Read just the first chapter of John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" (free via Project Gutenberg etc) and tell me that he didn't have his finger precisely on the pulse — in the 1850s — of the root cause...
Fantastic read. Highly recommend to anyone. The authoritarian rule was worse and more violent back then I believe, compared to now. However now, they have better and easier tools to rule over their 'people'.
❤️1