1. Bloomberg's bizarre statement that Xi is "not a dictator" was not a gaffe but a manifestation of Bloomberg's authoritarian tendency, one evident in his tenure as NYC mayor: racial profiling, religious profiling, targeting of anti-war groups
2. Bloomberg doesn't get called out on his authoritarianism enough because he's a centrists authoritarian, and the main stream media shares enough of his worldview to be blind to it.
3. Because centrists dominate the discourse, there's a tendency to see authoritarianism with anti-system politics (of the left and right). But centrists can be just as authoritarian as anti-system people -- and usually more likely succeed in their authoritarianism.
4. Some thoughts on Bloomberg and centrist authoritarianism. thenation.com/article/bloomb…
