What is the danger of a totalitarian state?

REally where to begin? I think essentially the danger is a total lack of an individual conscience or will. Everything is done collectively, including the very thought process. So , much like Orwell's other masterpiece 1984, Animal Farm displays how corruption and evil can be justified as righteous. Individual thought and conscience is replaced by a collective ideology passed down from a corrupt leader or institution. Just think about any totalitarian state in our own history (Stalin, Hitler....)