The Lure of Authoritarianism : A Comfortable Ignorance

 

     There are usually considered to be four parental "styles". These are authoritarian/disciplinarian, permissive/indulgent, uninvolved, and authoritative. These "parental" styles extend to leaders outside of the family -- government officials, religious authorities, social groups, also extended families that may affect hundreds of people. 

     The permissive/uninvolved types of authorities work only as a "figurehead" -- where the people who are being led must be autonomous and able to handle decisions and actions without assistance or leadership. This can happen within families, groups, or even countries. In most cases within larger groups of countries, there is actually a "shadow" government that operates behind the "curtain", and enacts policies, with the figurehead as a spokesperson. Of course, it is possible to have a dysfunctional family or group which has a "figurehead" without the people in the group having the capacity for being autonomous.

    Authoritarian and Authoritative sound very similar and they do both have "authority" in common. Someone leads, someone makes the final decision. However, the authoritarian is closed, or self-isolated -- they know everything, everything they believe is true, all actions are THE correct action, any deviations from THE correct way must be punished, all other people are wrong unless they support the leader's own directives, and so forth.

     Someone who is authoritative is open -- they get data from as many sources that they can, all actions, and decisions, can be evaluated and improved, deviations from expected behavior are evaluated, and punished if deemed necessary, but learned from and, potentially, expected behavior can be modified. The authoritative leader is usually considered to be the style that allows the most growth within the group that is led.

     Within a family, tribe, or an extended family, choice of leader is often based on tradition and the leadership/parental style is fixed within that individual. Beyond the family, leadership is determined in many different ways but, ultimately, is actively or passively chosen by the group that is being led. Within a monarchy or dictatorship, all four styles may be in effect depending on the ruler. Effectiveness, and popularity, of the ruler will depend on the leadership style and many factors outside of the leader's control -- weather, harvests, earthquakes, ...

     The time when there is a choice is when a country or group has a democracy -- direct or representative. It is during these times that the general political and economic environment makes a huge difference. Anger and fear are gifts to support an authoritarian leader. As Frank Herbert said in the novel "Dune" -- "Fear is the Mind Killer". People turn to authoritarian leaders to tell them what to do and what to think. It can be very comfortable as long as they don't start noticing consequences. Only (internally or externally, imposed) ignorance continues to support a destructive authoritarian leader.

     Emotions can easily overshadow thought. 

     Authoritarian leaders will often do things -- actions and words -- to make the electorate angry or fearful in order to increase support. They can gain acceptance in times of uncertainty and change which give initial fear and anger that can be manipulated. For example, the punitive restrictions on the German people following World War I gave fertile ground of which Adolf Hitler was able to take advantage.

     No matter where one turns, at present, there are drastically conflicting data and presented "facts". While it is true that many questions, or situations, do not have a single answer, the underlying reality can usually be determined. It requires serious research and staying out of the "data silo" that parrots only what each other says, and allows in only those concepts that are already believed.

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

     The United States (most of it) just went through the Spring ritual of changing to Daylight Savings Time. Or, as a cartoon published during my childhood indicated, cutting off one end of the blanket and sewing it on the other end. Along with the changing to DST comes the biannual articles and discussions on whether we should stay with Daylight Savings Time (I assume that it would then become the new "Standard" time and the old "Standard" time would disappear) year round.
     Personally, I don't know the "best" answer. But it does call out vividly that time, as displayed on a clock, is arbitrary. What we call time is a human invention. Of course, time as a reflection of entropy (physical movement towards disorder) exists without humans -- but it is unknown whether the manner in which we perceive time (past -> present -> future) is fixed or a matter of perspective.
     Within the general human situation, perception of time is generally more important than the numbers with which we associate it. It takes "forever" to receive an anticipated message or event. Children grow up "so quickly". In my experience (I cannot say about yours), looking back at time seems much shorter than looking ahead.
     I have a personal theory that perceived length of time is proportional to one's chronological age. Thus, for a five-year-old, a year is an enormous amount of time because it is 1/5 of their life so far. But, for a 60-year-old, a year seems much shorter.
     Perception of time is also cultural. Some cultures (stereotypical for the Swiss citizen) are "ruled by the clock" -- everything must be done exactly "on time" and the schedule rules. Other cultures (it is supposed to be traditionally true for many in the First Nations) see it as a general framework. Thus, "tomorrow morning" may vary plus or minus a day. And yet other cultures make an assumption of inherent delays in most planned events -- so a plane that takes off at "7pm" might actually take off sometime between 6:30pm and 9pm (or later, if mechanical or staffing problems intercede). And that is OK because punctuality is not expected.
     Another variable of perceived time is focus. If I am focused on doing something -- because of a deadline or because I really love doing it -- then I am concentrating on the task and not on the time and time will go "fast". If I am thinking of things other than the current task, "waiting" for something "better", or trying to keep in mind multiple things that should happen within the same period, time goes "slowly".
     One more parameter to the perception of time is emotion. If you are dreading something, time usually seems to go faster. If you are looking forward to something, then it "just never arrives". Perception of time seems to be the inverse of how much you want the event to arrive. I don't want it, it happens "faster". I do want it, it happens "slower".
     So, to answer the original question -- no, probably no one really knows what time it is. Does anyone really care?
    

Troll attack: the new playground bully of the Internet

    The more that a person uses social media, the more likely it is that you will be the subject of a troll attack. Like most situations of being attacked, the most direct way of avoiding such an attack is to not be present. Within social media, this means do not post -- do not show any indication that you exist. For some people, this works pretty well -- they "lurk" in the background and notice what is happening in other people's lives and what are the topics that others are interested in discussing.
     There is nothing wrong with passive use of social media -- unless there is something important going on about which you want to give your opinion. Or some event is occurring of which you are particularly proud -- maybe an anniversary or an award that your child has won. Or you keep encountering situations where you say to yourself -- "yes, that is possibly true -- but this other point, which I think is much more important, keeps being missed". Perhaps they keep talking about point B and they don't talk about point A which is related but not the same.
     Pride, knowledge, a desire to contribute all may add to the reasons why you may want to actively participate. But, once you are visible, you can (and probably will) be attacked.
     You may have heard about flame wars -- which are related to troll attacks. In both cases, the person attacking is primarily making personal attacks -- the messages have little, if any, relation to what was actually said. Many times, there is no way to tell from the attack whether the original message was read at all. However, the sneakiest (and most hurtful) troll attacks occur when they DO mention something that is somewhat relevant to what you have said -- because it can seem like the personal attack is based on some part of your message. It isn't.
     Why would a person conduct a troll attack? It truly is the same situation as a "playground" (or workplace, or other locale) bully. First, they are angry. You don't know why but they are angry. Perhaps they lost their job or were refused a promotion in a job or their child was struck by an unlicensed (and uninsured) driver or they dropped a bowling ball on their foot or they were just screamed at by their mother or cousin. You just plain do not know. The only thing you know is that they are angry.
     Second, they want to hurt others. Why do they want to hurt others? Why do they want to hurt you? Unfortunately, many people seem to feel that if others are feeling badly, or are being treated badly, then they -- in comparison to the others -- are doing better. This happens with various prejudices as well as in the arena of bullying.
     Why are they attacking you? Well, it is possible that your message mentioned a keyword -- or "hot button" -- something about which they have an entire set of preset ideas and emotions. Am I saying that they ARE addressing your message? No -- not at all. They are still creating a personal attack based on anger. They are not listening (reading), analyzing, researching, thinking, or anything that really is concerned with the topic. They are reacting in anger because they are angry.
     Why else might they choose you to attack? It might be because your message shows some indication that you may be vulnerable to attack -- it indicates insecurity or that you are hurting -- and there are also "-ist" attacks based on peripheral things like religion or pigmentation or ethnic origin or such. They attack because you seem to be a person who can be attacked.
     What do you do if you are attacked? Personally, I suggest to do nothing. Like other bullies, if they do not get anything back to feed their anger, they will choose a different target. (It is conceivable, but unlikely, that they will even reconsider what they have said and try a different response -- at which point in time it is up to you whether to respond.) It may be useful for you to create a reply -- but never, never send it -- in order to allow emotional responses to find a form.
     It is possible that others will come to your defence -- which may have some effectiveness unless they also start attacking from anger rather than addressing the contents of the messages.
     Disagreements occur in life -- and they occur on the Internet. When the contents of messages are addressed, researched, explained, expanded upon, and treated as a bit of information within a much larger pool of information, those disagreements can lead to growth, change, and continued exchanges of ideas. When people attack the person who writes the message then there is no route to constructive response. It is an emotion not a thought and they may have reasons to be angry -- but they do not have the right to address that anger upon you.
     How do you deal with flames and troll attacks? Do you have any methods that work to decrease them?