• Akasazh@feddit.nl
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    1 day ago

    Even earlier on people mused on this particular habit. In 1577 French essayist Étienne de la Boétie wrote his Discourse on voluntary servitude where he explored why people seemed to prefer an autocrat who robbed them over freedom.

    To him, the great mystery of politics was obedience to rulers. Why in the world do people agree to be looted and otherwise oppressed by government overlords?

    According to de la Boétie people prefer being a courtier to a decisive overlord over making their own choices, backseating and deferring responsibility rather than deciding for themselves.

    It’s dad sad that in 450 years that doesn’t seem to have changed.

    • sp3ctr4l
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      1 day ago

      I am sure you mean ‘It’s sad that’, but the typo of ‘dad’ also works: lots of people want a big strong paternal father figure to make all the hard decisions, bear all the responsibility, be unquestioningly respected.

      Its also the same impulse for deference to an omnipotent, infallible sky-daddy God.

      Many, many tradtional, religious conservatives have been and still are defined by submission to and preservation of a hierarchy of father figures throughout all of society.