The two pieces seem to fit remarkable well together. Reading your article, it felt like I could apply it to Russia simply be changing a few words. Taken together with Anne's description of freedom in the first paragraph it gave an insight into one of the ways that Russia is different from the Western world and why many still support Putin. The contrast also raises a far more subtle question. By making the link with authoritarianism in Russia it caused me to think about authoritarianism by individuals and groups within a democracy. At the most extreme I imagine an authoritarian liberal democracy; one that actively forbids authoritarianism. This is not comfortable reflection.
I have a nagging thought that a shared belief system is an integral part of a society. That variation on 'them' and 'us' are a human given an aspect of being human that makes a group strong, far stronger that other expect, but also one that some have discovered can be manipulated.
Taken together I think that these two articles express the challenge of our times.
Thank you, Tom, for this piece about Megan Phelps-Roper's and the Westboro Baptist Church. I read this immediately after reading Anne Applebaum's piece in the Atlantic, There Is No Liberal World Order, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/autocracy-could-destroy-democracy-russia-ukraine/629363
The two pieces seem to fit remarkable well together. Reading your article, it felt like I could apply it to Russia simply be changing a few words. Taken together with Anne's description of freedom in the first paragraph it gave an insight into one of the ways that Russia is different from the Western world and why many still support Putin. The contrast also raises a far more subtle question. By making the link with authoritarianism in Russia it caused me to think about authoritarianism by individuals and groups within a democracy. At the most extreme I imagine an authoritarian liberal democracy; one that actively forbids authoritarianism. This is not comfortable reflection.
I have a nagging thought that a shared belief system is an integral part of a society. That variation on 'them' and 'us' are a human given an aspect of being human that makes a group strong, far stronger that other expect, but also one that some have discovered can be manipulated.
Taken together I think that these two articles express the challenge of our times.
Thank you Tom, great article!