History Main / IntellectuallySupportedTyranny

In real life, all states and systems of government have more or less "official" philosophers, ideologists, and journalists who promulgate and propagate their respective ideologies, and this has demonstrably been so [[OlderThanDirt at least as far back as we have written records]]. Naturally, tyrannies are no exception. However, precisely which historical (or worse, present-day) regimes qualify as "tyrannies" is a matter not everyone is likely to agree on, and debate over the said matter would be overwhelmingly likely to produce more heat than light. Therefore, Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease.

This trope has historically been very much TruthInTelevision, despite the general assumption that intellectuals are supposed to be responsible in their social and political opinions. In these cases, the intellectuals themselves can be the ones pulling the levers of power, and genuinely believe that what they are doing is [[KnightTemplar for the greater good]]. Perhaps paradoxically, other intellectuals are then still likely to be among the targets of their oppression: namely, those independent spirits who ''disagree'' with the approved ideologies of the regime.

* In ''La Trahison des Clercs'' ("The Treason of the Intellectuals"), French philosopher Julien Benda accused most European intellectuals of the 19th and early 20th centuries of having done this, becoming apologists to tyranny by supporting ideas like nationalism, communism, warmongering, and racism.

The regime has established a tyranny that oppresses people, or carries out or initiates policies which are tyrannical, or otherwise express a lot of nasty views of FantasticRacism and so on. Most of the people who support this have to be pure evil, right? Sure some of them are, but it's possible that some or most of them are JustFollowingOrders, or are being bribed by BetterLivingThroughEvil, are intimidated into submission by fear and reprisal. But surely, no smart person could rationally condone and support such actions. Cue the ultimate BrokenPedestal, the individuals who are smart, who are competent, and even achievers in their profession, supporting an organization, state, or a set of policies that are directly harmful to others. Such individuals both believe and support such policies and even articulate elaborately written justifications that on the face of it, [[BastardlySpeech may sound convincing]] and you might even approve, reluctantly or honestly, that JerkassHasAPoint or VillainHasAPoint.

More sympathetic fictional depictions may show the intellectuals as [[WellIntentionedExtremist misguided]] sympathizers of the EvilOverlord du jour either because they DracoInLeatherPants said Lord for some reason or other, or see them as ByronicHero and NotEvilJustMisunderstood, which the villain might even invoke to better manipulate said intellectuals to serving as tools and builders of their CultOfPersonality. This is a good variation on NotBrainwashed, and it provides a more nuanced and gray look at such conflicts to better explain why LaResistance is always on the back foot to TheEmpire. Alternatively, [[AuthorTract the author]] may themselves be an [[ScienceIsBad anti-intellectual]], in which case the intellectuals will be the most ridiculous [[TheWarOnStraw strawmen]] imaginable.

In real life, all states and systems of government have more or less "official" philosophers, ideologists and journalists who promulgate and propagate their respective ideologies, and this has demonstrably been so [[OlderThanDirt at least as far back as we have written records]]. Naturally, tyrannies are no exception. However, precisely which historical (or worse, present-day) regimes qualify as "tyrannies" is a matter not everyone is likely to agree on, and debate over the said matter would be overwhelmingly likely to produce more heat than light. Therefore, Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease.

* Diethard in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is another journalist example of this type, becoming a propagandist for Lelouch/Zero. He's motivated by discontent with the entrenched Britannian aristocracy, but ends up as a more negative version as, ultimately, he's really looking for an interesting MagnificentBastard to follow, and thus defects to the side of Prince Schneizel, who is even more so a VillainWithGoodPublicity.

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* ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'' has a handful of 'intellectuals' supporting the [[CommieLand People's States]], although the overwhelming majority are unwilling to put forward works stating anything more than uncertainty. Dr. Ferris, author of ''Why Do You Think You Think'' and political force behind creating [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo Project Xylophone]] with a range focused within the continental United States, is the most overt of that branch. Dr. Stadler is the more conventional intellectual, and his brilliance lends to a couple PetTheDog moments, before we discover exactly what he was willing to sell his word and his soul for.
* Aldous Huxley's ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' has a rare example of this character as the EvilOverlord himself, in Mustapha Mond. Also unique though is that he comes across as more complex/likely to be right than other examples. Mond is one the few who realized how oppressive the system is since he is smart enough to see the science they practice is repeating what was already known to avoid upsetting the statu quo with new breakthroughs. The difference between him and the protagonists is that the World controllers had an opening. When Mond realized it, he took their offer. He argues their system really does produce the most happiness, in spite of it being less meaningful than life before, and John never actually refutes this.

** ''Literature/TheBrothersKaramazov'' has this conflict play out between the three brothers of Alyosha, Ivan and Dimitri, children of a nasty father. Ivan is the intellectual who believes that in a world without God or religious belief, "everything is permitted", and is sympathetic to revolutionary violence and other ideas. He even provides a famous parable to Alyosha called "the Grand Inquisitor" that a CorruptChurch's tyranny dwarfs, co-opts and destroys Christ's goodness. But ultimately he faces guilt [[spoiler:for the fact that his ideas drove Smerdyakov, his bastard brother, to commit {{Patricide}} and frame his other brother Dimitri for the crime. Ivan can't handle the guilt of what his ideas achieved in reality and goes insane when Dmitri is sentenced and faces imprisonment for a crime he didn't commit]].

* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', the leader of the Forsaken was once a philosopher - and since the [[BigBad Dark One]] will destroy time forever if he succeeds and gets to keep trying until he manages, decided to throw his lot in with the winner. In fact, almost all of the Forsaken were intellectuals before the Bore was opened. Sammael (athlete), Moghedien (investment broker) and Be'lal (lawyer) were not (and Rahvin is a cypher), but the Forsaken include a doctor, a geneticist, a composer, a university lecturer, a psychiatrist, an academic mage studying the nature of magic, an historian/anthropologist, and the aforementioned philosopher. The others are mostly well-versed in history, literature, and '''especially''' magic, among other things.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin has the Citadel and the Order of Maesters. The Maesters are supported and patronized by the feudal lords and they write the court histories and advise the King or High Lord on matters of policies and educate the children. This results in many of them invoking HobbesWasRight, WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons and other tropes to not only justify and cement the power of the aristocracy, but to make them feel good about it. Maester Pycelle, the utterly corrupt Grand Maester of the Citadel, in particular serves as the propagandist for tyrannical Tywin Lannister and more or less justifies all his most heinous crimes for the greater good.

* In ''La Trahison des Clercs'' ("The Treason of the Intellectuals"), French philosopher Julien Benda accused most European intellectuals of the 19th and early 20th centuries of having done this, becoming apologists to tyranny by supporting ideas like nationalism, communism, warmongering and racism.

* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' : You can have a materialistic dictatorship, named Despotic Hegemony, with research speed bonus, and absolute disregard for political rights. "This government is a materialistic form of autocracy, where citizens are viewed as little more than cogs in the state machinery. Efficiency and technological progress are valued above all things."

A subtrope of TheDictatorship.

In real life, all states and systems of government have more or less "official" philosophers, ideologists and journalists who promulgate and propagate their respective ideologies, and this has demonstrably been so [[OlderThanDirt at least as far back as we have written records]]. Naturally, tyrannies are no exception. However, precisely which historical (or worse, present-day) regimes qualify as "tyrannies" is a matter not everyone is likely to agree on, and debate over the said matter would be overwhelmingly likely to produce more heat than light. Therefore, Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

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* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'': the pigs generally seem to be the smartest animals on the farm and all are the beneficiaries of Napoleon's dictatorship. Benjamin the donkey is usually taken to represent intellectuals who grumbled about the rise of the Stalin but did nothing to actually stop it, supporting it by inaction.

* Aldous Huxley's ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' has a rare example of this character as the EvilOverlord himself, in Mustapha Mond. Also unique though is that he comes across as more complex/likely to be right than other examples. Mond is one the few who realized how oppressive the system is since he is smart enough to see the science they practice is repeating what was already known to avoid upsetting the statu quo with new breakthroughs. The difference between him and the protagonists is that the World controllers had an opening. When Mond realized it, he took their offer.

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%%** ''VideoGame/FarCry6'' is shaping up to be this, with a Banana Republic dictator believing his people will not be able to find happiness in the future if they are not controlled and guided now.

%** Far Cry 6 is shaping up to be this, with a Banana Republic dictator believing his people will not be able to find happiness in the future if they are not controlled and guided now.

* Diethard in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is another journalist example of this type, becoming a propagandist for [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Anti Hero with Good Publicity]] Lelouch/Zero. He's motivated by discontent with the entrenched Britannian aristocracy, but ends up as a more negative version as ultimately, he's really looking for an interesting MagnificentBastard to follow and thus defects to the side of Prince Schneizel, who is even more so a VillainWithGoodPublicity / DevilInPlainSight.

* The United Front for Labor and Liberation in ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' is implied to be this; their name evokes socialist left-wing nationalist academia, and their leader is strictly ArmchairMilitary. Of course, nothing about their ideology is spelled out for certain, and they're all but identical to their enemies, the APR (implied to be monarchists and military elites).

** In E. L. Doctorow ''Ragtime'', one of the sons from the main family of wealthy [=WASPs=] starts out by making fireworks and ends up in this role in the actual anarchist movement (e.g. with Emma Goldman), but is presented sympathetically, more along the lines of HeWhoFightsMonsters. This contrasts with other "Professor" characters who lean in the direction of [[ChaoticEvil simply enjoying things going boom]] despite a basis in radical politics.
* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', the leader of the Forsaken was once a philosopher - and since the [[BigBad Dark One]] will destroy time forever if he succeeds and gets to keep trying until he manages, decided to throw his lot in with the winner.
** In fact, almost all of the Forsaken were intellectuals before the Bore was opened. Sammael (athlete), Moghedien (investment broker) and Be'lal (lawyer) were not (and Rahvin is a cypher), but the Forsaken include a doctor, a geneticist, a composer, a university lecturer, a psychiatrist, an academic mage studying the nature of magic, an historian/anthropologist, and the aforementioned philosopher. The others are mostly well-versed in history, literature, and '''especially''' magic, among other things.

* Chinua Achebe's ''Literature/ThingsFallApart'' portrays colonial officers and others serving as part of [[EvilColonialist the British Crown justifying and enabling colonialism]] by elaborate intellectual justifications, being so trapped by their racist views of Africans and others that they are DramaticallyMissingThePoint of their actions and cruelty. The story which deals with the manner in which Okonkwo becomes a TragicHero ends with the nasty irony that his story will more or less become TheGreatestStoryNeverTold, a footnote in a book written by a chronicler documenting the pacification of African Tribes in the local area.
* In ''La Trahison des Clercs'' French philosopher Julien Benda accused European intellectuals of the 19th and early 20th centuries of having done this, becoming apologists to tyranny by supporting ideas like nationalism, warmongering and racism.
* Karl Popper believed ''Literature/TheRepublic'' was an example of this, where {{Creator/Plato}} sets out his ideal state that is frighteningly totalitarian. He felt it negatively influenced Western civilization given Plato's acclaim, which he saw born out with the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
** It can be said Italian Fascism was ''Literature/TheRepublic'' GoneHorriblyRight. Giovanni Gentile, the head philosopher of the Italian Fascist Party, was strongly influenced by Plato.
* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'': the pigs generally seem to be the smartest animals on the farm and all are beneficiaries of Napoleon's dictatorship. Benjamin the donkey is usually taken to represent intellectuals who grumbled about the rise of the Stalin but did nothing to actually stop it, supporting it by inaction.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganRonpa'': This trope comes into play in the second game, where we learn [[spoiler:the answer to ApocalypseHow. There's been a global revolution of murderous nihilism -- led by mankind's best and brightest, the 77th Hope's Peak graduating class.]] The subsequent anime {{retcon}}ned this somewhat, ([[spoiler:they were brainwashed by Junko and may even have thought they were doing ''good'']]) but also introduced new examples, as noted above.

More sympathetic fictional depictions may show the intellectuals as [[WellIntentionedExtremist misguided]] sympathizers of the EvilOverlord du jour either because they DracoInLeatherPants said Lord for some reason or other, or see them as ByronicHero and NotEvilJustMisunderstood, which the villain might even invoke to better manipulate said intellectuals to serving as tools and builders of their CultOfPersonality. This is a good variation on NotBrainwashed, and it provides a more nuanced and gray look at such conflicts to better explain why LaResistance is always on the back foot to TheEmpire.

* The United Front for Labor and Liberation in ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' is implied to be this; their name evokes socialist left-wing nationalist academia, and their leader is strictly ArmchairMilitary. Of course, nothing about their ideology is spelled out for certain, and they're all but identical to their enemies, the APR (implied to be monarchists and military forces).

This trope has historically been very much TruthInTelevision, despite the general assumption that intellectuals are supposed to be responsible in their social and political opinions. In these cases, the intellectuals themselves can be the ones pulling the levers of power, and genuinely believe what they are doing is for the greater good. Perhaps paradoxically, other intellectuals are then still likely to be among the targets of their oppression: namely, those independent spirits who ''disagree'' with the approved ideologies of the regime.

More sympathetic fictional depictions may show the intellectuals as [[WellIntentionedExtremist misguided]]) sympathizers of the EvilOverlord du jour either because they DracoInLeatherPants said Lord for some reason or other, or see them as ByronicHero and NotEvilJustMisunderstood, which the villain might even invoke to better manipulate said intellectuals to serving as tools and builders of their CultOfPersonality. This is a good variation on NotBrainwashed, and it provides a more nuanced and gray look at such conflicts to better explain why LaResistance is always on the back foot to TheEmpire.

In real life, all states and systems of government have more or less "official" philosophers, ideologists and journalists who promulgate and propagate their respective ideologies, and this has demonstrably been so [[OlderThanDirt at least as far back as we have written records]]. Naturally, tyrannies are no exception. However, precisely which historical (or worse, present-day) regimes qualify as "tyrannies" is a matter not everyone is likely to agree on, and debate over the matter would be overwhelmingly likely to produce controversy and hostility. Therefore, Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

Archetypes that are similar but not exactly this trope include WellIntentionedExtremist, MadScientist, EvilGenius, differing from this trope in that it better fits villains or VillainProtagonist. Intellectually Supported Tyranny are not really main characters but usually supporting players, and where the other archetypes commit evil actions believing them to be good, such figures know fully well that the actions are tyrannical but are both "necessary" and "correct". Given that they tend to reference actual totalitarian governments, {{dystopia}}n works often have the heroes interacting with this type, who tends to have power [[PersecutedIntellectuals in a paradoxically anti-intellectual state]]. [[noreallife]]

This trope has historically very much been TruthInTelevision, despite the general assumption that intellectuals are supposed to be responsible in their social and political opinions. In these cases, the intellectuals themselves can be the ones pulling the levers of power, and genuinely believe what they are doing is for the greater good. Paradoxically, however, it's also been the opposite, as one of the first steps towards any dictatorship securing its power is to ''[[AntiIntellectualism eliminate]]'' intellectuals, lest they propagate conflicting ideas that would challenge the ruling class's ideology.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' states that in his younger days, Dumbledore, the smartest wizard of his generation and the ChildProdigy of his time, came dangerously close to supporting Gellert Grindelwald's crusade to TakeOverTheWorld and [[SuperSupremecist civilize/conquer the Muggles]]. Dumbledore even admits it in a letter discovered by the protagonists, that they must accept and present "For the Greater Good" as the primary motivation to prospective converts, a phrase which became Grindelwald's slogan in his Dark Wizard campaign and his CultOfPersonality. A tragic mishap snaps Dumbledore out of this phase and he becomes for the rest of his life a committed anti-Dark Arts activist and philanthropist.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' states [[spoiler:that in his younger days, Dumbledore, the smartest wizard of his generation and the ChildProdigy of his time, came dangerously close to supporting Gellert Grindelwald's crusade to TakeOverTheWorld and civilize/conquer the Muggles. Dumbledore even admits it in a letter discovered by the protagonists, that they must accept and present "For the Greater Good" as the primary motivation to prospective converts, a phrase which became Grindelwald's slogan in his Dark Wizard campaign and his CultOfPersonality. A tragic mishap snaps Dumbledore out of this phase and he becomes for the rest of his life a committed anti-Dark Arts activist and philanthropist]].

* [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]] turns from [[ReedRichardsIsUseless useless]] into outright this in Comicbook/CivilWar and ComicBook/MarvelZombies. In Comicbook/CivilWar, he and [[spoiler:Skrull!]]ComicBook/AntMan flank Tony Stark by this. Though in the case of ComicBook/MarvelZombies it's clear that the grief of losing his children left him.... slightly unhinged.

This trope has historically very much been TruthInTelevision, despite the general assumption that intellectuals are supposed to be responsible in their social and political opinions. In these cases, the intellectuals themselves can be the ones pulling the levers of power, and genuinely believe what they are doing is for the greater good. Paradoxically, however, it's also been the opposite, as one of the first steps towards any dictatorship securing its power is to ''[[UsefulNotes/AntiIntellectualism eliminate]]'' intellectuals, lest they propagate conflicting ideas that would challenge the ruling class's ideology.

This trope has historically very much been TruthInTelevision, despite the general assumption that intellectuals are supposed to be responsible in their social and political opinions. In these cases, the intellectuals themselves can be the ones pulling the levers of power, and genuinely believe what they are doing is for the greater good.

* ''VideoGame/DanganRonpa'': This trope comes into play in the second game, where we learn [[spoiler:the answer to ApocalypseHow. There's been a global revolution of murderous nihilism -- led by mankind's best and brightest, the 77th Hope's Peak graduating class.]] The subsequent anime {{retcon}}ned this somewhat, ([[spoiler:they were brainwashed by Junko and may even have thought they were doing ''good'']]) but also introduced new examples, as noted above.

This trope is somewhat rare since, for it to take proper effect, it must contrast to the general idea that intellectuals are supposed to be responsible in their social and political opinions. It has a more general application to the phenomenon of such people becoming (at best [[WellIntentionedExtremist misguided]]) sympathizers of the EvilOverlord du jour either because they DracoInLeatherPants said Lord for some reason or other, or see them as ByronicHero and NotEvilJustMisunderstood, which the villain might even invoke to better manipulate said intellectuals to serving as tools and builders of their CultOfPersonality. In fiction, this is a good variation on NotBrainwashed, and it provides a more nuanced and gray look at such conflicts to better explain why LaResistance is always on the back foot to TheEmpire.

Archetypes that are similar but not exactly this trope include WellIntentionedExtremist, MadScientist, EvilGenius, differing from this trope in that it better fits villains or VillainProtagonist. Intellectually Supported Tyranny are not really main characters but usually supporting players, and where the other archetypes commit evil actions believing them to be good, such figures know fully well that the actions are tyrannical but are both "necessary" and "correct". Given that they tend to reference actual totalitarian governments, {{dystopia}}n works often have the heroes interacting with this type, who tends to have power [[PersecutedIntellectual in a paradoxically anti-intellectual state]]. [[noreallife]]