> I don't think rigid totalitarianism is a stable solution at all, long term.

Long term we are all dead and universe is graveyard of the stars.

Totalitarianism for all its many faults seems more stable than democracies. People are willing to trade freedom for stability.

> When people spend time together, they become more similar. Is that "horizontal totalitarianism"? Or is that just a very obvious observation of human behavior?

There is a difference here. I think the article isn't so much talking about totalitarianism, as much as censorship. It used to be top-down, but now it's either peer censorship, or even bottom-up.

In your example, I don't think that is truly the case. People manage to fit their own rituals better. They don't become the same.