Introduction: 
Interview: 
Full-length podcast: https://anchor.fm/demystifying-science/episodes/Strength-Without-Compassion-is-a-Road-to-Ruin---Dr--Ruth-Ben-Ghiat--NYU-etbo8g
Widespread lockdowns have triggered fears that the world is taking a turn towards authoritarian rule, a government system that’s marked by a lack of democratic and free elections, a codified hostility towards threat to the social order, a lack of accountability, and party loyalists at every turn. Despots of the 20th century were very effective at playing on endemic frustrations during long periods of economic hardships, and there is widespread concern that today’s unstable social conditions are perfect breeding grounds for another generation of violent, despotic rulers. But what if the way to fight authoritarianism is to find a balance between individual liberty and social cohesion that was the inspiration for a century of democratic republics?
Unstable economic conditions are a classic move in the transition to authoritarianism. Hitler came to power during the interwar period where Germany was dealing with extreme social instability following reparation-driven hyperinflation. Same for Stalin, same for Mao, same for Pol Pot. These conditions create a damaged information ecology, where levels of mistrust and conspiratorial thinking go through the roof. It reinforced conditions where people want to be comforted, to be ruled by someone who promises answers - and bread. People look around and realize they want an economic and social liferaft, not nuance.
Fear, driven by precarious living on the edge of a society activates a constant fight-or-flight response, which means that people’s brains actually change. We lose our ability to make well-reasoned, emotionally discharged decisions. Instead, everything becomes reactive, a panicked stormy attempt to get out ahead of the problem on which they can’t get clear perspective. It’s a cascading cycle that can only be interrupted by taking control of these visceral emotional reactions, and training yourself to not be a slave to the passions.
Despite the novelty of your democratic experiment - with most democratic nations coming of age in the last century and a half - it’s possible you humans will live to improve it. Political tolerance is one way of finding your way to strength, as an open exchange of ideas and interpretations prevents the development of a culture of fear and evasion. If you find that there are voices being silenced, you must fight to make room for their careful, public analysis, lest your satisfaction at their absence be the weakness in your armor.
What are you doing to fight the tide?