We each have a Nazi in us. We need to understand the psychological roots of authoritarianism

Hitler gave the decisive signal for Germans to give free rein to their hatred and destructive desires.
He spoke to and promised to redeem those masses in his nation who also experienced themselves as threatened and insignificant
– to “make them great again,” if you will.

“What they want is the victory of the stronger and the annihilation or the unconditional surrender of the weaker.”

This fascistic drive to dominate is the unconscious rejection of the small child’s vulnerability and a defensive identification with the unassailable power of the abusive father.

What draws people to such leaders?

On the socioeconomic plane, their own sense of exclusion, dislocation, grievance, marginalization, loss of place and meaning.

On the emotional, psychological level, a trauma-induced absence of confidence in themselves and the drive to submit for protection to some person perceived as “strong.”

This is coupled with an urge to flee from responsibility by casting blame on some vulnerable yet vermin-like and threatening “other”
– a Jewish, Muslim, Hispanic or Slavic person, say
– who serves as the target of one’s ingrained hostility, the real sources of which rest in the deep infantile unconscious.

The American psychologist, Michael Milburn, has studied the childhood antecedents of rightwing ideological rigidity.

His research confirms that the harsher the parenting atmosphere people were exposed to as young children,
the more prone they are to support authoritarian or aggressive policies, such as foreign wars, punitive laws and the death penalty.

“We used physical punishment in childhood as a marker of dysfunctional family environment,” Milburn said.
“There was significantly more support for the capital punishment, opposition to abortion and the use of military force, particularly among males who had experienced high levels of physical punishment, especially if they had never had psychotherapy.”

I was intrigued by that last finding.
“Psychotherapy,” Milburn said, “speaks to a potential for self-examination, for self-reflection.”

Self-reflection, something the fascist mentality cannot abide, can soften the heart.

Neuroimaging studies have shown that the #amygdala, the tiny almond-shaped brain structure that mediates fear, 💥is larger in people with more rightwing views.

It is more active in those favoring strong protective authority and harboring a suspicion of outsiders and of people who are different.

This is a telling finding, because we know that the development of the circuitry of the brain is decisively influenced by the child’s emotional environment in the early years.

“The monster Adolf Hitler, murderer of millions, master of destruction and organized insanity, did not come into the world as a monster”
– so wrote the psychoanalyst Alice Miller.

Fascism, in that sense, is an all too human phenomenon, an outcome of many influences salient among which, on the personal scale, is the unspeakable suffering of the child.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…