General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: John Dean article explains Trump voters. REALLY! [View all]Hortensis
(58,785 posts)It may not be all they do, but politically damned near for many. A while ago I opened a little political forum out of curiosity and saw an OP admiring Rump for picking up a Marine's hat and putting it on his head. Immediately it was used to insult Obama, the first answer claiming he would of course never do pick up a Marine's hat, the next eagerly claiming he'd "spit on it!" And so on. Scary people, our neighbors.
From Altemeyer's online introduction: "Or how about a government program that persecutes political parties, or minorities, or journalists the authorities do not like, by putting them in jail, even torturing and killing them. Nobody would approve of that, right? Guess again.
... how many ordinary people do you think an evil authority would have to order to kill you before he found someone who would, unjustly, out of sheer obedience, just because the authority said to? ... Yes, the research shows they are very aggressive, but why are they so hostile? Yes, experiments show they are almost totally uninfluenced by reasoning and evidence, but why are they so dogmatic?
Yes, studies show the Religious Right has more than its fair share of hypocrites, from top to bottom; but why are they two-faced, and how come one face never notices the other?
Yes, their leaders can give the flimsiest of excuses and even outright lies about things theyve done wrong, but why do the rank and file believe them? What happens when authoritarian followers find the authoritarian leaders they crave and start marching together?"
Link to free online download for The Authoritarians: https://theauthoritarians.org/options-for-getting-the-book/