[Capture from the online edition of Austria's public broadcaster ORF]  

What is spreading fastest in our society today is not facts, but stigmas.

Raising concerns about China becomes "Sinophobia," questioning an election becomes "election fraud conspiracy theory," and interpreting a specific incident is labeled "sedition" even before a trial concludes.

The words are different, but the structure is the same.

Concerns are reinterpreted as hatred, hatred expands into conspiracy, and conspiracy is deemed a crime. What disappears in this process is verification. Before questioning what is fact, it is first determined who someone is and what kind of person they are.

At that moment, the debate ends.

The problem is that this language of stigma is becoming intertwined with power.

When the president labels a particular issue as "sedition," it is not merely a political statement. It serves as a signal that the state has already reached a conclusion. Whether a trial is underway or the facts have been established becomes irrelevant.

Because the conclusion comes first.

In this structure, trials are reduced from a process of judgment to a procedure of confirmation. The courtroom ceases to be a space for discerning truth and becomes a space for justifying a pre-determined conclusion. Presumption of innocence remains a formality, while its substance disappears.

When this is repeated, society naturally transforms.

Regulation precedes verification, and stigma becomes the standard over discussion. Doubt is not permitted, and only conclusions are shared. People no longer scrutinize facts, because there is no need to think about those who have already been branded with a stigma.

This is precisely how totalitarianism operates.

Totalitarianism does not manifest solely in the name of a specific ideology. It begins the moment stigmas become institutionalized and those stigmas are accepted as public discourse. The law follows suit, and procedures transform into tools for justifying conclusions.

What is needed now is not a choice of stance, but a restoration of order.

Concerns must lead to verification, doubts must be resolved through discussion, and crimes must be confirmed by judgment. Only when this order is maintained does the law function as law.

When that order collapses, only one thing remains.

A society where stigma replaces judgment.

The moment stigma is formalized, that society has already changed direction.

In a country where power dictates conclusions instead of judgments, the law can no longer serve as a standard.