There’s an interesting statement by ‘jsfox’ in the comments to the New York Magazine article:
“From a recent survey done by Morning Consult
* A scale measuring propensity toward right-wing authoritarian tendencies found right-leaning Americans scored higher than their counterparts in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
* 26% of the U.S. population qualified as highly right-wing authoritarian, Morning Consult research found, twice the share of the No. 2 countries, Canada and Australia.
* The beliefs that voter fraud decided the 2020 election, that Capitol rioters were doing more to protect than undermine the government and that masks and vaccines are not pivotal to stopping COVID-19 were similarly prevalent among right-leaning Americans and those that scored high for right-wing authoritarianism.”
Although the full Morning Consult article and survey (1) from June 28, 2021 is paywalled, a Washington Post opinion piece by Jennifer Rubin from a day later, June 29 (2) is not and gives significant insight into the content and summaries of the survey.
Wikipedia gives similar discussion and results, inferring the Wiki editors took freely from and/or are one and the same as the Morning Consult authors.
The WaPo opinion piece has some key and not surprising take aways:
“This means that a large percentage of Republicans — that is, tens of millions of Americans — embrace an authoritarianism defined “as the desire to submit to some authority, aggression that is directed against whomever the authority says should be targeted and a desire to have everybody follow the norms and social conventions that the authority says should be followed.” This inclination to follow a demagogue and to reject democratic values is more pronounced than in other Western democracies.”
“The most authoritarian-inclined Americans tend to be over age 45, live in rural areas and don’t have a college degree. This is the profile of the GOP base, not coincidentally. It follows that many authoritarian-minded Americans are willing to abide by the cult of former president Donald Trump and reject rational analysis. They burrow within right-wing media, refusing to confront facts and views that contradict their philosophy.”
What this all means is the violence and methods of January 6 should not be taken as a one-off anomaly. Other essays and opinion pieces have also discussed a 25 percent plus of Americans feel extreme measures, including violence and civil war might be necessary to correct what they see as America’s ills.
Excellent discussion Robert.
There’s an interesting statement by ‘jsfox’ in the comments to the New York Magazine article:
“From a recent survey done by Morning Consult
* A scale measuring propensity toward right-wing authoritarian tendencies found right-leaning Americans scored higher than their counterparts in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
* 26% of the U.S. population qualified as highly right-wing authoritarian, Morning Consult research found, twice the share of the No. 2 countries, Canada and Australia.
* The beliefs that voter fraud decided the 2020 election, that Capitol rioters were doing more to protect than undermine the government and that masks and vaccines are not pivotal to stopping COVID-19 were similarly prevalent among right-leaning Americans and those that scored high for right-wing authoritarianism.”
Although the full Morning Consult article and survey (1) from June 28, 2021 is paywalled, a Washington Post opinion piece by Jennifer Rubin from a day later, June 29 (2) is not and gives significant insight into the content and summaries of the survey.
(1). https://pro.morningconsult.com/trend-setters/global-right-wing-authoritarian-test
(2). https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/29/truth-about-gop-they-prefer-authoritarianism-democracy/
Wikipedia gives similar discussion and results, inferring the Wiki editors took freely from and/or are one and the same as the Morning Consult authors.
The WaPo opinion piece has some key and not surprising take aways:
“This means that a large percentage of Republicans — that is, tens of millions of Americans — embrace an authoritarianism defined “as the desire to submit to some authority, aggression that is directed against whomever the authority says should be targeted and a desire to have everybody follow the norms and social conventions that the authority says should be followed.” This inclination to follow a demagogue and to reject democratic values is more pronounced than in other Western democracies.”
“The most authoritarian-inclined Americans tend to be over age 45, live in rural areas and don’t have a college degree. This is the profile of the GOP base, not coincidentally. It follows that many authoritarian-minded Americans are willing to abide by the cult of former president Donald Trump and reject rational analysis. They burrow within right-wing media, refusing to confront facts and views that contradict their philosophy.”
What this all means is the violence and methods of January 6 should not be taken as a one-off anomaly. Other essays and opinion pieces have also discussed a 25 percent plus of Americans feel extreme measures, including violence and civil war might be necessary to correct what they see as America’s ills.
These are indeed scary and perilous times.
Thank you Michael for both your affirmation of my writing and for providing such useful information.
Ditto
Desire to submit
Robert, that is the frightening part.
Is it a need to feel power, that they feel has been lost. Almost a messianic adulation to someone or thing, that will bring back that feeling.
Even more frightening is that throughout history, there seems to be a need to blame someone or group to blame, retribution is required.