Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013)
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Re: Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013)
#2(2013)
Re: Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013)
#3Missing quotes around evidence.
Re: Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013)
#4I believe it's not just parasites -- it's also things like diseases and famine as well.
The reason it's called "parasite-stress theory" is not because parasites are so important for the selection of government, but because it's a reference to parasite-stress theory in biology.
It makes sense. If you don't even have basic healthcare or security, a strongman willing to swoop in and take decisive action does sound appealing. Unfortunately, though, they usually just make things worse.
Re: Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013)
#5While this is all very interesting, there's a pretty deeply embedded bias on display here.
"authoritarian governance is defined by highly concentrated power structures that repress dissent and emphasize submission to authority, social conformity, and hostility towards outgroups"
... is a very problematic way of articulating this - to the point of promoting ignorance, because it's frankly how someone with a Liberal Democratic mindset would describe the system, but not others. I would argue that it's not objective because it may not capture the essence of such systems, rather, it just highlights the 'downsides' as seen from the other side.
Others might describe systems as possibly more collective or communitarian wherein legitimate central authorities have considerably better ability to manage affairs, particularly wherein such controls can have a material effect, i.e. 'pandemic', 'war' and maybe even things like infrastructure or other national challenges.
What people in 'liberal democracy' might see as 'individual choice', others might see as 'selfish, self-interested' possibly 'greedy' behaviour, actions that show little regard for others, only the self. The natural result of such behaviours might be 'inability to respond in a coherent manner to collective problems'.
Of course, where there is centralised power, there's an opportunity for it to be corrupt wherein you might have arbitrary and bad acting here and there, but I don't think to describe a system by its downsides is right.
This is especially important because the correlation may not be with authoritarianism as described, but possibly with group unity, collectivism or something else.
Edit: I should add, systems with strong 'central control' that some might describe as 'authoritarian' like Singapore, South Korea etc., have tamed and controlled Coronavirus and have exemplary responses. Their economies are not collapsing, they are in school, they are not dying en masse.
Meanwhile, 'Liberal Democracies' economies are collapsing, facing massive casualties, dying in hordes.
Imagine how stupid we must look to them? They literally showed us 'how to do it' but we're either too self-focused or possibly 'don't understand' how they are organized.
Re: Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013)
#6I believe it's not just parasites -- it's also things like diseases and famine as well. The reason it's called "parasite-stress theory" is not because parasites are so important for the selection of government, but because it's a reference to parasite-stress theory in biology. It makes sense. If you don't even have basic healthcare or security, a strongman willing to swoop in and take decisive action does sound appea…
"a strongman willing to swoop in and take decisive action does sound appealing"
Or maybe a group of people facing existential calamity actually do need fairly strong leadership?
Taiwan and especially Singapore might be characterized as much less 'liberal democratic' than the US, and they have already tamed coronavirus while the US flails and a lot of people are dying. Maybe that's not a perfect example, but it surely illustrates the point.
Re: Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013)
#7I believe it's not just parasites -- it's also things like diseases and famine as well. The reason it's called "parasite-stress theory" is not because parasites are so important for the selection of government, but because it's a reference to parasite-stress theory in biology. It makes sense. If you don't even have basic healthcare or security, a strongman willing to swoop in and take decisive action does sound appea…
"a strongman willing to swoop in and take decisive action does sound appealing" Or maybe a group of people facing existential calamity actually do need fairly strong leadership? Taiwan and especially Singapore might be characterized as much less 'liberal democratic' than the US, and they have already tamed coronavirus while the US flails and a lot of people are dying. Maybe that's not a perfect example, but it surely…
Strong leadership != authoritarianism
This seems like a dangerous meme right now
Re: Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013)
#8I believe it's not just parasites -- it's also things like diseases and famine as well. The reason it's called "parasite-stress theory" is not because parasites are so important for the selection of government, but because it's a reference to parasite-stress theory in biology. It makes sense. If you don't even have basic healthcare or security, a strongman willing to swoop in and take decisive action does sound appea…
Interesting, those variables have been attempted to be accounted in the paper. They have variables specified for that in their model.
Now that's not to say the paper is accurate as I am not a scientist, but it is to say I find it an interesting read.
Re: Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013)
#9I believe it's not just parasites -- it's also things like diseases and famine as well. The reason it's called "parasite-stress theory" is not because parasites are so important for the selection of government, but because it's a reference to parasite-stress theory in biology. It makes sense. If you don't even have basic healthcare or security, a strongman willing to swoop in and take decisive action does sound appea…
"a strongman willing to swoop in and take decisive action does sound appealing" Or maybe a group of people facing existential calamity actually do need fairly strong leadership? Taiwan and especially Singapore might be characterized as much less 'liberal democratic' than the US, and they have already tamed coronavirus while the US flails and a lot of people are dying. Maybe that's not a perfect example, but it surely…
A group of people stressed by the lack of basics are more likely to make a mistake in choosing strong leadership.
Re: Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013)
#10I believe it's not just parasites -- it's also things like diseases and famine as well. The reason it's called "parasite-stress theory" is not because parasites are so important for the selection of government, but because it's a reference to parasite-stress theory in biology. It makes sense. If you don't even have basic healthcare or security, a strongman willing to swoop in and take decisive action does sound appea…
It would seem to me that if you are sick or your health is suffering, several things can result:
1) you dont have the time or energy to consider what the (authoritarian) leader is doing as carefully (cognitive)
2) you may just be too tired/sick to do anything about it (physical)