Thread by @JYSexton

Fascists and authoritarians are notoriously incompetent. Their only talents are to use insecurity to attract a cult of personality around them.

Their reigns are chaotic and paranoid as their sycophants destroy everything and each other to make their leaders' delusions real.

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The more I research them, the more I find that fascist/authoritarian movements are the same. Rabid, dangerous male insecurity masked by symbols of power and aggressive, powered by nationalistic, racist myths.

Obvious incompetence disguised by control of reality. 2/

We've been fed lies about authoritarians. That they're able to get things done because they move past politics and democracy. But they're all really, really incompetent, they just manage to control the methods of reporting reality. They fail and then lie and lie and lie.

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Fascist/authoritarian rulers contradict themselves constantly, they're incapable of making actual decisions or carrying out policy. Instead, their insecurity leads to cracking down on human rights and narrative. Their lies become gospel under the threat of death. 4/

Eventually, because we rely on autocratic myths and narratives, primarily in an era where we don't believe in our systems, we come to believe authoritarians are regrettable but necessary.

Particularly as America came to rely on authoritarians to fight the Soviet Union. 5/

The truth is that authoritarians and fascists are all wildly insecure men who dress themselves in symbols of power to hide their insecurity. Just because they come into power doesn't mean they suddenly become competent or less insecure.

It only grows. 6/

Even with ultimate power, authoritarians continue to look for more power, more control, because the problem isn't external. It's internal. It's THEM, not the rest of the world, but they'll bring the rest of the world to heel in pursuit of fixing their own internal problem.

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Eventually, the authoritarians create a world to their liking, but it's still inconsistent. Because their rampant insecurity creates a hall of twisted mirrors. Everything loses meaning because they doubt even themselves.

Meanwhile, people are dying, democracy is dying. 8/

Fascism is, and has always been, the last bastion for dangerous male insecurity. It's a movement powered by insecure men who want to be stronger and larger than themselves.

It's incompetent. It's chaotic. It's completely ineffective. 9/

We have to dispel the myth that authoritarianism is synonymous with competence, because it's part of a larger lie of masculinity and politics. When you see incompetence masked by violence and threats and societal pressure, you're watching fascism grow by the day.

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