Authoritarianism

“Authoritarians are masters at manipulating the energy of fear and resentment.” (pg 243)

In the middle of the chapter called “Find Your Light and Shine It” McLaren has a short excursus on “authoritarianism".

It’s not exactly clear to me how this topic fits in with the theme of the chapter, but given where we are in the United States in March 2025 it is a very relevant topic, deserving of separate attention.

Donald Trump is operating from the Oval Office of the White House as a king, signing Executive Orders by the dozens to run our lives. With a few words or sentences he can impact the stock market and international relations, and he does so deliberately because he can. He can order his people to ignore due process as he conducts mass deportations of people he calls gang members and vicious criminals - no matter whether they have been able to defend themselves in a court of law. Elon Musk has been granted the authority to close down government agencies and fire government employees at will with no consideration for the people involved or whether the cuts will actually have the desired result. The show of brute force and cruelty is the modus operandi.

“In turbulent times, people grow afraid, and their fear is a kind of psychological energy. Just as musicians master the mechanical energy of sound and doctors master the biological energy of healing, authoritarians are masters at manipulating the energy of fear and resentment.” (pg 243).

Republicans, MAGA, and white evangelical Christians have been manipulated into fear and resentment over the past 4 decades. A concerted effort by the Republican Party to gain the vote of white evangelical Christians along with the rise of conservative talk radio and TV has convinced these groups that America is in decline; immigrants are violently destroying our cities, taking our jobs and our votes; the abortion and LGBTQ lobbies are destroying our family values; we are being “attacked” and “persecuted” because we refuse to wear masks during a pandemic, resist using preferred pronouns, choose not to bake a cake for a gay wedding, or kneel in prayer on a High School football field.

“During collapse, as fear and resentment intensify, we should expect authoritarians to line up and become more and more popular and powerful, feeding on our fear and being fueled by our resentment. If we don’t learn how to control the psychological energy of our own fear and resentment, we can be sure others will exploit our emotional energy for their own selfish and destructive projects.” (pg 243)

Anthropologist Sarah Kendzior studies authoritarianism. She writes:

“Authoritarianism…eats away at who you are. It makes you afraid, and fear can make you cruel. It compels you to conform and comply and accept things you would never accept, to do things you never thought you would do.

You do it because…the institutions you trust are doing it and telling you to do it, because you are afraid of what will happen if you do not do it, and because the voice in your head crying out that something is wrong grows fainter and fainter until it dies.” (pg 244)

The institutions white evangelicals trust are their churches. The voices they trust are their pastors and theologians. These leaders insist that American (Christian or “biblical”) values are under attack and that we need to “re-program” the American people back to “Christian values”. American history is re-framed (we were founded as a “Christian nation”), people who are not heterosexual conservative white Christians are portrayed as a “lobby” with an “agenda” whose goal is to destroy our nuclear families, empathy is considered a (woke) sin.

Now the voice crying out that something has gone wrong has grown fainter and fainter, and the popularity of Donald Trump has never been higher among white evangelicals. Not only is there scarcely a word of protest from Republican lawmakers, MAGA, or average white evangelical citizens as fundamental American values are trampled underfoot with each deportation flight or executive order, there is a sense of comeuppance over the cruelty to and delight with the “win” over the enemy.

“The voice (that something is wrong) is your conscience, your morals, your individuality. No one can take that away from you unless you let them…They cannot take away who you truly are. They can never truly know you, and that is your power.”

But to protect and wield this power, you need to know yourself – right now, before their methods permeate, before you accept the obscene and unthinkable as normal.” (pg 243)

(For all posts in this series on Life After Doom, click here or on the Life After Doom box below)