https://youtu.be/x8M68xF2Aj0
https://youtu.be/OcAeBblyTNg
This is a collection of people and groups that shaped leftism in America.
The Frankfurt School, known more appropriately as Critical Theory, is a philosophical and sociological movement spread across many universities around the world. It was originally located at the Institute for Social Research (Institut für Sozialforschung), an attached institute at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany.
The academic influence of the critical method is far reaching. Some of the key issues and philosophical preoccupations of the School involve the critique of modernity and capitalist society, the definition of social emancipation, as well as the detection of the pathologies of society. Critical Theory provides a specific interpretation of Marxist philosophy with regards to some of its central economic and political notions like commodification, reification, fetishization and critique of mass culture.
The members of the Frankfurt School conducted numerous studies on the beliefs, attitudes and values they believed lay behind the rise of National Socialism in Germany. The Frankfurt School’s studies combined Marxist analysis with Freudian psychoanalysis to form the basis of what became known as “Critical Theory.” Critical Theory was essentially destructive criticism of the main elements of Western culture, including Christianity, capitalism, authority, the family, patriarchy, hierarchy, morality, tradition, sexual restraint, loyalty, patriotism, nationalism, heredity, ethnocentrism, convention and conservatism. These criticisms were reflected in such works of the Frankfurt School as Erich Fromm’s Escape from Freedom and The Dogma of Christ, Wilhelm’s Reich’s The Mass Psychology of Fascism and Theodor Adorno’s The Authoritarian Personality.
The Authoritarian Personality, published in 1950, substantially influenced American psychologists and social scientists. The book was premised on one basic idea, that the presence in a society of Christianity, capitalism and the patriarchal-authoritarian family created a character prone to racial prejudice and German fascism. The Authoritarian Personality became a handbook for a national campaign against any kind of prejudice or discrimination on the theory that if these evils were not eradicated, another Holocaust might occur on the American continent. This campaign, in turn, provided a basis for Political Correctness.
Critical Theory incorporated sub-theories whi
... keep reading on reddit ➡This link came into my inbox today, I thought it might be appropriate here, but I don't want to straight up post someone else's work so I'm attaching a sample and a link if you're interested. Cheers everyone!
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(BY JOHN FEA)
We have posted about Jack Hibbs and Calvary Chapel–Chino Hills before. I have heard from area pastors who are concerned about his church and people who are worried about attending the Christian nationalist, pro-Trump, anti-mask, and anti-vaccine mandate congregation. Today we are posting a letter from Jan of Loma Linda. It is representative of many of the messages I receive whenever I post about Hibbs. Jan is also trying to get this published as a letter to the editor in several California newspapers.
Here it is:
My vibrant, beautiful daughter, has fallen into the hands of a sect. A sect with a cult of personality surrounding its authoritarian “lead pastor.” With her, go my wide eyed, innocent grandchildren.
The sect, innocuous at first sight, is a blossoming community. It gathers in flocks, to hear the Christian message of hope and redemption, packaged with an Alt-Right political message of division, anti-intellectualism, anti-science and distorted “historical” information. It is the Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills....
read more at full link https://currentpub.com/2021/10/20/current-mailbag-my-daughter-has-fallen-into-the-hands-of-a-sect-with-a-cult-of-personality-surrounding-its-authoritarian-pastor/
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Though controversial at conception in the 1950s, Adorno’s theory of the authoritarian personality persists. He suggested the main elements consist of:
- Blind allegiance to conventional beliefs about right and wrong
- Respect for submission to acknowledged authority
- Belief in aggression toward those who do not subscribe to conventional thinking, or who are different
- A negative view of people in general - i.e. the belief that people would all lie, cheat or steal if given the opportunity
- A need for strong leadership which displays uncompromising power
- A belief in simple answers and polemics - i.e. The media controls us all or the source of all our problems is the loss of morals these days.
- Resistance to creative, dangerous ideas. A black and white worldview.
- A tendency to project one's own feelings of inadequacy, rage and fear onto a scapegoated group
- A preoccupation with violence and sex
(Source: https://www.psychologistworld.com/influence-personality/authoritarian-personality)
Do these look familiar in 2020?
Under intense pressure, fear, and conditioning, vast swathes of people are revealing their authoritarian nature.
I have posited for over a decade that this personality has always been latent in the general populace. This has been revealed over the years by asking one question – ‘If you were the leader of your country for a day, what would you do?’ Consider the following evidence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMn5YVHsigE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxhIXNiYlzs
Let me first say, I believe in the goodness of people. The problem is good intentions truly do pave the path to hell. What would people do with this sense of what they believe to be the supreme power of a head of state? Free chicken for everyone, compulsory vegetarianism, an obligatory four-day work week, everything tax free. All done on the spot, without scrutiny, flippant with the shared resources of a nation.
Along with this are several infantile policies that are specific to the person, without thought for the consequences. For all those good intentions, what we actually see is personal self-interest disguised as virtue. One person said everyone should be forced to wear silly hats. “If you can’t say something seriously enough to overcome the silly hat, you shouldn’t be saying it
... keep reading on reddit ➡I'm a psychologist and I have observed that we talk about individual authoritarians; their beliefs and behaviours; but not attitudes towards authoritarian governments.
My belief: being authoritarian--conventional, submitting to authority, and aggressing against social groups--should relate somewhat, but shouldn't perfectly track support for authoritarian political systems.
I'm looking for papers that have made this point in the past...for the sake of advancing knowledge in my field about democracy (....it can't just come down to how 'authoritarian' a person is).
I've been learning about "Authoritarian Personality Disorder" (or syndrome) recently, in relation to Trump's base, and wondering what you all think about how it might apply to some die hard Shambhalians. The diagnosis (currently being researched, and under review to be added to the DSM V) applies to those who gladly submit to an authoritarian figure:
"The root cause of this syndrome is still debated, but what is known is that their cognitive-social-intellectual development remains immature into adulthood. It leaves them with limited abilities for deciding questions that require the ability to think in abstract and complex ways. Instead they seek out authority figures who will (and do) inform even their most basic decisions for them. As a result, persons so afflicted may seek out careers in law-enforcement or to the military where thinking for oneself is not promoted. Dr. Altemeyer, possibly the world's leading expert on the syndrome, has this to say about them : "The studies explain so much about these people. 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 they’ve 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?"
Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarian_personality#:~:text=The%20authoritarian%20personality%20is%20a,the%20oppression%20of%20subordinate%20people.
https://theconversation.com/trumps-america-and-the-rise-of-the-authoritarian-personality-72770
And listen here:
A year or two ago I came across a book by a certain psychology professor Bob Altemeyer explaining a concept called right-wing authoritarianism. It describes a personality type that is:
- Highly submissive to authority figures he considers legitimate
- Aggressively acts in the name of said authority
- Is highly conformist in thought and behavior.
Altemeyer wrote that book back in 2006, and he talked a lot about Bush and the Republicans and their foolish escapades in Iraq. The book came to the attention of John Dean (a former Nixon staffer), who felt that the concept greatly explain the political behavior of conservatives and Republican politicians. Dean wrote a book about it called Conservatives Without Conscience, which was mainly an indictment on the Bush administration. A couple of months ago, he put out a second book, Authoritarian Nightmare, which focuses on Trump.
Somewhere between a fifth and a third (a real big margin of error, I know) of the population is what Altemeyer calls right-wing authoritarians. He doesn't authoritarian leaders like Idi Amin or whatever, he means authoritarian followers. There are actually people who want to submit to a tyrant and who in practice don't believe in freedom and democracy. Altemeyer's research has identified the following psychological traits that RWAs often exhibit in spades:
- Compartmentalized thinking
- Bigotry
- Confirmation bias
- Hypocrisy
- Poor critical thinking skills in general
Altemeyer says that RWAs don't like to think for themselves, but prefer to absorb their beliefs from the group (particularly the leader). This is why conservatives don't believe Covid is a big deal and that masks are unnecessary: it's because Trump says so. Trump goes on TV saying masks are pointless and that Covid is a minor issue, and Trump's sheep followers just mindlessly take his word for it. If tomorrow Trump changed tack and said Covid is a big deal, his followers would do a quick 180 as well.
Altemeyer compares RWAs to an army of ants. Individually they're stupid, but their mindless conformism makes them very powerful in numbers.
The lack of civility of conservatives can be explained if you think of them as mentally at war with the rest of the country. They're at war with the rest of America. In war, civility goes out the window, it is the rudest thing in the world. And RWAs are primed for warfare. They make for terrible philosopher and explorers, but they make for great soldiers.
The
... keep reading on reddit ➡https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vymeTZkiKD0
Interesting video. Touches upon a lot of stuff Sam Harris has talked about: e.g. banality of evil, antisemitism, tribalism, religiosity, conservatism, etc. Also, for any Peterson fans out here, there is a lot of discussion about psychological research and personality characteristics (e.g. how one feels about outsiders, deference to authority, what virtues one should instill in a child, etc.).
For those that want to get to the meat of the video, at about 16:00 minutes in, the author gives an overview of "The Authoritarian Personality" and the 9 personality traits associated with it.
This thread posted by user_name13
https://np.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/dbaly3/my_dad_spent_a_week_in_a_hospital_for_a_heart
Look at the removed comments.
https://www(dot)ceddit(dot)com/r/conspiracy/comments/dbaly3/my_dad_spent_a_week_in_a_hospital_for_a_heart
Screencap of the modmail:
https://imgur.com/a/0cjnZsE
I was banned permanently from the forum after six years for saying;
"This is something people like/user_name13 don't want to admit. Part of it has to do with where they came from."
"Where they come from"... i.e. where they come from philosophically.. but for someone with a persecution complex that is a threat. That is an attack. And that is racist. I was banned in about 10 minutes after that comment. They are american citizens born and bred but "where they come from." Is disgusting and racist to say. But isn't it true? Do we not have unknown biases based on our philosophical outlook?
In the modmail when I alsked what was I banned permanently for, 13 said;
"Go fuck yourself you racist piece of shit."
And muted me for 72 hours.
Which is more offensive? Does that sound justified to you? I'd like to hear your thoughts.
The real question we need to be asking is should mods be removing comments from their own posts? Should people in such positions of power be more understanding of their positions? I mean especially anyone with authoritarian personality disorder should not be a mod. People who get off on being above others and controlling who is and who isnt allowed to speak arguably have mental issues. Should they be that violent against any insurance that they may have a bias? And how is speaking about a mod a rule violation? I'm open to hear why they don't think they are biased.. but after banning me so many times, once for sinlmy saying hi to them, then I have no hope of them realizing how wrong they are.
Being biased is wrong!
So I would ask everyone here to message their modmail or even make a thread in conspiracy asking why I was banned permanently for calling out a mod. Permanently mind you. I could see a month or two but 13 has to do David Brock's bidding and purge every moderately conservative voice from any and every prominent platform before 2020.
So I'm asking a favor to anyone who likes my work or for anyone who thinks that is unfair to message them and just ask why. Dont ask me to be unbanned because that is not what I want. I want an apology. I want them to realize how they treat people is fascistic.
Peace
... keep reading on reddit ➡A few years ago I came across a book by Bob Altemeyer, who is a (retired) professor of psychology who did a lot of research into "right-wing authoritarianism". This is Altemeyer's website: www.theauthoritarians.org
This is the definition of a right-wing authoritarian:
- Naturally submits to authority figures he considers legitimate (not some uppity Kenyan with a fake birth certificate)
- Acts aggressively in the name of his leader
- Is very conformist (wants to be like everybody, and everybody to be like him)
Altemeyer has observed the following traits to be common among RWAs:
- Compartmentalized thinking
- Lack of self-awareness (that he's an RWA)
- Hypocritical
- Unprincipled in practice ("whatever I want is right")
- Ethnocentric
- Believes in hierarchy over equality (duh, that's what "right-wing" means)
- Tends to be more fearful
- Dogmatic
- Readily trusts anyone who claims to share his beliefs even if there are obvious clues the guy has ulterior motives.
There's this Vox.com video that says that since the Nixon era, white RWAs have been concentrating themselves in the Republican Party as a reaction to the Civil Rights movement (and perhaps other rights movements such as feminism and gay rights). Before, they were evenly distributed between both parties because there was no nation-wide issue that triggered them in common.
Trump supporters are overwhelmingly high-RWA. I think this is what happened to America:
- A bunch of rights movements in the latter 20th century elevated that status of blacks, gays, and women.
- White RWAs were upset by this and rallied together (in the Republican Party) to push back against this change.
- Rich people and big corporations noticed this, and that RWAs are easy to manipulate. They began bribing Republican politicians to promote their agenda to Republican voters.
- Republican politicians professed share beliefs with RWAs: they hate abortion, gays, immigrants, religious neutrality, etc. By this they secured the unthinking trust of white RWAs.
- With that trust secured, Republican politicians championed policy issues that served the interests of their wealthy donors, such as deregulation, tax cuts for the rich, more military contracts, welfare cuts, etc. Their RWA voters accepted these things without thinking, simply out of trust for their Republican leaders. Inequality in America skyrocketed.
- Republican voters in their echo chambers became so crazy an
I would like to read an accessible book based on scientific studies that gives an overview of the spectrum of personality traits. I enjoyed Altemeyer's The Authoritarians which looks in depth at two specific personality types in a political context. I'm looking for a similar book that covers a broader range of personalities. Not necessarily looking for a self-help book, but it could be ok, if it is based on scientific studies.
I did a search on a pdf of Authoritarian Personality but couldn't find it. Would anyone know where Adorno says it?
