If only people obeyed more

"Communism would have worked if people hadn't tried to cheat the system". This is probably the most ridiculous (or blood-boiling, depending on my mood) argument I heard in defense of an indefensible ideology that killed tens of millions of people, imprisoned at least as many, and produced a horrible standard of living.

The person making that claim doesn't stop to ask: why would all those people living under communism try to game the system? Could they have wanted a better life for themselves and their families?

If they did, there were two ways to achieve this. They could join the party and climb the ranks to attain a high-enough position to enjoy the privileges reserved for the communist elite. Or, they could push on the edges a little to get ahead if the regime was "soft" enough to allow that. People of integrity preferred the non-political way and thus "gamed the system".

There's always a supply of people wanting to obey and make the others fall in line, which we could see during the Covid restrictions. "We'd be done with Covid if only everybody wore their mask all the time, stayed home, socially distanced, closed their business, got their booster for themselves and their kids, and just followed what the experts say to the letter".

Their thinking goes something like the following. If we still haven't reached communist nirvana, that's because some people have been egoist enough to want a better life for themselves. If Covid is still around and spreads, that must be due to some covidiots not following the stupid and inhumane rules.

Citizen! Don't think for yourself! Don't question authority! Just follow the rules and act like everyone else! If you do, we'll all flourish together. If not, we'll all perish.

It seems like a page from Orwell's 1984, but the last few years have taught us that it's the morality of the vast majority of our fellow citizens. We usually look up to thinking differently, daring to stand up to the norm, and defying authority. Incidentally, it has taken our civilization so far and given us the stellar living standard and enormous freedom we enjoy compared to our ancestors. It's disheartening to see that most of us would prefer to make obedience the organizing principle of society.

I'm not a hero by any stretch of the imagination. However, as long as the consequences of disobedience are mild, it doesn't take one to live by the motto: "When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty."