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6·23 hours agoThey do in so far as understanding motives and anticipating actions, it’s like any science, you want to be as accurate and precise as possible to avoid errors in making decisions.
His narcissistic personality disorder and deteriorating mental condition leaves him increasingly vulnerable to manipulation by advisors. The fascist elements within the party are prone to factionalization without competent leadership, these elements are a legitimate threat to his rule. It’s beneficial to know that while these parties all share a version of a palingenetic myth, the utopian visions differ considerably after America’s destruction, which can be used as a wedge to promote infighting and schisms between them.
For instance, the Dark Enlightenment oligarchs and JD Vance are working to scapegoat and get rid of Trump, (see mimetic theory of desire). Normal conservatives would be put off by the idea and their public support would wane, and the MAGA diehards possibly turn rabid to defend Dear Leader against Trump’s financial backers.
Edit:
Or push stories equating Trump/MAGA with Marxism/communism to sow division among the pure capitalist conservative types against his agenda.
https://fortune.com/2025/08/12/maga-marxist-maoist-trump-assault-free-market-capitalism-socialism/
Yes, but for the sake of accuracy the president is a vulgar conventionalist and parafascist. Factions within the Republican party, such as the Christian nationalists, meet academic definitions of fascism but Trump has no ideology. He uses fascism as a tool to gain more wealth and power, he’s not a “true believer” like many of his followers.
Vulgar conventionalism is … that the life according to nature is the preserve of a small minority, of the natural elite, of those who are truly men and not [born] to be slaves. To be more precise, the summit of happiness is the life of the tyrant, of the man who has successfully committed the greatest crime by subordinating the city as a whole to his private good and who can afford to drop the appearance of justice or legality.
Natural Right and History, Leo Strauss.
para-fascism – a form of authoritarian and ultra-nationalist conservatism which adopts the external trappings of fascism while rejecting its call for genuine social and ethical revolution (see pp. 120–4)
Nature of Fascism, R Griffin
1·1 day agoI would recommend some PlasticPills but only certain videos, and def not immediately.
Also, introduce them to Le Bon’s The Crowd, and explain how this is used as a weapon against them.
https://archive.org/details/gustave-le-bon-the-crowd/Gustave Le Bon - The Crowd
And maybe Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, he defines socialism as totalitarianism regardless of left/right. I have my criticisms about Hayek and neoliberalism, but it is effective comparing far right to communism, especially for old conservatives.
Vance was handpicked by the dark enlightenment to destroy America for their neofeudal utopia, grinding undesirables into biofuel and enslaving the rest.
Democrats have been discussing strategy since their loss in November. They’ve come up with use populist rhetoric for elections but stick to neoliberal policy.
4·4 days agoYou’re misremembering, the video covered gaslighting.
I don’t know how I feel about the term dung cakes…
While the connection may not ultimately matter scientifically, it matters ideologically. This modern day Lysenkoism emerging in America is a common feature of totalitarianism, and it will permeate throughout all sciences.
Incredible as some of these aberrations may appear, we must yet be on our guard not to dismiss them as mere accidental by-products which have nothing to do with the essential character of a planned or totalitarian system. They are not. They are a direct result of that same desire to see everything directed by a “unitary conception of the whole,” of the need to uphold at all costs the views in the service of which people are asked to make constant sacrifices, and of the general idea that the knowledge and beliefs of the people are an instrument to be used for a single purpose. Once science has to serve, not truth, but the interests of a class, a community, or a state, the sole task of argument and discussion is to vindicate and to spread still further the beliefs by which the whole life of the community is directed. As the Nazi minister of justice has explained, the question which every new scientific theory must ask itself is: “Do I serve National Socialism for the greatest benefit of all?”
The word “truth” itself ceases to have its old meaning. It describes no longer something to be found, with the individual conscience as the sole arbiter of whether in any particular instance the evidence (or the standing of those proclaiming it) warrants a belief; it becomes something to be laid down by authority, something which has to be believed in the interest of the unity of the organized effort and which may have to be altered as the exigencies of this organized effort require it.
The Road to Serfdom, F. A. Hayek
The introduction may be confusing but it wasn’t advocating for eugenics, the movie intro can be viewed as dumb people raise their kids to be dumb, not that intelligence was passed down genetically. And you are correct, religion and power need uneducated people to maintain hegemony.
2·5 days agoThink it’s from this:
51·6 days agoAfter repetitive exposure to this propaganda (repetition priming), the people were beginning to believe and stand up for what each respective government had been flashing before their eyes, without them even knowing it.
https://sites.psu.edu/psych256sp18003/2018/03/04/h/
The fact of being exposed to propaganda and misinformation, repeatedly and continuously, has a psychological affect over time.
The individual must not be allowed to recover, to collect himself, to remain untouched by propaganda during any relatively long period, for propaganda is not the touch of the magic wand. It is based on slow, constant impregnation. It creates convictions and compliance through imperceptible influences that are effective only by continuous repetition. It must create a complete environment for the individual, one from which he never emerges.
Propaganda, Jacques Ellul
73·6 days agoRepublican rhetoric follows Le Bon’s The Crowd method: Affirmation, Repetition and Contagion.
First they espouse an idea or belief (ex. Radical Left are violent animals). The crowd accepts these statements as true, regardless of reality.
Then blast it on repeat through every medium so it becomes internalized in their minds.
Finally, the contagion phase, where the crowd is spurned to action, whether it is getting out to vote, storming the capital or going door to door murdering “The Enemy Within.”
It’s not difficult to see what the fascist intent is behind the extreme violent rhetoric.
Fun quote: “We need a de-Ba’athification program … in the United States.” — JD Vance.
1·7 days agodeleted by creator
Gotta capture and warp the minds of the youth to transform them into obedient fascist dogs.
Only through concentration in a few hands of a large number of media can one attain a true orchestration, a continuity, and an application of scientific methods of influencing individuals. A state monopoly, or a private monopoly, is equally effective.
Propaganda, Jacques Ellul
For context, this theory is a central belief of the Dark Enlightenment oligarchs who financed Trump’s election. He is a useful tool, to be scapegoated and replaced by Vance when he has served his purpose of dismantling democracy.