@mgorny@social.treehouse.systems2025-06-30 19:15:25
"""
The barbarian role of cultural demolition crew is especially important when you consider how often cultural reconstruction is needed. Many of Rome’s glaring defects — exploitation, authoritarianism, corrupt self-aggrandizement — flow from deeply human tendencies. Time and again they’ve transformed promising civilizations into decaying, oppressive monstrosities. Time and again, history seems to cry out: Bring on the demolition crew! And time and again barbarians cheerfully respond to the call. Their previous massive wreaking of destruction, near the end of the second millennium B.C., had come after civilization went through centuries of apparent ossification.
In a way, barbarians are just a special case of that general and potent zero-sum dynamic in cultural evolution: brutal competition among neighboring societies. This rivalry renders ossified cultures vulnerable to a makeover, minor or major. They may be taken over by a vast neighboring civilization, which will revamp them in its image. Or they may be infiltrated and perhaps even disassembled by barbarians, paving the way for future reassembly. Or they may revive and prevail — an example of the “challenge and response” dynamic stressed by Arnold Toynbee. In any event, the point remains the same: however deeply human the tendencies of exploitation, authoritarianism, and self-aggrandizement, cultures that surrender to them may not be long for this world.
"""
(Robert Wright, Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny)
Is it time for the barbarians now? Or perhaps we — here on Fedi — are the barbarians.
@mela@zusammenkunft.net2025-05-29 15:36:56
This is the modus operandi of most anti-vaxx propaganda and a core characteristic that links it to authoritarianism and Fascism IMHO:
Lies are accepted. "Evidence" only has to look scientific, it doesn't has to be actual science.
No false statement will ever be corrected..
https://
@cdarwin@c.im2025-05-30 14:30:40
As the debate over the BBB moves to the Senate, the immediate imperative is to
expose the damage the bill does to millions of Trump’s voters
to benefit his Mar-a-Lago and crypto-wealthy friends.
But it’s also an occasion to shatter the illusion that Trump is some sort of policy innovator.
Extremism and authoritarianism are not new ideas, and his legislative program would be familiar to Calvin Coolidge.
@sofia@chaos.social2025-04-29 19:33:30
ContraPoints' conspiracy video reminded me how conspiracy theories are an outgroth of authoritarian thinking. for an antiauthoritarian, it's often pretty straighforward to look at social dysfunction and see power relations that seem to cause it. but an authoritarian can't do that, they by-and-large drank the kool-aid of government legitimacy. for them, the power itself can't be the problem. the problem must be _who_ is in power.
@johnleonard@mastodon.social2025-06-27 12:54:59
Welcome to Computing's weekly roundup of tech news in Asia. This time we look at another site ban in India, China’s ‘convenient’ virtual ID and Japan’s power challenges in the face of datacentre construction.
https://www.computing.co.uk/news/2025/indi
@wfryer@mastodon.cloud2025-05-29 21:01:34
🗳️ A new virtual summit is in the works—uniting educators, activists, artists & citizens to resist authoritarianism defend democracy. 🛠️ Help shape the vision: take the planning survey − bit.ly/4jhX8tR
#Resist #Democracy
@cobordism@berlin.social2025-03-30 11:55:57
"As Trump flirts dangerously with authoritarianism, Europe needs to save itself. If it can, Europe might also someday play a role in saving the United States."
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/europe-trump-nato-russia/6…
@seeingwithsound@mas.to2025-05-26 21:06:26
[OT] NYT: How will we know when we have lost our democracy? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/opinion/trump-authoritarianism-democracy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KE8.FGmV.1w9_LDeDoILI&am…
@joshmoore@fediscience.org2025-05-27 13:59:58
How will we know when we have lost our democracy?
#FederatedMemory
@cdarwin@c.im2025-06-19 18:00:06
Key to whether Trump can tilt America decisively into authoritarianism will be his efforts to assert control over the armed forces.
“Trump’s ramping up of the effort to politicize the military can still go in multiple directions,” Levitsky said.
“It could be really ugly and bad, because the only way that you can get from where we are to real authoritarianism like Nicaragua or Venezuela or Russia is if Trump has the military and security forces on his side,
and he’s taken s…