We each have a Nazi in us. We need to understand the psychological roots of authoritarianism | Gabor Maté
www.theguardian.com
Neuroimaging studies have shown that the amygdala, the tiny almond-shaped brain structure that mediates fear, is larger in people with more rightwing views

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

  • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
    38·
    11 days ago

    No we fucking don’t all have a nazi in us. We all have a thing (fear response) that nazis and other authoritarian propaganda love to take advantage of.

    I know that the person who said this was trying to get that point across, but decided to go for shock value over clarity.

  • Funderpants @lemmy.ca
    30·
    11 days ago

    Provocative headline, good read.

    On a less serious note, does the small Nazi in us have an even smaller Nazi inside them?

  • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    25·
    11 days ago

    Not too new of a concept, “Kill the cop in your head” has been a common phrase among the left since the mid 90s and possibly originates from the late 60s.

  • yesman@lemmy.world
    21·
    11 days ago

    I read once that Holocaust research causes three distinct traumas. One is where you realize that it really happened to real people. Two is when you empathize with the victims and can visualize yourself of loved ones in that position. Three is when you empathize with the perpetrators and can visualize yourself or loved ones in that position.

    It’s natural for children to believe that good people do good things and bad do bad, but that opinion can’t survive into adulthood without profound lack of self awareness.

    • emax_gomax@lemmy.world
      6·
      11 days ago

      Wasn’t the gas chambers planned because German soldiers kept going crazy executing people directly. Even if you’re trained and brainwashed shooting a child in the back of the head is gonna mess you up (especially more than once). Dehumanising the victims, putting them into work camps, moving them to a room where the overseer can flip a switch. It was all to make you see them as less than human and make it easier to not connect the act of killing them to taking a life. Of course there were a whole lot of absolutely f*cked up monsters but I feel really bad for all the nazis who got sucked into a brainwashed cult and by the time they realised what they were doing they had no out left.

  • Maeve@kbin.earth
    20·
    11 days ago

    I noticed something for the first time, likely due to social conditioning that I’d missed it before: we have to stop dehumanization when speaking of large and small scale humans. They are not monsters, they are humans, like us. Perhaps if they’d been treated in s humane way, they would have enjoyed some happy coincidence of nature and nurture and not gone on to such egregious acts. “In the beginning was the word,” and abuse starts with thoughts, progresses to belittling, dehumanization and then physical abuse.

    • TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org
      14·
      11 days ago

      As someone on the spectrum, I’ve been ostracized, humiliated, and dehumanized all my life, yet I did not become a Nazi. It only made me angrier at the people who want to put their boots on your neck.

      • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
        2·
        11 days ago

        I’mma guess the answer to your question, is no, Friend TimeSquirrel. Get on wit’ yo’ Bad Self!

        Edit: My assessment is that your anger is righteous, so that’s why I encouraged you to continue as you are. Peace.

        • Maeve@kbin.earth
          1·
          11 days ago

          Reactive abuse is still abuse. That’s not saying don’t defend ourselves. It is saying it’s fine to remove myself and not seek to justify my behavior in becoming that which I found abhorrent. It happens. It’s a l long journey of healing, before I could even about that to myself. Looking at ourselves need not be distorted for better or worse. I can only correct my behavior by hm, to borrow a 12 step phrase, “fearless and searching moral inventory.” No justifications, no excuses. The abyss does indeed look back.

        • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
          10·
          11 days ago

          Tolerance is a peace treaty. You do not give tolerance to intolerance. If your core ideology is the rejection, dehumanization, or destruction of other groups of human beings, then your group does not deserve respect or consideration.

          • realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.clubEnglish
            5·
            11 days ago

            You do not give tolerance to intolerance.

            This is the type of rhetoric I’m talking about. Call someone intolerant and you can do whatever you want to them. “Punch a Nazi!”, etc.

            The irony of this story going viral in this community specifically is astronomical.

            • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
              9·
              11 days ago

              This is just a slippery slope fallacy. We can agree to not condone literal Nazis without degenerating into calling vast swathes of the political landscape Nazis. Certain ideas simply do not deserve respect or consideration. If you want to have an “honest debate” about race science, I would rather have an “honest debate” about you jumping off a cliff.

              • realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.clubEnglish
                2·
                11 days ago

                That is all fair. Social ostracization or rejection from voters is fine, and in many (if not most) cases warranted.

                But I think that is drastically different than calling for all Nazis to be jailed or executed, as some on the left would suggest. It’s a pretty bad loophole, as if there’s anyone or any movement you want to get rid of, all you have to do is call them Nazis, and into the incinerator they go.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
        1·
        10 days ago

        It’s dehumanizing. Most of so-called monsters are made, and with proper social and holistic treatment could be rehabilitated and reintegrated. But it’s work, and perhaps more importantly, money from the coffers of those with far more wealth than a hundred generations could ever meaningfully use.

        Power gives people the freedom to act as they choose, and they choose a lot of nastiness. Does it not make sense that unconstrained choices represent who a person truly is?

        Perhaps who they have become. What if these people had loving, supportive homes? Why can’t we utilize* their wealth for everyone who doesn’t or hasn’t had, including them? What if we reimagine re-education as therapy, and education about their own trauma reactions and redirected them to healthier thinking and behaviors, for as long as it takes? Maybe some are too far gone. Are they not human beings deserving of humans care?

  • thefartographer@lemm.ee
    7·
    11 days ago

    Inside you there are two Nazis.

    One of the Nazis hates the other Nazi. The other Nazi hates the first Nazi. They both hate you and want you to make other people’s Nazis bigger.

  • TherapyGary@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    3·
    11 days ago

    But there’s a bad man in everyone, no matter who we are

    There’s a rapist and a Nazi living in our tiny hearts

    Child pornographers and cannibals, and politicians too

    There’s someone in your head waiting to fucking strangle you

    ~AJJ