as an anthropologist, one of my academic specialisations is authoritarianism & revolutionist practice in response to it
one of my research foci for 3+ years was the social processes of a society's descent into authoritarianism.
my historian mentor once told me:
it happens slowly, then all at once.
one of my research foci for 3+ years was the social processes of a society's descent into authoritarianism.
my historian mentor once told me:
it happens slowly, then all at once.
Comments
what was said, what was rationalised, what was tolerated?
how do people accept and normalise the killing of their neighbours - people they'd known for years?
i've said for years hitler's rise matched trump's. he was a political laughingstock too
Hope you got more people to understand than I did.
they create "in groups" and "out groups" and they grow loyalty by frenzying their followers into binaries of "i'm included in the special group" and "those who are not are enemies to be destroyed"
they normalise certain rhetoric. they defend it. parrot "rational" explanations their leaders give them. they convince others to join the cause, or at least get numb to it
meanwhile, their leaders are busy growing more radicals amongst the population, to do the same thing their loyalists are already doing but at greater speed+efficiency.
think of it like sowing seeds in increasingly fertile ground
our realities are socially constructed:
when everyone else around you starts saying this thing is right, or "okay", or "can't be helped", it becomes difficult to push back.
when loyalists hit critical mass, and dissent is socially punished, you no longer feel safe to speak up in a general arena
one of my research ...: https://read.newdin.com/?url=https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nw5a5uwdumq2ju2mwxibjcsu/post/3lg7s6uhq4s2m
The worst of America has been given permission.
they're like abusive partners (and most of those people are abusive partners)
they push boundaries to see what they can get away with. if they push and they do get away with it, they push more. they see how far they can push and get away with it
they could push very far
We knew we had too, we said it for days and weeks and months and years, and we didn't get it done.
Scary day.
You single yet, maybe I'll move down there.
What's the antidote? How do we stop it?