Over the years, numerous books and articles, along with my own reflecting, have led me to understand that we are living in a totalitarian system that has been in existence for several generations in many parts of the world. I feel that many of the socialist, communist and anarchist sources I've read have come closest to describing the true history of humanity, which is to say a class struggle, or in other words a battle that's been going on for thousands of years between humanity as a whole and a small 'elite' seeking total domination.
In such a dynamic the 'elite' psychopaths would want to maximize their control over the population to as high a degree possible. One way that this has happened is through the creation of modern mass suburbia (Good article on this topic - https://thefunambulist.net/editorials/history-the-obscure-history-of-suburbia-by-noam-chomsky-peter-galison-and-mike-davishas). My understanding is that modern suburbia was created during and shortly after World War 2* as a design for society that would maximize control over the population. This would include ensuring that local self-sustainability is impossible through the creation of national and international food chains and energy networks. As well, the fact that there is no 'town center' in suburbia was an intentional feature designed to limit the ability of the population to come together to discuss politics or other issues important to the community. The total dependence on cars for travel destroys the potential for casual conversation with friends or other community members while out walking, while also making it difficult for large numbers to gather due to limited parking spaces.
*(I also find it interesting that a former 'Supreme' military commander in Eisenhower became U.S. President directly after WW2 - as someone who previously oversaw a massive 'corporate' military structure, was he perhaps put there to help facilitate the creation of a 'military' style society? Modelled on efficiency and creating a highly functional, obedient, uniform 'nation-state' aka workforce.)
Suburban 'communities' aren't really communities at all - an individual might have a small handful of individual connections in the local area, but in many cases, next door neighbors rarely interact if at all. This is a very isolating way for a human being to live, as we naturally live in more tribal/communal settings. The loss of that community has had devastating impacts on society, and majorly contributes to people becoming addicted to all kinds of substances or activities (ie technology, running, sports, even work) in order to numb the pain of their isolated condition. In addition, the soul crushing ways that most people spend their days (working in a cubicle or otherwise miserable work for overall meager pay) contributes to a desire to spend limited free time at home on the couch, watching tv, playing games, scrolling social media or the like - but rarely if ever spending social time with neighbors (or increasingly, with any others at all other than digitally).
Not only do local towns not have community centers, but most surburban neighborhoods literally do not have anything except for houses on private property. There are no natural gathering spaces of any kind, nor any shops or what have you. The overall opportunities for spontaneous human interaction are thus drastically decreased in a suburban living setting.
Another source that helped me understand this (been mentioned numerous times recently in this sub) is My Dinner with Andre. Specifically, the part where he calls New York City the 'new model for the new concentration camp'. This helped open my mind to thinking about the idea of society-wide concentration/labor camps, and I realized that suburbia is one too in its own way.
There is also Huxley's quote about the creation of 'painless' concentration camps, though I don't think he meant it literally but in the sense of a society that is heavily drugged, hypnotised and brainwashed and uses all assortment of 'soma' (dopamine hits as opposed to real soulful joy) to self-medicate the pain of their existence.
One other good source on this is an article called '11 ways our society treats us like caged rats'; the article does an excellent job of summarizing the main features of our society that cage/imprison us, such as money and private property.
(https://joeanderson.substack.com/p/11-ways-our-society-treats-us-like)
A few other related thoughts - I also think this is why a lot of people seem to have a hard time coping with what should be obviously harmful features of our society, ie the savagery of compulsory schooling - people are so traumatized by all they've experienced and by the isolating misery of their daily existences that it is hard for them to cope with difficult truths. But certainly, the (social) media-government-corporate global brainwashing apparatus plays a crucial role as well.
One of the easiest ways to separate/disconnect a being from reality is to isolate that being to as great an extent as possible, in order to monopolize their focus of attention on 'officially approved' activities (ie television watching, games, phone/social media use) - most of which just so happen to be actively surveilled and data-analyzed (possibly even fed into AI) by massive corporations and the government. I would argue that society-wide disconnection from reality is a key aspect of any advanced totalitarian society.
In my understanding, the past few hundred years have seen a massive acceleration of an agenda to gain complete and total control over humanity, which functionally means our domestication in the same way that humans have been (made to) domesticate many species of plant and animal. This is the flavor of Huxley's quote about the creation of a society in which it would become impossible for people for even think about resisting; unfortunately, I feel we are dangerously close to that point right now, and if things are taken where the 'elite' desire, it could become completely impossible for anyone to even have thoughts of questioning or rebellion.
This would be/is occurring through a variety of means - massive social engineering projects carried out through 'schooling', media/social media, 'smart’ technology and so on; the concept discussed in *1984* of language manipulation by the state leading to a literal reduction of understood words/concepts; in addition, due to our seemingly potentially imminent augmentation with machine/AI technology that could not only surveil but perhaps even control our thoughts and emotional states if not our entire bodies.
A centuries or millennia-long process of continuous wars and other (real and staged) false flags has led to a massive consolidation of government power, in combination with the near total destruction of what we could call 'undomesticated' - aka indigenous - groups over the past 500-600 years, due to the activities of European monarchical (aka 'elite)' colonialism. The end result is what we are living now - an (effective) global superstate with massive surveillance powers and a population deeply chained in the shackles of totalitarianism through compulsory government education, consolidation of planetary resources in the hands of a tiny few through the institutions of money and private property, and so on. What has essentially occurred is the elimination of competition by the government - no styles of living outside of the bounds of industrial/corporate/technological capitalism (such as intentional/spiritual communities, an individual or small group living in the woods/off the land, indigenous models of community, and so on) are permitted to exist.
I have always felt very unhappy in this society and have witnessed the misery and suffering of others, but was unable to really make sense of it all until I came to understand all this in the past few years - it actually majorly relieved psychological pressure for me that had been building over many years as a result of being treated like there was something wrong with *me* or that I was a criminal for not living up to someone else's expectations for my life. It helped me to understand how the once paradisiacal world I once knew (in former lives) had come to be harboring such misery and abuse of all life.
To end I would like to share one more article that does a pretty good job of articulating our Orwellian suburban nightmare. Here is a good quote:
"On the fringe of mass Suburbia, even the advantages of the primary neighborhood group disappear. The cost of this detachment in space from other men is out of all proportion to its supposed benefits. The end product is an encapsulated life, spent more and more either in a motor car or within the cabin of darkness before a television set: soon, with a little more automation of traffic, mostly in a motor car, travelling even greater distances, under remote control, so that the one-time driver may occupy himself with a television set, having lost even the freedom of steering wheel. Every part of this life, indeed, will come through official channels and be under supervision. Untouched by human hand at one end: untouched by human spirit at the other. Those who accept this existence might as well be encased in a rocket hurtling through space, so narrow are their choices, so limited and deficient their permitted responses. Here indeed we find 'The Lonely Crowd.''
(https://college.cengage.com/history/ayers_primary_sources/lewismumford_suburbs_1961.htm )