Red
Well-Known Member
Another point, how and why did this happen?
Having a right wing echo chamber might make a ton of money. It might build up a loyal brainwashed base. But ultimately without hearing diverse opinions, the mechanisms that have build up Republican dominance politically at both state and federal levels, are acting as mechanisms for their own destruction. Fox News and am radio were assets for years. Are they anymore? What do you think?
Karen Stenner has an interesting view on this. Her research indicates that 30-40 percent of the population is vulnerable to having an authoritarian personality. Here’s a great interview:
And
What do you think?
Authoritarianism: The Terrifying Trait That Trump Triggers
Latent authoritarianism is surprisingly common—and a threat to liberal democracy. Psychologist Karen Stenner explains how it is triggered.psmag.com
What I think is that many people do indeed favor authoritarianism. I also believe not enough Americans know their history, and are not capable of recognizing when history’s mistakes are being repeated. In a democracy like ours, it is simply too easy for demagogue-like leaders to take advantage of people. Trump is as forceful a personality as it gets. And look at the cult he built. He did not start the development that has seen to it that so many people distrust authority in so many areas, in religion, in science, in medicine, in politics. But, obviously, he recognized he could take advantage of distrust in all elites to craft an alternative reality that has been embraced by his followers. And look where that has led, just in terms of the pandemic alone. Biden gets elected. Are we going to have increasing clashes between people wearing masks and people believing the virus is a Deep State plot? A low grade civil war between rational people and conspiracists? That’s flat out nuts.
But, in general, yes, many people are fine with authoritarianism, and will not be too concerned with any erosion of democratic institutions. When electing a president is all about marketing, and marketing a human being is all about creating an attractive narrative, regardless of how much of that narrative is fictionalized, and/or knowing how to manipulate the reactions of people, knowing it’s all about emotions, not reason, not the human intellect, but controlling and conditioning human emotions, then we can expect cynical leaders will come along who can play that game really, really well. And we can expect many people will be unable to see through all that. Tell people what they want to hear, and you will lead them by the nose.
And do that in an atmosphere in which all elites are distrusted to the hilt, and there is the fatal flaw in a one man, one vote democracy.
