Strongmen and How to Push Back Against Them, with Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Authoritarianism is spreading across the globe, and the United States has become the latest front of the struggle between autocracy and democracy. This talk covers the key elements of the authoritarian playbook-corruption, violence, propaganda, machismo, and leader cults-and how they are deployed today by autocratic forces in Italy, Hungary, the US, and elsewhere.
Ben-Ghiat also looks at the most effective strategies to push back against authoritarians. We are living through a global renaissance of mass nonviolent protest which is giving energy to the fight to save democracy. We in the US can learn from the struggles of those facing autocrats abroad, she argues. We can not just save our democracy but rethink it to make it stronger and more appealing to future generations as well.

[@DennisMurphey]

We love Ruthie she is a GEM and treasure for the ages, as we go forward. Thank You

[@stanleykubrick8786]

Considering the importance of this presentation, its a shame that the audio quality isn't better.

[@kyleellsworth6440]

Thank you for putting this on YT.

[@CretieBee]

Mix this video with a clinical psychologist, and a expert on cults into one man, and you have a person that loves death, destruction, and collapse that doesn’t want to get his own hands dirty.

[@paulrudgley1682]

politicians don't become criminals, criminals become politicians.
Dabrowski believed that the most important aspect of human development is the emotional one, since only in the area of emotional growth, transformation of behavior and character is possible.
The great majority of population lives on and rarely grows beyond the level of primary integration. The most primitively integrated character structures are observed in psychopaths and psychopath-like individuals, who suffer from “emotional retardation,” characterized by inability to experience empathy and guilt.