Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #StrongMen
Most recents (7)
All In the Family. This is classic authoritarian corruption. From my #Strongmen, 2020: "Strongmen are family men, in their own fashion. The leader’s children may run the official family business, as with Berlusconi and Trump..." 1/
"...or the unofficial family business of drug and arms smuggling or money laundering, as with Gaddafi’s offspring, and Mobutu’s son Kongulu. Sons-in-law have a prominent role in strongman governance. Mussolini made his son-in-law Ciano Foreign Minister..." 2/
"...and then had him executed for voting in 1943 to remove him from power. Orbán’s son-in-law István Tiborcz amassed a net worth of over 100 million euros, but the Hungarian government dropped corruption probes initiated by the European Union against him." 3/
Erdogan=another case study of how #Strongmen respond to crises. The priority is always self-preservation. "To deflect attention from his cronyism and incompetence, Erdogan has engaged in favorite autocratic activities: censoring people and locking them up. #TurkeyQuake 1/
The government's Twitter ban in the days following the quake, intended to silence criticism of his regime, made it more difficult for the public to find their loved ones and get advice from disaster management professionals. #turkeyearthquake2023 2/
It is important to crack down on contractors whose shoddy methods cost lives. 100 contractors have been detained across 10 provinces, and the Justice Ministry has established "earthquake crimes investigation units." 3/
Discussions about #FreeSpeech are misguided in the information age.
Even before our voices are drowned out by the noise on social media, or overwritten by information combatants, we lose our agency and decision autonomy to manipulative complex systems we don’t fully understand.
Even before our voices are drowned out by the noise on social media, or overwritten by information combatants, we lose our agency and decision autonomy to manipulative complex systems we don’t fully understand.
The whole point of the #enlightenment, the scientific revolution, our educational and #epistemic institutions was to empower individuals to find a way out of their self-imposed #immaturity, to take #agency over their lives and make informed decisions.
We need #epistemic clarity about reality, for without it, our agency will be blunted & our freedom a charade
It is public-interest education, journalism & science that truly make individuals in a #democratic society free, not the right to cast a vote or to elect a representative
It is public-interest education, journalism & science that truly make individuals in a #democratic society free, not the right to cast a vote or to elect a representative
1/ Tácticas populistas son usadas hoy por dictadores de derecha e izquierda. Tantos así, que ya parecen rancios productos de una era olvidada, cuando los ciudadanos no sabíamos de la influencia de social media y sus campañas de influencia. Ejemplo los “rallies” de Trump :
2/
“Contexto de los mítines de Trump: mi ensayo sobre cómo #Strongmen usa las multitudes y los mítines desde el fascismo hasta hoy. "Los cuerpos obedientes expuestos legitimaban políticamente al líder... Alimentaban su culto a la personalidad, renovaban su poder…
“Contexto de los mítines de Trump: mi ensayo sobre cómo #Strongmen usa las multitudes y los mítines desde el fascismo hasta hoy. "Los cuerpos obedientes expuestos legitimaban políticamente al líder... Alimentaban su culto a la personalidad, renovaban su poder…
3/ …y alimentaban su ego".
Thread on how authoritarians use the power of threat. A few testimonies, from my 2020 book #Strongmen: wwnorton.com/books/97813240…
A culture of threat fosters silence & self-policing. Non-action from political opponents & critics gives appearance of consent for illegal action.
A culture of threat fosters silence & self-policing. Non-action from political opponents & critics gives appearance of consent for illegal action.
Franco’s Spain: the philosopher José Ortega y Gasset reflected on how “the threat in my mind of an eventual violence, coercion, or sanction that other people are going to exercise against me” bred conformity. 2/
Hitler's Germany: the historian George Mosse, who fled the Nazis, never forgot the low-level “terror” and hyper-vigilance. “You sit in bed, listen to the night/…Will they come today to get me?” the German leftist Eugen Nerdinger wrote, after receiving death threats. 3/
Santa's here! WATCH! Two brand new NARATIV pods on the topic of Strongmen. In Part 1 author and historian @ruthbenghiat finds connecting patterns among modern history's #Strongmen: from Mussolini to Trump. With @LincolnsBible @narativ_live. podcasts.apple.com/podcast/making…
And in Part 2 ,Trump's makers share credit for Hitler, Mussolini and Silvio Berlusconi. Strongmen @ruthbenghiat reveals Trump's goal is "the autocrat capture" of the USA. With @LincolnsBible. podcasts.apple.com/podcast/strong…
The audio files are available on most podcast players, like @spotify @google @apple. open.spotify.com/episode/7zxIWn…
Trump is a psychopathic criminal cult leader in league with foreign powers and money lenders, backed by a corrupt, compromised party and a propaganda media network. If unstopped, he will criminalize dissent and embrace authoritarianism.
Here's a thread laying it all out: (1/9)
Here's a thread laying it all out: (1/9)
To truly understand Trump and the danger he represents, we need to first diagnose his psychiatric condition. He's not just a narcissist. As @DutytoInform explains, he's a psychopath: thedailyedge.substack.com/p/diagnosis-ps… (2/9)
Trump is also, undoubtedly, a criminal. Setting aside Mueller and impeachment, here's a list of 10 known crimes--from sexual assault to racial discrimination to tax fraud to money laundering--that we know he committed even BEFORE he became President: thedailyedge.substack.com/p/the-crimes-o… (3/9)
