Why It’s Important To Study Authoritarian Ideologies

Why is it important to study authoritarian political ideologies? Because these are the intellectual instruments that fascists, Marxists, theocrats, and other species of political authoritarians employ to convince vast masses of people to submit to their rule. The effective use of political ideology is crucial to realizing mass political subjugation because, as philosophic scholar Holmes Rolston, III remarked, “no laws can be enforced without the widespread voluntary compliance of citizens.” Widespread voluntary compliance—willing political obedience—has primarily been achieved through the use of political ideologies.

But inconveniently, authoritarian ideas can be difficult to study—and for a reason we might find surprising: They can be very difficult to recognize. This may run counter to what we reflexively presume: That the ideologies of political goons like the Nazis and the fascists are easy to identify because they are simplistic—calculated to appeal to the intellectually unsophisticated and the mindlessly hateful. But the ideas of the authoritarian tradition of intellectual manipulation have been and are dangerous because they are in fact enormously sophisticated; sophisticated enough to slip past our intellectual defenses undetected and misconstrued.

Authoritarian ideas are difficult to identify for two principal reasons. 1): The practitioners of the authoritarian tradition of intellectual manipulation have reworked and reworded these ideas over and over, resulting in their endlessly reappearing in new guises and under new aliases. And 2): Most authoritarian ideas are not explicitly political. This results in people inadvertently absorbing and accepting these ideologies’ non-political aspects because their malicious political implications and applications are not immediately obvious.

To facilitate the recognition and apprehension of authoritarian ideas this online resource has been established. As it is developed, it will feature posts, articles, audio and video presentations, and podcasts, that examine in detail the various manifestations of the authoritarian ideologies. It will venture to evaluate the sacred, religious variations of these ideas—without regard for sectarian sensitivities—as well as those reputable, secular versions which shelter within the groves of scholarly approbation. For it is by identifying and understanding these ideas that we protect ourselves from them, and  so deny our would-be rulers the “voluntary compliance” they require to govern.

Why It’s Important to Study Authoritarian Political Dogmas