Captain Obvious story of the weekend

 


This ABC news story is so obvious it almost doesn't bear much in the way of comment other than I could see this coming a mile away. Of course, a subset of voters understand that Trump is a fascist and will vote for him anyway. If you read through many of the justifications for casting a vote for Trump, their statements look like they could have been taken from a right-wing authoritarianism questionnaire (whether one developed by Altemeyer, Duckitt and colleagues, or Funke). And there is a reason for that: the folks who are knowingly voting for a fascist are in all likelihood psychologically authoritarian in their worldview. I'll give you a snippet from a book chapter I had published earlier this year (here is a non-paywalled version of the chapter) that describes the three facets of authoritarianism as initially defined by Altemeyer and subsequent authoritarianism theorists and researchers:

Conventionalism is defined as a tendency to go along with the prevailing societal norms, especially those norms sanctioned by authority figures in the home, church, school, and other social and organizational contexts. Highly authoritarian individuals are more prone to adhere to tradition and are resistant to changes in social norms, such as gender roles.

Authoritarian submission is defined as a tendency to be relatively unquestionably obedient to authorities deemed legitimate, according to their worldview. Individuals who are highly authoritarian have a strong tendency to submit to implicit and explicit commands from authority figures.

Authoritarian aggression is the tendency to approve of and engage in an aggressive and violent behavior that is sanctioned by authority figures. Individuals who are authoritarian are not necessarily more aggressive or violent than non-authoritarians, but are more prone to accept aggressive and violent actions or engage in such, as they have reason to believe that is what their authority figures expect of them.

Most of the respondents interviewed for the ABC story used statements that would easily fall under authoritarian aggression or authoritarian submission, but you'll definitely see a high degree of conventionalism being expressed by these folks. None of this should be surprising. Trump is promising a return to "traditional" norms, demands submission and loyalty from his subjects, and has promised to harm the people the authoritarians hate. 

It's hardly a surprise. But just because this is not a surprising story does not mean it is unimportant. We know what we're up against, right as we face an election outcome that may bring us the first openly fascist White House occupant ever. That should keep the rest of us non-authoritarians on high alert and mobilized.

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