Paradoxically, populist authoritarianism derives indispensable fuel from discontented intellectuals who believe, as Applebaum says, “that the wrong people have influence” in the realm of ideas. But as she says, authoritarianism “is a frame of mind, not a set of ideas.”
Today it seduces the “radically lonely individual” who finds a sheltering home in an immersive political movement or environment that rejects “the hateful notions of meritocracy, political competition, and the free market, principles that, by definition, have never benefited the less successful.” Authoritarianism offers not careers open to talents, but rather the populist promise of upward mobility for those whose political connections and conformity spares them the need “for competition, or for exams, or for a resume bristling with achievements.”
Authoritarianism is a temptation for people recoiling against complexity and intellectual pluralism, and yearning for social homogeneity. Applebaum says, “The noise of argument, the constant hum of disagreement — these can irritate people who prefer to live in a society tied together by a single narrative.” In today’s United States, such authoritarianism flourishes most conspicuously on the left, in the cancel culture’s attempts to extinguish rival voices.
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