Sorry but extremists on the right exhibit the symptoms too. Anyone who believes that the Clintons were running a child prostitution ring out of a pizza joint are pretty susceptible to propaganda, for example.
I think the author got the whole thing pretty wrong. Instead all of the societies which led to totalitarian governments had a key thing in common. Namely, they were all highly dysfunctional and controlling with conflicts that could only be resolved by grossly breaking the rules.
That strongly encourages totalitarian systems because it encourages both rule by fiat, and even deeper control of society due to the near uniform corruption of the system and existing levels of control.
Want a society that doesn’t lead to totalitarian government? Then you need a society that functions well for most people and has limited power. My take is that the extremists will exist anyway, but they won’t have the avenue to totalitarianism.
“Limited power” is the hallmark of true right wing philosophy while being anathema to the left.
I disagree that there is equal threat from the right and the left. The right may be crazy, but the underlying governing premise is conservatism, loosely meaning don’t make changes, don’t rock the boat. That means that even if the crazy Nazis are counted as Republicans by all the other Republicans (which they are not, of course), the other Republicans won’t pass laws favoring them because Republicans are generally anti new government laws.
The left, on the other hand, greatly desires that the government forces things on people. That is practically the entire point of the Democrat party, forcing people to do things our way. So the far left has a much easier time convincing the near left to pass a law – their underlying premise is that all laws are good, and we’ll just fix the law later if there are issues. (See “we have to pass it to see what is in it”)
“Susceptibility to propaganda and ideology:”
Yes, everyone is susceptible to propaganda and ideology. Everyone has an ideology, whether they know it or not. Communication, persuasion, and perception are all very human. But how to you get from there to the right supporting totalitarianism?
The pizzgate thing was a conspiracy theory but so was Russian Collusion. Which had more scope and influence over governance and our institutions?
The other things listed are also applicable to all humans, which really isn’t the point of the article but how these things are twisted in an effort to replace our society with a Progressive Marxist one.
Not all conspiracy theories are false.
Yup. The insanity/clickbait/con job does not come only from leftists.
“Is President Trump going to be safe in the Walter Reed Military Hospital? Who will protect him from the Deep State and his enemies in the military?”
Sorry but extremists on the right exhibit the symptoms too. Anyone who believes that the Clintons were running a child prostitution ring out of a pizza joint are pretty susceptible to propaganda, for example.
I think the author got the whole thing pretty wrong. Instead all of the societies which led to totalitarian governments had a key thing in common. Namely, they were all highly dysfunctional and controlling with conflicts that could only be resolved by grossly breaking the rules.
That strongly encourages totalitarian systems because it encourages both rule by fiat, and even deeper control of society due to the near uniform corruption of the system and existing levels of control.
Want a society that doesn’t lead to totalitarian government? Then you need a society that functions well for most people and has limited power. My take is that the extremists will exist anyway, but they won’t have the avenue to totalitarianism.
“Limited power” is the hallmark of true right wing philosophy while being anathema to the left.
I disagree that there is equal threat from the right and the left. The right may be crazy, but the underlying governing premise is conservatism, loosely meaning don’t make changes, don’t rock the boat. That means that even if the crazy Nazis are counted as Republicans by all the other Republicans (which they are not, of course), the other Republicans won’t pass laws favoring them because Republicans are generally anti new government laws.
The left, on the other hand, greatly desires that the government forces things on people. That is practically the entire point of the Democrat party, forcing people to do things our way. So the far left has a much easier time convincing the near left to pass a law – their underlying premise is that all laws are good, and we’ll just fix the law later if there are issues. (See “we have to pass it to see what is in it”)
“Susceptibility to propaganda and ideology:”
Yes, everyone is susceptible to propaganda and ideology. Everyone has an ideology, whether they know it or not. Communication, persuasion, and perception are all very human. But how to you get from there to the right supporting totalitarianism?
The pizzgate thing was a conspiracy theory but so was Russian Collusion. Which had more scope and influence over governance and our institutions?
The other things listed are also applicable to all humans, which really isn’t the point of the article but how these things are twisted in an effort to replace our society with a Progressive Marxist one.
Not all conspiracy theories are false.
Yup. The insanity/clickbait/con job does not come only from leftists.
“Is President Trump going to be safe in the Walter Reed Military Hospital? Who will protect him from the Deep State and his enemies in the military?”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/10/needs-asked-president-trump-safe-military-deep-state-walter-reed-hospital/
“Liberals” and other State fellators: “Pay no attention to the victims of tyranny behind the curtain. Nothing to see here. Move along.”