{"id":2537,"date":"2023-02-17T14:14:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T22:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dennisholeman.com\/?p=2537"},"modified":"2023-02-17T14:14:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T22:14:21","slug":"the-dark-arts-principles-of-demagoguery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dennisholeman.com\/the-dark-arts-principles-of-demagoguery\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dark Arts: Principles of Demagoguery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A major problem today is that our body politic has not been able to mount a strong immune response when it is exposed to a high-level demagogue. \u00a0Such an event is relatively novel to our society, so adequate defenses haven\u2019t been built up previously. \u00a0A strong and amoral demagogue can infect the population with surprising ease, with very damaging consequences. \u00a0The tactics and strategies employed by a demagogue are very effective. \u00a0Following is a list of principles of demagoguery that can be observed to be in use at present:<\/p>\n<p><u>Rhetoric<\/u>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Focus on ideas that can be expressed as simple, vivid slogans\n<ul>\n<li>Without distracting details or nuance<\/li>\n<li>Easily remembered<\/li>\n<li>With emotionally potent language and images<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Provide a consistent narrative that will stick in peoples\u2019 minds.<\/li>\n<li>Use simple words with lots of superlatives.<\/li>\n<li>Speak and write using strong emotional affect, particularly outrage and anger.<\/li>\n<li>Hammer points home using constant repetition.<\/li>\n<li>Try out themes and see which ones get the strongest visceral reactions. Emphasize those. Eliminate those that don\u2019t.<\/li>\n<li>Tap into audience prejudices and fears such as racism, nativism, ethnic and religious antipathies, homophobia, misogyny, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Whip up peoples\u2019 passions.<\/li>\n<li>Brand opponents with demeaning nicknames. Regularly insult them. Say they are criminals and traitors.<\/li>\n<li>Get people to see themselves as being victimized and humiliated. Tell them that their difficulties are not their own fault, but are caused by enemies. Identify people to blame.<\/li>\n<li>Stoke feelings of grievance and resentment, particularly over declining group status and privilege.<\/li>\n<li>Target outgroups for hatred.<\/li>\n<li>Attack government in general. Portray it as a primary cause of people\u2019s problems.<\/li>\n<li>Incite people to act out in revenge.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage the belief in dark conspiracies.<\/li>\n<li>Frame matters as conflicts, with winners and losers. Heap scorn on those you regard as losers.<\/li>\n<li>Cast everything in black and white terms. Portray it as existential good versus evil.<\/li>\n<li>Put forward authoritarian, punitive, \u201claw and order\u201d approaches.<\/li>\n<li>Incorporate metaphors and images of violence in your rhetoric.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u>Personal presentation<\/u>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Practice \u201ccommand presence\u201d. Be intimidating. Be dominating. Present yourself as a virile alpha male.<\/li>\n<li>Act boldly.<\/li>\n<li>Use forceful arm and hand gestures when speaking. Employ facial expressions of anger. Shout for emphasis. Use obscene language.<\/li>\n<li>Display the trappings of being a winner. Live the way other people wish <em>they <\/em>could live.<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Be unpredictable.<\/li>\n<li>Ignore rules and laws that you apply to others.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t be overly concerned about the truth. Say whatever will give you the greatest advantage.<\/li>\n<li>Threaten violence to get your way.<\/li>\n<li>Be transgressive, including sexually.<\/li>\n<li>Demand loyalty. Do not allow people to expect it from you in return.<\/li>\n<li>Seize and keep the initiative. Always be on the attack, never on the defensive.<\/li>\n<li>Respond forcefully to any perceived slight or criticism. Hit back much harder.<\/li>\n<li>Never apologize, never show uncertainty, never admit a mistake.<\/li>\n<li>Present the image of a strongman who can accomplish things that no one else can by operating outside ordinary norms and constraints.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage followers to see you as a hero, maybe even sent by God.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u>General tactics<\/u>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Capitalize on your celebrity status from the various media, particularly television.<\/li>\n<li>Focus on dramatic public spectacle, such as rock star-like mass rallies.<\/li>\n<li>Dominate the news cycle through sensational acts and statements.<\/li>\n<li>Capture and hold media attention. Be sure the spotlight stays on you so that others\u2019 messages don\u2019t get heard.<\/li>\n<li>Replace anyone on your team who draws attention to themselves instead of you.<\/li>\n<li>Make everyone else operate in reaction to you. Keep all focus on yourself.<\/li>\n<li>Frame the issues, control the terms of any interaction.<\/li>\n<li>Appeal to tribal identity. Make people feel it\u2019s Us vs. Them. Have followers identify directly with you.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage people to form a cult of personality around you.<\/li>\n<li>Leverage partisanship to your greatest advantage. Be deliberately divisive.<\/li>\n<li>Insist that followers reject the legitimacy of any election you or your chosen candidates don\u2019t win.<\/li>\n<li>Reduce people\u2019s trust in the very principles of democratic elections.<\/li>\n<li>Say the media are the enemy of the people. Assert that anything unfavorable to you is fake news.<\/li>\n<li>Assert that laws and rules don\u2019t apply to you.<\/li>\n<li>Ignore legal subpoenas. Demand subordinates do likewise.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage followers to think violence is likely to be necessary to put things right. Legitimize intimidation and threats. Urge people to martyr themselves for your cause.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A major problem today is that our body politic has not been able to mount a strong immune response when it is exposed to a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - 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