Question Authority!

In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing. - Mark Twain

I confess to have watched a fair portion of the Republican convention. It was grotesque. From Peter Navarro fresh from prison to Hulk Hogan tearing off his shirt, the entire spectacle was tawdry and embarrassing.

Among the jaw-dropping facets was the Trump acceptance speech itself, and I don’t mean the nasty, raw, red meat he threw out after his faux-unification pre-ramble. During his smarmy recitation of the assassination attempt, the cameras panned the audience and focused in on grown men and women sobbing in empathic and emphatic adoration. They chanted, waved flags, praised God and gazed at Trump with eyes glazed over by the power of his presence. 

For most - if not all - readers of this blog, I need not itemize the acts and words that should disqualify this man from the affections of any sentient human. So how do so many normal-appearing humans seem to be accepting of - eager for - Trump’s ignorant authoritarianism?

I suggest that authoritarianism is not a form or philosophy of governing. It is a disease of childhood, often spread through institutions, most notably schools and churches. 

While my Christian friends and family members may recoil over their faith being characterized as authoritarian, too many religious sects are indeed authoritarian, albeit often with an inclination toward love and peace. Children, and their adult predecessors, are discouraged from questioning the faith’s infallibility. Most religious training privileges recitation over analysis, literalism over skepticism and tangible and eternal rewards for conformity and compliance. As with “following” of any sort, one may be guided toward enlightenment or led over a cliff. 

The conditioning leaves a mark.

Schools are complicit in the ripening of a society for authoritarians to exploit. Children are instructed, not opened to discovery. There are “right” answers and negative consequences for departing from either the method or the conclusion. Instruction is not education, it is indoctrination. It may be that the instruction is essentially accurate, but the process is designed to teach things, not invite children to learn things. Information and authority come from without, not within. This conditioning leaves its mark too.

Family structures, particularly those in the patriarchal style, offer the same conditioning for authoritarianism. I am bemused at the many, many times I have heard things like, “My father always taught me. . .”  Bemusing when coming from a small child, utterly befuddling when coming from a middle-aged woman or man. At some point one might hope a person could muster an original thought, earned through their own life experience and reflection.

Other institutions and organizations add to the conditioning. I found early on that I was predisposed to be very wary of any group - like Cub Scouts for example - that required slogans, uniforms, and pledges. (You might imagine my state of mind when marching through a year of military training, including Officer Candidate School!) I find the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional and the sight of throngs butchering the national anthem, hand over heart, makes me cringe.

Now spare me any hate mail. I’m making a general point, not an individual indictment. Many of my religious friends and relatives have laudatory values and temper the literalism of their training with human and humane realism based on their hearts and experiences. Many patriots understand that respecting the values of our democratic republic demands resistance, not compliance. Some kids love Scouting and it’s better than TikTok! And my patriarch father was wise in some ways and underdeveloped in others. He encouraged argument and did not deliver platitudes, religious or otherwise.

The real threat of looming authoritarianism doesn’t come from the charismatic power of Trump. It comes from generations of children who have been instructed and need authority figures in their lives. They find them in mega-churches and in cultural gurus who exploit those who have little critical capacity. Trumpism offers a collective and comforting conformity. The reason so many MAGA folks despise a liberal worldview is because it too often conflicts with what they have been told, instructed to believe, and accepted as revealed authority. The life of a rightwing zealot requires much devotion and little thought.

As I watched the convention I thought that the opinions expressed from the podium and embraced by the rapturous crowd were not worth a brass farthing.

Benjamin Franklin said, “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.”

That’s impossible for those who have been conditioned to do the opposite.