Part 2/10:
The crux of totalitarianism can be traced to a collective willingness to engage in deception. Influential thinker Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn identified this phenomenon, asserting that the true horror of totalitarian regimes lies in the pervasive culture of lies that engulfs society. Almost every individual, from family members to colleagues, participates in this charade, knowingly falsifying their speech, perceptions, and actions. This voluntary distortion of truth, while often rationalized, becomes a pathway to moral decay and spiritual demise.