Cultism as a kind of collective personality disorder The enemy at the gates is us
Proteanism vs. cultism: The battle between open and closed societies
Ghost skins
Ghost skin is short for ghost skinhead. It refers to a white supremacist who hides his racist beliefs in order to blend into wider society, with the goal of remaining undetected and covertly continuing his Nazi agenda. Over at least the past 2 decades, white supremacists have been specifically infiltrating law enforcement. Going into the […]
Extremism
- Uncategorized
Extremism is a mentality; a black and white worldview. It’s a willingness to go too far to meet one’s objectives — to violate moral boundaries in pursuit of one’s aims. A political extremist is an individual or group adhering to ideologies that are far removed from the mainstream beliefs of society. These ideologies often promote […]
Conspiracy Theory Dictionary
Conspiracy Theory Dictionary: From QAnon to Gnostics In half a decade we’ve gone from Jeb Bush making a serious run for president to Marjorie Taylor Greene running unopposed and winning a House seat in Georgia. QAnon came seemingly out of nowhere, but taps into a much deeper and older series of conspiracy theories that have […]
Stochastic terrorism
Stochastic terrorism is a term that has emerged in the lexicon of political and social analysis to describe a method of inciting violence indirectly through the use of mass communication. This concept is predicated on the principle that while not everyone in an audience will act on violent rhetoric, a small percentage might. The term […]
Wealth Cult: The oligarchs influencing American politics from the shadows
A network of exceedingly wealthy individuals and organizations have channeled their vast fortunes into influencing American politics, policy, and public opinion — they’ve formed a wealth cult. And they’ve leveraged that cult and its considerable fortune to influence and in many ways dramatically transform American politics. The term “dark money” refers to political spending meant […]
💻 Information Warfare Dictionary🕵🏻♀️
Hybrid Warfare Information warfare involves the use and management of information to gain a competitive advantage over an opponent, including both offensive and defensive measures. Offensive tactics might involve cyber attacks, hacking, and disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining an adversary’s decision-making process or public morale. Defensive measures focus on protecting one’s own information systems and […]
Hyper Partisanship: How to understand American politics today
- Politics
- 2016 Election
- 2020 Election
- Beliefs
- Cluster B
- Corruption
- Cults
- Culture
- Cybersecurity
- Democracy
- Economics
- Emotion
- Fascism
- Hacking
- History
- Internet
- Kleptocracy
- Media
- Morality
- Narcissism in Politics
- Philosophy
- Power
- Propaganda
- Psychological Warfare
- Psychology
- Religion
- Russia
- Science
- Sexism
- Surveillance
- Technology
Buckle up, we’re in for a wild ride. Many of the serious scholars of political history and authoritarian regimes are sounding the alarm bells that, although it is a very very good thing that we got the Trump crime family out of the Oval Office, it is still a very very bad thing for America […]
📖 Dictionaries 📒
Words, words, and more words. In a world of increasing disinformation, it’s more important than ever to be armed with actual information. And being curious about the meaning, nature, and origins of things is a rewarding journey in and of itself. Think of these dictionaries as tools for your mind — they can help you […]
😱 Psychology Dictionary 🤯
Why do we do the things we do? Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior, encompassing a wide array of topics such as mental processes, emotions, cognition, development, personality, and social interactions. It seeks to understand how individuals think, feel, and act, both individually and in groups. It fascinates me endlessly and […]
Narcissism and Cluster B: Evil hiding in plain sight
When the most common psychological defense mechanism — denial — hardens into an outer shell so impenetrable as to be worn like armor, you have yourself a clinical narcissist. They may not — and probably will never — be diagnosed as members of a group of personality disorders known in psychology as Cluster B; but […]
Forgotten Coups: January 6 wasn’t the first seditious conspiracy in the U.S.
The first convictions of January 6 perps for seditious conspiracy in decades are epically monumental given the history of past efforts. Before the first conviction in November, 2022 of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and the latest round of convictions on January 23, 2023 (in which 4 more seditionists were convicted), there has been little […]
Essential thinkers on authoritarian personality theory
Many people around the world were shocked in the aftermath of World War II. How could “polite” society break down so utterly, so swiftly, and so zealously? Why did authoritarian personality traits come to dominate human affairs, seemingly out of nowhere? How thin is this veneer of civilization, really? The authoritarian personality is characterized by […]
Fascists became conservatives in the 1930s and 40s
Who were the early conservatives? They emerged out of the group of former fascists and Nazi sympathizers in the US. 1930s opposition to Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal 2 main right-wing factions then: After the Allies won World War II, a number of the early Hitler sympathizers “hid out” in anti-communist circles, allowing them to cloak […]
Two Americas
- Uncategorized
Twin visions were there at the start and here they still remain — we’ve been oscillating around the same set of unresolved issues for centuries, like a pair of neutron stars. There have always been two Americas: one egalitarian and Enlightened, patterned after Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin; and one haughty and zero-sum like John […]