Pardon, but I'm just going to post an email I just sent to a colleague...
OK, here you go (my personal rule is no politics on work email, so I email personal
mail-to-personal mail). This builds on what I was telling you about "Authoritarian
Followers" yesterday...
On the mindset of the "authoritarian follower", read the John Dean article
from findlaw, here:
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20061020.htmlTo build on that, let me veer into Richard Dawkins and his concept of the "evolutionary
stable strategy", or ESS. His thought was that, in any gene pool, you don't
find selection toward virtual homogenity; instead you see an ESS emerge comprised
of x% of trait a, y% of trait b, and z% of trait c even though these traits seem
contradictory and competitive with eachother. I think we see the same when it comes
to the memetics (and possibly the genetics) of politics: There will always be a
certain number of what Altemeyer (in the Dean article) calls "Authoritarian
Followers", a group of people who no matter what the evidence cling to external
authority with the tenacity of barnacles on an old barge.
Authoritarian Followers are ever ripe for exploitation by dominant Authoritarian
Leaders. These unscrupulous Leaders are always ready to tell the Followers what
they need to hear in exchange for personal power and wealth. Pat Robertson and
Jerry Falwell are two examples, as is George Bush -- and, of course, as was Adolph
Hitler.
When and if cognitive dissonance between the leader and followers grows too great,
the followers do not shift their beliefs, they just jettison the leader and replace
him/her with another unscrupulous dominant only too happy to step in and continue
the farce. To some, still, the earth is 6,000 years old and fossils are just Satan's
way of deceiving those who will not believe. To others, still, Bush found the WMD
in Iraq. These poor saps pour all their energy into backing the few crackpot "scientists"
and "politicians" that agree with them despite the tomes of thoroughly
convincing evidence to the contrary.
I just love to point out to freepers (denizens of Free Republic dot com) that, though
Republicans have held Congress since 1994, the White House since December 12 2000
(a day that will live on in infamy!), have stacked the courts almost without interruption
since Reagan, and own the near-monopolized major media since the Fairness Doctrine,
the Political Editorial rule, the Personal Attack rule, and Rule of Sevens were
abolished -- despite all this, we still have abortion. The Republicans, a hornet's
nest of dominant Authoritarian Leaders, know better than to take that off the table
because it wins them votes. Lovely ethics, eh?
The Authoritarian Follower has always been with us. John Dean, in the article above,
thinks they run about 30% in the American population. That means, no matter how
bad things get, about 30% of the population will think George Bush is doing a wonderful
job -- except for brief moments when a switch goes off and they jettison the mis-leader.
At that moment, and November 7 was one such moment, progressive lurches forward
are possible. But never forget that the Authoritarian Follower remains unchanged
and searches anew for that next friendly fascist compassionate conservative a**hole
-- and note, our "unitary executive" Bush has established tools and practices
that, if not reversed, can be utilized by any future tyrant to brutalize those who
will not blindly follow.
Just some thoughts... (and were does that place our buddy, xxx?)
Dave
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