such a government to rule over them. They saw the Communist Party’s cruelty and stagnation, and they see the religious freedoms, stability and economic progress and they pined for their traditions that had been destroyed by the Communists and they made a choice to follow the Bedonites and their absolute reign. Thus, it is important that the whole story is considered so that appropriate approaches can be taken when seeking to propagate liberal democratic moral ideals.
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SYLERIA NOBLIS
Political commentator and strategist