(02-18-2017 10:27 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(02-18-2017 10:02 AM)JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:  I think this facebook post from Dan Rather is worth reposting in its entirety. During the Republican primary I mentioned a few times how a grad school friend's work was repeatedly getting quoted because it was turning out "authoritarianism" was the best predictor of Trump support. Trump continues to play by that playbook and it's increasingly worrisome. (Until fairly recently authoritarian voters have been spread across both parties - not enough in either party for someone to get the nomination. They have been shifting almost entirely to the republicans of late.)
"I have resisted commenting on President Trump's outrageous attack on the press with his tweet calling the media "the enemy of the American people." It is a sentiment that is a deep betrayal of our national history. The evidence to the contrary is so overwhelming that to choose any one example is to play into the alternate reality Mr. Trump is seeking to exploit for his cynical political purposes.
My message is not for he who will not listen. Instead I wish to address his enablers, specifically those in the Republican Party who by their silence on this travesty normalize a behaviour that is antithetical to our Constitutional principles. Future generations will not look kindly on profiles in cowardice.
And to my fellow journalists, I know you will not be bullied or intimidated. Keep doing your job. Your country depends on your service. Courage."
Edit: Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist about my use of authoritarianism, in this case it's used in a specific well-established social science definition with an agreed upon measure. I'll try and dig up a link later.

This is the same Dan Rather who got canned for peddling fake "letters" regarding GWB's national guard service, right?

And in my opinion, "well-established social science definition" is a synonym for "unadulterated BS."

Well, if you think the President of the United States calling just about every media outlet other than Breitbart and Fox News "enemies of the American people" is fine and dandy in a democracy, authoritarianism might not bother you that much.

For people who aren't so ready to dismiss work on which people have spent their entire careers as "unadulterated BS" without even reading it, here's an excellent summary for last year:

http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/tru...itarianism