Name: Opinion | Here's how authoritarian-style leaders divide us. It doesn't have to be this way.
Uploaded: 2019-10-05T18:05:13.000Z
Duration: 4 min 52 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

-There's us, and there's them. 00:00:01.400 --> 00:00:03.234 position:88% You're either part of the us or you're part of the them.

Adverbs of degree

Most of us inhabit a social world 00:00:10.334 --> 00:00:12.701 position:80% that's filled with a lot of ambiguity and unknowns. 00:00:12.701 --> 00:00:14.701 position:67% We interact with other people all the time, 00:00:14.701 --> 00:00:16.434 position:56% some of whom are very familiar to us 00:00:16.434 --> 00:00:18.400 position:66% and others of whom we've never met before. 00:00:18.400 --> 00:00:20.167 position:58% And we're constantly making decisions 00:00:20.167 --> 00:00:21.934 position:58% about how to act towards these people 00:00:21.934 --> 00:00:24.133 position:75% and how we think that they would act towards us. 00:00:24.133 --> 00:00:26.868 position:70% For most people, you can define your in group

that you interact with frequently, 00:00:30.467 --> 00:00:32.300 position:72% and who may share different features with you. 00:00:32.300 --> 00:00:34.467 position:77% So they might be members of your own nationality, 00:00:34.467 --> 00:00:36.400 position:69% of your religious community, of your family. 00:00:36.400 --> 00:00:38.667 position:81% And it's really normal for people to act differently 00:00:38.667 --> 00:00:40.868 position:78% towards members of in group and out-group members.

-Dream big! 00:00:43.234 --> 00:00:45.334 position:83% -People tend to believe that their in group is better 00:00:45.334 --> 00:00:47.434 position:83% than members or people who are not in their in group. 00:00:47.434 --> 00:00:48.901 position:58% Really cool research that's been done

by Jonathan Haidt and others 00:00:50.701 --> 00:00:53.434 position:66% has shown that there are some moral values

that differ a lot more 00:00:54.901 --> 00:00:58.434 position:77% as a function of your social and political views. 00:00:58.434 --> 00:01:00.834 position:61% Whereas both liberals and conservatives 00:01:00.834 --> 00:01:03.200 position:61% tend to dislike harm of innocent people 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:06.300 position:88% and they tend to prefer fairness rather than unfairness,

for political liberals, 00:01:07.501 --> 00:01:09.868 position:72% that's kind of where the moral equation stops. 00:01:09.868 --> 00:01:13.033 position:84% The universe of other moral values matters a lot less.

If you compare them to people 00:01:14.334 --> 00:01:16.300 position:66% who are strongly politically conservative, 00:01:16.300 --> 00:01:18.400 position:72% they care about three additional moral values. 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:20.934 position:89% So it's not that they don't care about harm and fairness, 00:01:20.934 --> 00:01:22.868 position:64% but these other values also matter a lot. 00:01:22.868 --> 00:01:25.667 position:69% And those values are caring about authority, 00:01:25.667 --> 00:01:28.334 position:64% so viewing deference to authority figures

Purity or sanctity, 00:01:30.634 --> 00:01:33.334 position:70% and it tends to be related to religious views 00:01:33.334 --> 00:01:36.400 position:81% on behavior that's viewed as sort of pure or impure. 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:38.734 position:72% And the last one is loyalty to one's in group, 00:01:38.734 --> 00:01:40.667 position:58% so caring more about whether somebody

when deciding on how to treat them 00:01:44.334 --> 00:01:46.300 position:59% and how to value behavior toward them.

It's really easy to get people 00:01:49.367 --> 00:01:51.200 position:89% to treat members of in groups and out groups differently.

-I draw the line in the dirt 00:01:53.300 --> 00:01:56.968 position:77% and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny,

and I say segregation now, 00:01:59.367 --> 00:02:03.734 position:72% segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.

[cheers and applause] 00:02:05.234 --> 00:02:07.868 position:95% -There's sort of a plumb line through history that we can see

that when a leader wants to get 00:02:09.434 --> 00:02:11.367 position:56% the group that they're in charge of, 00:02:11.367 --> 00:02:12.901 position:72% first of all, to make very strong distinctions 00:02:12.901 --> 00:02:14.267 position:61% between the in group and the out group, 00:02:14.267 --> 00:02:17.400 position:81% make it very clear that there's us and there's them, 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:19.534 position:94% and you're either part of the us or you're part of the them.

[crowd booing] 00:02:20.501 --> 00:02:25.000 position:89% -Your neighborhood, your village, your children's school,

your life, your wages 00:02:26.767 --> 00:02:30.300 position:67% will be inevitably impacted by immigration. 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:32.400 position:84% -Let's speak clearly, Hungary is going to be condemned 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:34.234 position:72% because the Hungarian people have decided that 00:02:34.234 --> 00:02:36.434 position:84% this country is not going to be a country of migrants. 00:02:36.434 --> 00:02:38.300 position:63% -The right-wing government is in danger. 00:02:38.300 --> 00:02:42.133 position:78% Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls. 00:02:42.133 --> 00:02:44.434 position:69% Left-wing organizations are busing them out. 00:02:44.434 --> 00:02:46.501 position:56% -They paint members of the out group 00:02:46.501 --> 00:02:48.834 position:61% as threatening to the in group somehow. 00:02:48.834 --> 00:02:53.968 position:69% -We are going to come together as one people 00:02:53.968 --> 00:02:59.701 position:92% to tell the corporate elite they will no longer get it all. 00:02:59.701 --> 00:03:03.601 position:56% -We all know that AOC and this crowd

are a bunch of communists. 00:03:05.267 --> 00:03:07.901 position:69% They hate Israel. They hate our own country.

-And, also, less than human, 00:03:09.667 --> 00:03:14.167 position:97% describing them in terms that connote vermin or other animals. 00:03:14.167 --> 00:03:16.267 position:69% -But we're taking people out of the country, 00:03:16.267 --> 00:03:18.934 position:72% you wouldn't believe how bad these people are.

These are animals. 00:03:22.467 --> 00:03:27.400 position:97% -Depending on your preference for sort of order and discipline 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:30.868 position:95% and your belief that the world is a scary, threatening place, 00:03:30.868 --> 00:03:35.501 position:86% and only by following this strong leader unquestionably 00:03:35.501 --> 00:03:38.400 position:58% can we expect to have a good outcome, 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:41.200 position:86% you can see how authoritarian tendencies would develop, 00:03:41.200 --> 00:03:42.968 position:81% especially when a group sees itself as under threat.

They are the enemy of the people. 00:03:49.667 --> 00:03:51.601 position:61% Because you look at what's marching up,

-In circumstances like that, 00:03:56.767 --> 00:03:59.167 position:70% if people truly believe in this outside group 00:03:59.167 --> 00:04:01.868 position:66% as a threat to the safety of the in group, 00:04:01.868 --> 00:04:04.367 position:91% you can get them to treat members of the out group in ways 00:04:04.367 --> 00:04:07.100 position:66% that they wouldn't in other circumstances.

[cheers and applause] 00:04:18.267 --> 00:04:20.434 position:63% -Forming groups is part of human nature.

-This is what democracy looks like. 00:04:26.234 --> 00:04:27.701 position:58% -The issue is not eliminating groups, 00:04:27.701 --> 00:04:29.200 position:61% and let's pretend that they don't exist

That's not possible. 00:04:32.467 --> 00:04:35.901 position:86% The important thing is making sure that we never forget 00:04:35.901 --> 00:04:38.267 position:89% about those other two really important moral foundations,

which are compassion and fairness. 00:04:39.701 --> 00:04:42.734 position:75% So maybe somebody is not a member of your group, 00:04:42.734 --> 00:04:45.467 position:92% but they're still a human being still worthy of compassion, 00:04:45.467 --> 00:04:47.300 position:58% still worthy of being treated fairly.

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Opinion | Here's how authoritarian-style leaders divide us. It doesn't have to be this way.

sort

discipline

pretend

eliminate