03-03-2022, 11:48 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-04-2022, 12:07 AM by Eric the Green.)
Religious nationalism, just the sort of attitude that infects Classic Xer, is a key motivation for the worldwide slide into authoritarian tyranny, especially in countries that vote themselves into it or get taken over by it in a civil war. The Middle East is a prime region for this, and also southern Asian countries like India. Obviously Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan are prime examples, and also Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and in Europe Russia and Hungary. It was the reason Spain was stymied in hell for almost 40 years, and it played a key role in other fascist countries like Italy and Germany. Religious bigotry and genocide is an important factor in Burma. Here in the USA it's a key reason why many Americans are fooled and deceived to vote for a fascist Nazi like Donald Trump, and it fits in well with the free-market ideology of neoliberalism which fools like Classic Xer and his ilk are coaxed into falling for because they don't like paying taxes to help people of a different race or religion, and are constantly preoccupied with "the problem on the border" because they think "America" is only white, conservative America. Republicans find this a convenient button to push to help themselves politically by arousing fear and prejudice, especially when they have no other grievance to foolishly yammer on about.
Autocracy can be imposed from the left wing as well, or at least what passes as left-wing, although since the political spectrum is really a circle, you can call it the lower left on the Nolan grid or the upper left on the political circle. Communist countries like North Korea, Cuba, China and Vietnam also fit in this category, with North Korea by far the worst for its people; and possibly others. The genocidal Soviet Union was a 20th century example. But right-wing neoliberalism is also an autocracy if it takes over and allows unregulated reign by big money. Brazil is the best example, although there may also be religious nationalism involved there too. Bolsonaro is a Trump clone. Some other countries are dominated by neoliberalism to an extent, which of course includes the United States, some others in Latin America, and a political rulership trend in Australia and the UK are in this category too, keeping their people backward. Chile under Pinochet was a recent example, celebrated by neoliberal author Frederick Hayek.
But there are many others that are just about domination by a military junta, just because they can. That is probably all that is going on in the African Sahel at the moment, from Sudan to Mali and others, periodically in other African countries, and in former Soviet republics. Just what the former socialist Daniel Noriega is about in Nicaragua I am just not sure, but other central American countries have long been banana republics, and their aristocratic landlords and death squads are just greedy, brutal rulers there. Honduras has recently adopted a good trend, and this has so far been allowed to go forward; we'll see what happens there.
Autocracy can be imposed from the left wing as well, or at least what passes as left-wing, although since the political spectrum is really a circle, you can call it the lower left on the Nolan grid or the upper left on the political circle. Communist countries like North Korea, Cuba, China and Vietnam also fit in this category, with North Korea by far the worst for its people; and possibly others. The genocidal Soviet Union was a 20th century example. But right-wing neoliberalism is also an autocracy if it takes over and allows unregulated reign by big money. Brazil is the best example, although there may also be religious nationalism involved there too. Bolsonaro is a Trump clone. Some other countries are dominated by neoliberalism to an extent, which of course includes the United States, some others in Latin America, and a political rulership trend in Australia and the UK are in this category too, keeping their people backward. Chile under Pinochet was a recent example, celebrated by neoliberal author Frederick Hayek.
But there are many others that are just about domination by a military junta, just because they can. That is probably all that is going on in the African Sahel at the moment, from Sudan to Mali and others, periodically in other African countries, and in former Soviet republics. Just what the former socialist Daniel Noriega is about in Nicaragua I am just not sure, but other central American countries have long been banana republics, and their aristocratic landlords and death squads are just greedy, brutal rulers there. Honduras has recently adopted a good trend, and this has so far been allowed to go forward; we'll see what happens there.