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Trump isnβt a madman. Heβs been following the authoritarian playbook since day one: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a professor of history and a noted scholar on authoritarian strongmen (she wrote a book about it, too, called *Strongmen*).
Change "Trump" to "Musk" in this story I linked and adjust the details if you'd like to better understand why Musk is doing what he's doing.
Especially if you're approaching this from an engineering mindset: stop. You're not dealing with an engineer or a businessperson who's screwing up, or who's out of his depth, or who's making strange decisions. You are dealing with an authoritarian who's doing *exactly* what authoritarians have always done. Really. Listen to the video. It is about Trump, but you will hear an exact analog of what Musk is doing at Twitter--because these guys are all following the same playbook.
We have to get better and faster at spotting and resisting this pattern if we don't want people like Musk to take over every aspect of our lives.
Very interesting! I want moooar! π
She didn't really go into any other patterns and plays these assholes use π€£
> We have to get better and faster at spotting and resisting this pattern if we donβt want people like Musk to take over every aspect of our lives.
Problem with this though... I _think_ most of the world's population are becoming a bit "dull". I worry that even if we do get better at identifying these "Authoritarian" patterns, it'll be too late as there won't really be anyone left with any level of intelligence to give two shits π€¦ββοΈ
Very interesting! I want moooar! π
She didn't really go into any other patterns and plays these assholes use π€£
> We have to get better and faster at spotting and resisting this pattern if we donβt want people like Musk to take over every aspect of our lives.
Problem with this though... I _think_ most of the world's population are becoming a bit "dull". I worry that even if we do get better at identifying these "Authoritarian" patterns, it'll be too late as there won't really be anyone left with any level of intelligence to give two shits π€¦ββοΈ
Very interesting! I want moooar! π
She didn't really go into any other patterns and plays these assholes use π€£
> We have to get better and faster at spotting and resisting this pattern if we donβt want people like Musk to take over every aspect of our lives.
Problem with this though... I _think_ most of the world's population are becoming a bit "dull". I worry that even if we do get better at identifying these "Authoritarian" patterns, it'll be too late as there won't really be anyone left with any level of intelligence to give two shits π€¦ββοΈ
Very interesting! I want moooar! π
She didn't really go into any other patterns and plays these assholes use π€£
> We have to get better and faster at spotting and resisting this pattern if we donβt want people like Musk to take over every aspect of our lives.
Problem with this though... I _think_ most of the world's population are becoming a bit "dull". I worry that even if we do get better at identifying these "Authoritarian" patterns, it'll be too late as there won't really be anyone left with any level of intelligence to give two shits π€¦ββοΈ
But _maybe_ I'm being harsh... Maybe we as a human species and society are just oppressed in the first place π€ -- Get married, Have kids, Put them through expensive schools, Buy a house, Have huge life-long debts, Work your ass into the ground, Rinse and Repeat.
But _maybe_ I'm being harsh... Maybe we as a human species and society are just oppressed in the first place π€ -- Get married, Have kids, Put them through expensive schools, Buy a house, Have huge life-long debts, Work your ass into the ground, Rinse and Repeat.
But _maybe_ I'm being harsh... Maybe we as a human species and society are just oppressed in the first place π€ -- Get married, Have kids, Put them through expensive schools, Buy a house, Have huge life-long debts, Work your ass into the ground, Rinse and Repeat.
But _maybe_ I'm being harsh... Maybe we as a human species and society are just oppressed in the first place π€ -- Get married, Have kids, Put them through expensive schools, Buy a house, Have huge life-long debts, Work your ass into the ground, Rinse and Repeat.
@prologic
> Very interesting! I want moooar! π
She didnβt really go into any other patterns and plays these assholes use π€£
Here book *Strongmen* is great. She also has a Substack newsletter. She frequently writes for or appears in interviews for major media, and Googling her name will often turn up a lot of stuff. She's also pretty outspoken on twitter.
@prologic I have no idea, but I think that's probably closer to the truh. Who the heck has the energy to deconstruct the motives of someone like Trump or Musk who is actively trying to make that difficult? There are more pressing problems in life.