Ladies and gentlemen, we've seen enough in the mass- and social- media for me now to offer you some instruction about authoritarianism and authoritarians. We have examples, here.
The first thing is, an authoritarian isn't a true authority, but only acts like one. The authoritarian gets his/her sense of authority from those whom he or she considers to be the "legitimate" authorities, rather from his or her own intelligence; it's a "surface" sense of authority, rather than a "core" sense of authority.
A prime authoritarian institution that confers the "sense of authority" is the university system that confers degrees. The university system generates authoritarians who throw their weight around because they have the "permission" their degree confers. They may even cite their credentials or degrees as "proof" of their authority.
Economists fall into this class because economics is a bogus discipline (that gave us, "Trickle-down Theory" and that cites "economic forces" rather than "human habit" as the primary causal factors of the operating of economies. "Forces" have the status of unchanging natural law; "habits" can and may change.).
Authoritarians don't penetratingly question their own premises or opinions. Why? Because they have them "on good authority"!
Because their "understanding" is inherited, rather than generated from their own intelligence and insight, they can't refute an intelligent argument. They lack the necessary mental adroitness, depending, instead, on what they "know" (remember), on falsely criticizing or ridiculing those who disagree, with them, on overlooking points others have made, and resorting to presumed authority.
Authoritarians often use disparaging language against those whose opinions differ from their own, inherited, opinions. For example, they may use terms like, "profoundly stupid", "garbage", and "trash talk". Consider who first used those terms in this conversation -- and who resorted to disparaging or ridiculing "the communicator" instead of encountering and refuting the argument presented.
Because they lack imagination, but instead rely upon memory of what they have been taught by their chosen authorities, authoritarians also lack foresight. The only thing they "see coming" is what their existing economic models predict; they don't see emerging developments (except those that fall within their economic models) or they minimize their import (climate shift being one such emergent).
This lack of imagination reduces the value of their opinions -- though it does make them sound "official" and gains the approval of other authoritarians and of the naive.
Authoritarians always see themselves as, "right" and others, "a danger". They're right in one sense: non-authoritarians are a danger to authoritarians -- which is why authoritarians resort to attacking non-authoritarians and, instead of addressing the arguments presented, change the conversation to irrelevancies and make false characterizations.
Lacking insight into themselves, they often attribute their own faults to others (often in namecalling). Psychologists call this behavior, "projection". We've seen plenty of it in this Administration and enough of it in this conversation.
Finally (for the moment), authoritarians get angry and defensive (offensive), when their psychologically immature behavior gets "called out". They don't like questioning themselves and resent when others prompt them to do so.
That should be enough to illuminate this conversation (and other conversations), don't you think?
So, we should listen carefully to the words of authoritarians, and when we discover them to be such, dismiss them.
A prime authoritarian institution that confers the "sense of authority" is the university system that confers degrees. The university system generates authoritarians who throw their weight around because they have the "permission" their degree confers. They may even cite their credentials or degrees as "proof" of their authority.
Economists fall into this class because economics is a bogus discipline (that gave us, "Trickle-down Theory" and that cites "economic forces" rather than "human habit" as the primary causal factors of the operating of economies. "Forces" have the status of unchanging natural law; "habits" can and may change.).
Authoritarians don't penetratingly question their own premises or opinions. Why? Because they have them "on good authority"!
Because their "understanding" is inherited, rather than generated from their own intelligence and insight, they can't refute an intelligent argument. They lack the necessary mental adroitness, depending, instead, on what they "know" (remember), on falsely criticizing or ridiculing those who disagree, with them, on overlooking points others have made, and resorting to presumed authority.
Authoritarians often use disparaging language against those whose opinions differ from their own, inherited, opinions. For example, they may use terms like, "profoundly stupid", "garbage", and "trash talk". Consider who first used those terms in this conversation -- and who resorted to disparaging or ridiculing "the communicator" instead of encountering and refuting the argument presented.
Because they lack imagination, but instead rely upon memory of what they have been taught by their chosen authorities, authoritarians also lack foresight. The only thing they "see coming" is what their existing economic models predict; they don't see emerging developments (except those that fall within their economic models) or they minimize their import (climate shift being one such emergent).
This lack of imagination reduces the value of their opinions -- though it does make them sound "official" and gains the approval of other authoritarians and of the naive.
Authoritarians always see themselves as, "right" and others, "a danger". They're right in one sense: non-authoritarians are a danger to authoritarians -- which is why authoritarians resort to attacking non-authoritarians and, instead of addressing the arguments presented, change the conversation to irrelevancies and make false characterizations.
Lacking insight into themselves, they often attribute their own faults to others (often in namecalling). Psychologists call this behavior, "projection". We've seen plenty of it in this Administration and enough of it in this conversation.
Finally (for the moment), authoritarians get angry and defensive (offensive), when their psychologically immature behavior gets "called out". They don't like questioning themselves and resent when others prompt them to do so.
That should be enough to illuminate this conversation (and other conversations), don't you think?
So, we should listen carefully to the words of authoritarians, and when we discover them to be such, dismiss them.
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