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Original poster

14% of the population predisposed to far-left authoritarianism

58 replies

Pluvia · 15/07/2022 10:38

14% of humanity is predisposed to far-left authoritarianism. 19% are predisposed to far-right authoritarianism.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000y7sq

Very interesting (and scary) interview with political psychologist and behavioural economic Karen Stenner. It enabled me to understand a bit more about all the misogyist woke dudes who support transgender ideology and explains Billy Bragg.

OP posts:
WarriorN · 20/07/2022 06:04

The op isn't actually about left v right.

It's about human behaviour and an evolutionary disposition towards authoritarianism.

I'm interpreting it more from an anthropological pov. There's a genetic need that's stronger in some for community sameness. It's how I see religion having evolved actually. Is it what drives cults?

As several pp point out, applying the ideas to real world political examples is difficult.

Where I'm seeing a missing link is where some of the stuff that Rory describes comes into play. And may account for the reported lower IQ stuff.

WarriorN · 20/07/2022 06:05

After listening to the brown last night,

Should say, listening to the above!

WarriorN · 20/07/2022 06:25

HarryTheLass · 17/07/2022 19:54

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/politics-on-the-couch/id1507787935?i=1000569880310

Id also recommend this podcast with KS. She brilliant.

Not listened to this yet but this article linked is interesting.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/11/capitol-insurrection-trump-authoritarianism-psychology-innate-fear-envy-change-diversity-populism/

Also clear that the research conclusions about human genetic behaviour are v useful but also that she uses US political examples for context. Brexit is mentioned - I feel how people voted on that is more complex than described there.

Original poster
Pluvia · 20/07/2022 09:32

Fifteentoes · 20/07/2022 00:43

It was the Labour party bureaucracy, who are overwhelmingly dominated by the right of the party doing everything they can (fair or foul) to prevent the "far left" from having power (see reports now circulating re the Forde report into exactly this). The process was then sent into overdrive when Starmer became leader and decided to use it as a brazen tool of factional warfare against the left.

As for your second question, I'm going to depart from the consensus of the thread here and say I don't see how the favouring of trans rights over women's rights (much as I oppose it) is particularly "authoritarian". People from the TWAW side of the fence would probably say exactly the same thing about the opposite.

Authoritarianism is defined by how happy you are to have a particular way of doing things forced on people, rather than arrived at by agreement; how happy you are to push through simple solutions based on exercise of power by one group over others rather than more nuanced ones based on negotiation and the sharing of power.

I don't see any evidence that Billy Bragg is particularly authoritarian in this respect. I disagree with him because I think he's wrong. But he's entitled to his opinion, and the way he lives his life and expresses his beliefs doesn't seem any more authoritarian than the way I do.

There's always power being exercised somewhere. I think the problem here is that what people call "authoritarianism" is often just the exercise of power they're unfamiliar with, by people they don't like doing things they don't agree with. Whereas a similar exercise of power by people they like doing things they agree with doesn't seem authoritarian at all.

Show quote history

Ah, so, Fifteentoes, not only 'left is good, right is evil' but also no problem with trans rights overriding women's rights. You don't think that favouring the 'rights' (what rights are we talking about? I'm an older lesbian who really was a second class citizen: I know what it is not to have rights) of a tiny minority over the hard fought-for rights of women (51% of the population) is a problem.

You're one of the woke dudes. I see you.

OP posts:
Fifteentoes · 20/07/2022 10:38

@Pluvia what I said was -

"I'm going to depart from the consensus of the thread here and say I don't see how the favouring of trans rights over women's rights (much as I oppose it) is particularly "authoritarian"."

So yes, as I've already stated ("I oppose it") I do think it's a problem. I just don't think that it's a problem of authoritarianism. There may be some individuals who espouse it who are markedly authoritarian, but that's not been my personal experience. Most of them want things to be done by democratic processes as much as anybody - eg, they want to argue for more trans rights to become Labour policy, democratically elect a Labour government and have those rights enacted.

AndreaC74 · 20/07/2022 16:12

@Pluvia
As i said earlier, if you think the right will protect anyone's rights, then you will be sadly disappointed.

I look at what Johnson and the far right Tories have done for Womens rights, shut refuge's, cut support for abused women (bedroom tax), cut UC, which effects women and children more, refused to help feed kids during the pandemic, caused huge delays in the justice system for rape victims, up to 3 years, allowed trans women in refuge's/prisons/sport/wards with women......

BUT if he says he knows what a woman is, you all go orgasmic over his meaningless sound bite, shouting the "right will save us all".

MrGHardy · 20/07/2022 17:58

Only 1 in 3? The way politics is polarised I would have thought it is a lot more. Maybe they aren't predisposed but just sheep that follow their bubble.

beastlyslumber · 21/07/2022 17:47

Only 14%? Wow they're really over-represented on social media.

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