124 Quotes About Authoritarianism

Doing what the society wants, makes you a second hand human - wanting the society to do what you want, makes you a narcissistic bigot - but being an embodiment of humanhood without any expectation from others, is what makes you a sentient human.

The only thing I do not feelIs my own existenceAs though the woods and starsMaybe out of habitMaybe out of sorrowNo longer have the strength to careAbout a destiny they cannot alter

The individual act of obedience is the cornerstone not only of the strength of authoritarian society but also of its weakness.

Authoritarianism has no place in religion. If you want to have true religion in your heart, then burn the scriptures and go out in the world to end misery.

It doesn't take an army to change the world, or an average-sized militia group, either. All it takes is one individual to say the word "No". Be it a man refusing to register for the draft, or be it a gun owner refusing to register his weapons in Connecticut, it is the same: defiance in the face of arbitrary authority.

Demagoguery is powerfully reduced when it stops getting people elected, and that usually happens because of in-group policing. Similarly, when it isn't profitable for a media outlet to engage in demagoguery, it won't, and that happens when its target market declines to put up with it. Individual demagogues are best stopped by in-group condemnation, and particular strains of demagoguery are generally ended by public shaming.

While there are now fresh moves to revise NICE guidelines on CFS/ME in the United Kingdom, these advances are likely to have been hindered by the scale of epistemic injustices experienced by patients with ME/CFS (NICE 2017). Of the valuable participants in the ongoing discourse about ME/CFS, it is patients who are not only the most vulnerable but have the most to lose.

Inevitability and eternity have specific propaganda styles. Inevitability politicians spin facts into a web of well-being. Eternity politicians suppress facts in order to dismiss the reality that people are freer and richer in other countries, and the idea that reforms could be formulated on the basis of knowledge.

But when faced with a would-be authoritarian, establishment politicians must unambiguously reject him or her and do everything possible to defend democratic institutions—even if that means temporarily joining forces with bitter rivals.