JVL, if you're not familiar with Karen Stenner's work on the authoritarian dynamic, you should be.
Stenner presents evidence that any population inevitably contains significant numbers of authoritarians, but their authoritarianism only activates under conditions of "normative threat" (threats to "oneness and sameness"). She observes, "l…
JVL, if you're not familiar with Karen Stenner's work on the authoritarian dynamic, you should be.
Stenner presents evidence that any population inevitably contains significant numbers of authoritarians, but their authoritarianism only activates under conditions of "normative threat" (threats to "oneness and sameness"). She observes, "living in a liberal democracy vastly increases the likelihood that authoritarian dispositions will be expressed in intolerant attitudes and behaviors [that is, "activated"]. Quite simply, authoritarians are never more tolerant than when reassured and pacified by an autocratic culture, and never more intolerant when forced to endure a vibrant democracy." (The Authoritarian Dynamic)
One of Stenner's cleverer experiments demonstrates that authoritarianism can be deactivated by convincing subjects aliens are approaching, uniting all earthlings against what isn't even earthly. (OTOH, COVID was an "alien invader" of sorts that gave far too few authoritarians warm, fuzzy thoughts about shared humanity.)
During the Cold War, "we" could distinguish nearly all of "us" from "them", creating normative reassurance. Unfortunately, any erosion in authority of common-held institutions creates normative threat instead. Stenner observes, "Bill Clinton -- via the loss of confidence in leaders and institutions engendered by the Lewinski scandal -- may have done more damage to the tolerance, trust, and political engagement of the American public than any leader since Nixon;"
To the Lewinski scandal, we could add dispute over the 2000 electoral count, the rise of telecommunications which can relentlessly expose us to everyone in the world unlike ourselves, an exposure some find intriguing, but which authoritarians find threatening... And eventually the sick "genius" of a marmalade Mussolini who activates the authoritarianism of his followers by claiming the intense normative threat of an election not just disputed, but "stolen" from the "real people".
Stenner advocates "stealth democracy", democracy protecting itself from the authoritarians inevitably in its midst by drawing less attention to its pluralism, and more attention to "common and unifying rituals, institutions, and processes."
Fireworks and grilling on Jul 4? The humble hot dog? Apparently vital unity shielding American pluralism! Hot dogs are such a vitiated meat product it's easy to include plant-based versions to stealthily accommodate diverse dietary habits-- just don't draw attention to the accommodation. (Hot dogs aren't Stenner's insight. Apu figured them out on the Simpsons, what, decades ago now?)
Stenner uses "libertarian" to describe the temperamental opposite of authoritarian. Me and my stupid libertarian temperament couldn't grok what was so threatening about minor changes to the National Anthem ritual at football games. Some players are kneeling now to appeal to justice and patriotism as they understand it? Odd but OK -- once I hear their reasoning, it seems plenty American to me. To authoritarians, though, that's normative threat. (Even more normatively threatening if there are other conspicuous differences between those who tend to kneel and those who don't.)
JVL, if you're not familiar with Karen Stenner's work on the authoritarian dynamic, you should be.
Stenner presents evidence that any population inevitably contains significant numbers of authoritarians, but their authoritarianism only activates under conditions of "normative threat" (threats to "oneness and sameness"). She observes, "living in a liberal democracy vastly increases the likelihood that authoritarian dispositions will be expressed in intolerant attitudes and behaviors [that is, "activated"]. Quite simply, authoritarians are never more tolerant than when reassured and pacified by an autocratic culture, and never more intolerant when forced to endure a vibrant democracy." (The Authoritarian Dynamic)
One of Stenner's cleverer experiments demonstrates that authoritarianism can be deactivated by convincing subjects aliens are approaching, uniting all earthlings against what isn't even earthly. (OTOH, COVID was an "alien invader" of sorts that gave far too few authoritarians warm, fuzzy thoughts about shared humanity.)
During the Cold War, "we" could distinguish nearly all of "us" from "them", creating normative reassurance. Unfortunately, any erosion in authority of common-held institutions creates normative threat instead. Stenner observes, "Bill Clinton -- via the loss of confidence in leaders and institutions engendered by the Lewinski scandal -- may have done more damage to the tolerance, trust, and political engagement of the American public than any leader since Nixon;"
To the Lewinski scandal, we could add dispute over the 2000 electoral count, the rise of telecommunications which can relentlessly expose us to everyone in the world unlike ourselves, an exposure some find intriguing, but which authoritarians find threatening... And eventually the sick "genius" of a marmalade Mussolini who activates the authoritarianism of his followers by claiming the intense normative threat of an election not just disputed, but "stolen" from the "real people".
Stenner advocates "stealth democracy", democracy protecting itself from the authoritarians inevitably in its midst by drawing less attention to its pluralism, and more attention to "common and unifying rituals, institutions, and processes."
Fireworks and grilling on Jul 4? The humble hot dog? Apparently vital unity shielding American pluralism! Hot dogs are such a vitiated meat product it's easy to include plant-based versions to stealthily accommodate diverse dietary habits-- just don't draw attention to the accommodation. (Hot dogs aren't Stenner's insight. Apu figured them out on the Simpsons, what, decades ago now?)
Stenner uses "libertarian" to describe the temperamental opposite of authoritarian. Me and my stupid libertarian temperament couldn't grok what was so threatening about minor changes to the National Anthem ritual at football games. Some players are kneeling now to appeal to justice and patriotism as they understand it? Odd but OK -- once I hear their reasoning, it seems plenty American to me. To authoritarians, though, that's normative threat. (Even more normatively threatening if there are other conspicuous differences between those who tend to kneel and those who don't.)