Can we talk about authoritarianism?

submitted by dykeotomy from self.censorship

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[–]quipu 7 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Authoritarianism is on the rise for sure. The best way to avoid it is to keep your identity small and make yourself invisible to would-be dictators. Stay anonymous where possible, distance yourself from the so-called "friends" who have embraced authoritarian beliefs, and don't talk politics except with trusted allies (play dumb/uninformed if it comes up).

There is a good book called "The Authoritarians" that explores the topic of authoritarian personalities. Unfortunately it was written back when most obvious authoritarians were on the right, so there is some bias, but if you can get past that then some of the general ideas are interesting. There's a PDF available somewhere if you search for it.

[–]Wienerwiener 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Hayek talks alot about the prerequisites for authoritarianism/fascism in the road to serfdom. I think its basicly like socialism/collectivism requires a big goverment and a central planner and for everybody to just do there part for the good of there country. He mostly focoused on analyzing ww2 Europe. Its interesting to read it and think about america today. I hope hes wrong.