The many parallels between Putin’s Russia and Republican Party base should be patently obvious to any astute observer. An overarching factor is repetitiously communicating false information from sources of nominal authority. Both systems are reliant on continually perpetrating lies. In Russia the propaganda is top driven by Vladimir Putin, and disseminated to the general population with total control of all domestic media outlets to propagate his conspiracy theories. In America, the Big Lie was generated by Trump, disseminated to his base, then used to intimidate rank-and-file Republican officials. In the US the Republican base is enabled through willful ignorance and their rejection of veridical information. Fealty to Trump uber alles is demanded to survive in any primary race in the Republican Party.
The numerous common factors between Putin and the Republican Party include:
– Cults of personality,
– Manufactured grievances,
– Authoritarian tenancies
– Invocation of white nationalism,
– Religious Christian righteousness,
– Fear of gender identification issues,
– Creating new enemies of old friends,
– Media manipulation,
– Employment […]
Stephan, thank you, what an extraordinary article! This article gives me the info and opportunity to educate Youth. Freedom vs Communism, Mental Health vs Narcissism, Teamwork vs False Strategy, True Patriotism vs Great Replacement Theory, Democracy vs Authoritarianism, Teachings of Jesus Christ vs Fundamentalist Legalistic Christianity, Gender Identity vs Discrimination & Binary Options, Media Information Integrity vs Fake News/Misinformation, Independent Govt orgs purpose vs US assets and Military for personal gain, Rule of law opposing unfair policies vs extortion inciting insurrection, Scientific life affirming decisions vs Scientific evidential resistance -death related decisions.
Behavior is believable, and it is can be taught through education, awareness, and example.
I agree with you, Lori, as I usually do. We must be able to teach people to have open minds and scientific minds, so they can discriminate between truth and misinformation.