We each have a Nazi in us. We need to understand the psychological roots of authoritarianism | Gabor Maté
www.theguardian.com
Neuroimaging studies have shown that the amygdala, the tiny almond-shaped brain structure that mediates fear, is larger in people with more rightwing views

Neuroimaging studies have shown that the amygdala, the tiny almond-shaped brain structure that mediates fear, is larger in people with more rightwing views

  • @yesman
    20•3 months ago

    I read once that Holocaust research causes three distinct traumas. One is where you realize that it really happened to real people. Two is when you empathize with the victims and can visualize yourself of loved ones in that position. Three is when you empathize with the perpetrators and can visualize yourself or loved ones in that position.

    It’s natural for children to believe that good people do good things and bad do bad, but that opinion can’t survive into adulthood without profound lack of self awareness.

    • @emax_gomax
      5•3 months ago

      Wasn’t the gas chambers planned because German soldiers kept going crazy executing people directly. Even if you’re trained and brainwashed shooting a child in the back of the head is gonna mess you up (especially more than once). Dehumanising the victims, putting them into work camps, moving them to a room where the overseer can flip a switch. It was all to make you see them as less than human and make it easier to not connect the act of killing them to taking a life. Of course there were a whole lot of absolutely f*cked up monsters but I feel really bad for all the nazis who got sucked into a brainwashed cult and by the time they realised what they were doing they had no out left.