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Hi, @karenattiah,

In this amazing lecture Prof. Carol Anderson explains that what sets off white rage isn’t the presence of black people.

It’s the presence of black people with ambition who refuse to accept their subjugation.


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I know of two explanations: One from sociology and one political psychology.

I'm not a scholar in either field,

Dr. Anderson, in her lecture, mentions Barbara Johns.

By way of introducing myself, I'll tell you that I wrote the only biography of Barbara Johns⤵️

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I'll start with the explanation from political psychology.

About a third of people across cultures have what political psychologists call an authoritarian disposition. You can read more about the right wing variety here: researchgate.net/publication/31…

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@karen_stenner and @JonHaidt wrote an essay that appeared in this book called, "Authoritarianism is Not a Momentary Madness But An Eternal Dynamic Within Liberal Democracies."

Karen made it available free, here: …e-4700-aaa9-743a55a9437a.filesusr.com/ugd/02ff25_370…

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They describe what they call an "authoritarian dynamic." It works like this.

Those with an authoritarian disposition, on the other hand, are averse to complexity (which includes diversity).

Those with authoritarian dispositions prefer sameness and uniformity.

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Those with an authoritarian disposition have a “bias against different others (racial and ethnic outgroups, immigrants)

A normative threat is something that threatens “sameness and order.”

When face with a normative threat, they become violent and cruel.

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Trump governs by creating normative threats.

Authoritarian uprisings are an eternal part of liberal democracies (according to the authors) because democracy natural expands and becomes more diverse. As voting rights expand, for example, the electorate gets more diverse. . .
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Because some people are uncomfortable with diversity, as the democracy becomes more diverse, demagogues canstir them to rage and fear.

This dovetails with Dr. Anderson's observation that it's not the presence of black people that triggers white rage . . .

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. . . it's white people who refuse to accept their subjugation.

Another way of seeing the same thing is through the lens of the sociologist and differing views of the purpose of government.

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Actually this explanation comes from a combination of historians, sociologists, and philosophers. The views of Ivan Ilyin as explained by Timothy Snyder ⤵️is probably the best source.

One view of government, the view of liberal democracy, is that governments create fairness.
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The New Deal, Civil Rights legislation, the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education are all based on the idea that the job of government is to create fairness.

Obama was a fairness president. Fairness presidents try to figure out how to better the lives of the citizens.

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They come up with ideas like affordable health care for everyone.

The other view of government is that the purpose is to maintain the hierarchy.

Republicans since the New Deal have been the party of hierarchy. That's why they hate things like health care for all.

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The Republicans have been saying they're the "law and order" party for decades. Meanwhile, they break laws. (Watergate. Iran-Contra. Scooter Libby's perjury.)

What they meant by "law and order" was "maintain the hierarchy." One way is to imprison (or lynch) black men.

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One thing happening right now is the "white rage" is being turned on the protesters, including white protesters.

I also think that Trump goofed and lost control.

He's the Chaos President, but he selects the chaos he wants and needs to control the narrative.

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His approval rating is tanking.

Given that we're give months before a presidential election, this is a big deal. Republicans are starting (tentatively and don't get your hopes up that this will continue) to turn on him.

This morning, I saw this: nytimes.com/2020/06/04/us/…

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One of Trump's fallback governing "strategies" is to Get the Fighters Fighting.

That's why in his call to governors on Monday, he said law enforcement needs to "dominate" the protesters.

He and his Fox propaganda network have been spreading lies about the protesters.

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Here's an example of what the right wing is being told about the protesters:



So they're triggering a normative threat, where the threat is the protesters.

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So, in the age of cell phone cameras, we're seeing the authoritarian rage unleashed against the protesters, which explains why the police are responding to protests about police brutality with more police brutality.

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Hi, Augustus, I think we're saying the same thing.

Hierarchical people don't willingly give up their place at the top of the hierarchy.

19th century America was a patriarchy/hierarchy with black women at the bottom. White men were at or near the top.

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Yes. @jasonintrator (author of How Fascism Works) talks about how people at the top of the hierarchy feel victimized when others demand equality.

Hierarchical people don't believe fairness is possible, so they assume others are trying to displace them.
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