"The Daddy State" is in rebuttal to what the right always used to call "The Nanny State".
Daddy State Awareness
THE BASICS:
- The Daddy State lies as a means of demonstrating power.
- The lies have practically nothing to do with the subject of the lies.
- Lying about everything creates chaos, which helps condition us to stop thinking, and look to them for "guidance".
- Once we're totally dependent on them, we'll accept the premise that they can do anything they want.
The goal is to dictate reality to us.
THE RULES:
2. Every boast is an admission of inadequacy, or an attempt to claim credit for something they had practically nothing to do with.
2a. What sounds like boasting ("I could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any votes") is intended to soft-peddle some horrific thing they've done - or intend to do, in which case, the "boast" is instructive as to what the devotees will be expected to embrace.
3. Every prediction of some dire consequence is a veiled threat.
Whatever terrible thing they're "warning" us about is something they intend to make happen - often in an attempt to coerce us into doing something they want, or to signal and motivate their mob.
4. They change the meaning of words to suit their needs.
a) if it's false but it works in my favor, then it's true
b) if it's true but it works against me, then it's false
5. They change the historical record.
“you didn’t see what you saw"
"what happened isn’t what happened"
“you didn't hear me say what you heard me say”
6. Total criminalization.
If we're all guilty, then you can't hold me responsible without the risk of exposing your own culpability.
7. The law is my sword, but not your shield.
7a. The law is my shield, but not your sword.
8. Divide and Conquer is the order of the day, every day.
Every issue is a wedge issue to be used as a means of putting each of us in our own little silo - keeping us all isolated - separated from each other.
Play the Game You Are In, Not the One You Wish or Want to Play - Recognize and adapt to the dynamics. In a zero-sum struggle against illiberal forces, there's no room for romantic win-win approaches. The outcome is binary: either victory for democracy or defeat to autocracy.
Rule #2:
Rule #2:
Speak Truth to Power Relentlessly - Challenge the illiberal forces' Big Lies by consistently speaking truth to their power base, the people. Persistence is key, as there's always a tipping point where either truth or lies prevail.
Rule #3:
Rule #3:
Avoid Giving Autocrats Ammunition - Remember, the struggle isn't about policy or ideology but democracy. Be cautious with your words to prevent autocrats from using them to divide you from your allies.
Rule #4:
Rule #4:
Recognize Authoritarians' Disregard for Truth - Understand that authoritarians operate in a truth-free zone, focusing solely on maintaining or gaining power. They want you to move on with them, don't. Stay vigilant in forcing them to answer for their actions, lies, and distortions.
Rule #5:
Rule #5:
Employ Zero-Sum Judo - Turn their tactics against them. Use Big Truths, marginalization, dependency, mockery of disinformation, and division to weaken their power structure. Exploit their need for the legitimacy of democracy.
Rule #6:
Rule #6:
The Stalin Rule - Unite Against Illiberalism - Stand with anyone willing to fight against illiberal structures, regardless of other differences. Shared commitment to democracy and opposition to illiberal politics is the binding force.
Rule #7:
Rule #7:
Daily Challenge to Power Structures - Every day, seek ways to expose, confront, and destabilize vertical power structures. Be proactive in restoring faith in democracy and facing the fear used by autocrats to keep you in silence.
Don't sleep on this
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| (these guys are not the good guys) |
- Do not obey in advance. Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You've already done this, haven't you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.
- Defend an institution. Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don't protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning.
- Recall professional ethics. When the leaders of state set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become much more important. It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without lawyers, and it is hard to have show trials without judges.
- When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. Look out for the expansive use of “terrorism” and “extremism.” Be alive to the fatal notions of “exception” and “emergency.” Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.
- Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that all authoritarians at all times either await or plan such events in order to consolidate power. Think of the Reichstag fire. The sudden disaster that requires the end of the balance of power, the end of opposition parties, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Don't fall for it.
- Be kind to our language. Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. (Don't use the Internet before bed. Charge your gadgets away from your bedroom, and read.) What to read? Perhaps The Power of the Powerless by Václav Havel, 1984 by George Orwell, The Captive Mind by Czesław Milosz, The Rebel by Albert Camus, The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, or Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev.
- Stand out. Someone has to. It is easy, in words and deeds, to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. And the moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.
- Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.
- Investigate. Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on your screen is there to harm you. Learn about sites that investigate foreign propaganda pushes.
- Practice corporeal politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.
- Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down unnecessary social barriers, and come to understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.
- Take responsibility for the face of the world. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.
- Hinder the one-party state. The parties that took over states were once something else. They exploited a historical moment to make political life impossible for their rivals. Vote in local and state elections while you can.
- Give regularly to good causes, if you can. Pick a charity and set up autopay. Then you will know that you have made a free choice that is supporting civil society helping others doing something good.
- Establish a private life. Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the Internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Authoritarianism works as a blackmail state, looking for the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have too many hooks.
- Learn from others in other countries. Keep up your friendships abroad, or make new friends abroad. The present difficulties here are an element of a general trend. And no country is going to find a solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports.
- Watch out for the paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-Leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the game is over.
- Be reflective if you must be armed. If you carry a weapon in public service, God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no. (If you do not know what this means, contact the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and ask about training in professional ethics.)
- Be as courageous as you can. If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die in unfreedom.
- Be a patriot. President Trump is not. Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come. They will need it.
(Ur-Fascism - or Eternal Fascism - is Eco's generic form, as opposed to a particular type of fascism, ie: the Nazis, Mussolini, etc)
- The cult of tradition. “One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements.”
- The rejection of modernism. “The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.”
- The cult of action for action’s sake. “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”
- Disagreement is treason. “The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge.”
- Fear of difference. “The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.”
- Appeal to social frustration. “One of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups.”
- The obsession with a plot. “Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged.”
- The enemy is both strong and weak. “By a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”
- Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. “For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.”
- Contempt for the weak. “Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology.”
- Everybody is educated to become a hero. “In Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death.”
- Machismo and weaponry. “Machismo implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.”
- Selective populism. “There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.”
- Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.”
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