The Authoritarian Crowd
Illustration by ChatGPT A uthoritarianism does not begin in the palace. It begins in the crowd. I was struck by the above argument put forth by Karen Stenner (Australian political psychologist) and Jonathan Haidt (American social psychologist) in their essay in a book I mentioned earlier in two posts. Their exact words: “Authoritarianism is an attribute of the follower, not necessarily of the leader.” I was tempted to apply the theory to the present political situation in my own country. The above essay says that “authoritarians are simple-minded avoiders of complexity more than closed-minded avoiders of change.” They are speaking about Donald Trump’s America or, more precisely, America’s Donald Trump. Trump never deserved to be that country’s president with his blatant partisanship, arrogant temperament, and lack of leadership qualities. But he was elected by those Americans who were driven to “a momentary madness” engendered by global financial crisis, decline of manufacturing...
