Persepolis and The Dangers of Totalitarian Governments

      

    

       Totalitarian governments are detrimental to human rights and freedom which is why self defense through firearms is the only way to protect those rights. Totalitarian governments control every aspect of citizens life and offenders to these rules are prosecuted. The totalitarian Islamic government that was once in control in Afghanistan broke more than half of the 30 human rights set in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including numbers 1, 3, 9, 12-16, 18-22, and 28-30. ("Universal Declaration") This blatant disregard for human rights needs to be stopped as soon as it is proposed. Yet, if people are disarmed first, a trained and equipped army could put down a protest with no effort. Resistance would be pointless if we let a government take away our guns first. During World War II, Adolf Hitler ingeniously created a world in which he was the total ruler and anyone he thought inferior became a slave laborer or died. He once said “The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing” (qtd. in Halbrook). The fact that the most notorious murderer and dictator in history makes sure to apply gun control before taking over a group of people should be an indicator that in order to preserve freedom, one must be armed. Like Hitler stated, if the citizens of an oppressed people want to stop a dictator that is hurting everyone's rights, they need to armed (Hallbrook). Marji Satrapi expressed a similar problem with the Islamic regime in her novel, Persepolis. The government controlled every aspect of her life, and they had no freedom, even in common aspects like clothing. The need to obtain human rights by personal means and the fact that one of the most notorious dictators endorces gun control before taking control of people are both reasons why totalitarian governments can only be held at bay by citizens with the right to carry guns.

Works Cited

Halbrook, Stephen P. "NAZI FIREARMS LAW AND THE
     DISARMING OF THE GERMAN JEWS."

Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law 17.3 (2000):
     483-535.

Stephenhalbrook.com. Web. 21 May 2013.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York, NY: Pantheon, 2003.
     Print.

"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights." UN News Center.
     UN, n.d. Web. 21 May 2013.