暮光？

從書的內容看，Twilight of Democracy 中的twilight應該不是指破曉前的那一線曙光。。。

這是一本政論書，本來，這類書不在我的選擇範圍內，尤其是當下。是這個作者讓我對書有了些興趣。不了解東歐的過去和現在，也不了解裏根，麥肯的共和黨人的曆史，所以作者的主觀判斷隻讓我覺得是很有意思的角度，還是存疑更多。。。

但有意思的是：

“More recently, Karen Stenner, a behavioral economist who began researching personality traits two decades ago, has argued that about a third of the population in any country has what she calls an authoritarian predisposition, a word that is more useful than personality, because it is less rigid. An authoritarian predisposition, one that favors homogeneity and order, can be present without necessarily manifesting itself; its opposite, a “libertarian” predisposition, one that favors diversity and difference, can be silently present too. Stenner’s definition of authoritarianism isn’t political, and it isn’t the same thing as conservatism. Authoritarianism appeals, simply, to people who cannot tolerate complexity: there is nothing intrinsically “left-wing” or “right-wing” about this instinct at all. It is anti-pluralist. It is suspicious of people with different ideas. It is allergic to fierce debates. Whether those who have it ultimately derive their politics from Marxism or nationalism is irrelevant. It is a frame of mind, not a set of ideas.”

“Over a crackly video link between Australia and Poland, she reminded me that the “authoritarian predisposition” she has identified is not exactly the same thing as closed-mindedness. It is better described as simple-mindedness: people are often attracted to authoritarian ideas because they are bothered by complexity. They dislike divisiveness. They prefer unity. A sudden onslaught of diversity—diversity of opinions, diversity of experiences—therefore makes them angry. They seek solutions in new political language that makes them feel safer and more secure.”
― Anne Applebaum, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

是不是挺灰的，三分之一呀。。。

“We have long known that in closed societies, the arrival of democracy, with its clashing voices and differing opinions, can be “complex and frightening,” as Stenner puts it, for people unaccustomed to public dissent.”

“Efficiency, liberty, justice, equality, the demands of the individual, and the demands of the group—all these things push us in different directions. And this, Berlin wrote, is unacceptable to many people:”

早就不是新鮮事了：

“Plato feared the “false and braggart words” of the demagogue, and suspected democracy might be nothing more than a staging point on the road to tyranny.”
 

“The founders themselves were not so certain: their beloved classical authors taught them that history was circular, that human nature was flawed, and that special measures were needed to prevent democracy from sliding back into tyranny.”

“To some, the precariousness of the current moment seems frightening, and yet this uncertainty has always been there. The liberalism of John Stuart Mill, Thomas Jefferson, or Václav Havel never promised anything permanent. The checks and balances of Western constitutional democracies never guaranteed stability. Liberal democracies always demanded things from citizens: participation, argument, effort, struggle. They always required some tolerance for cacophony and chaos, as well as some willingness to push back at the people who create cacophony and chaos.

― Anne Applebaum, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

 

她還提到法國人寫的這本書：Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust想找來聽聽，大長篇。。。

先到這裏，這個周末要很忙。。空下來再記

[糯米粥]

你的這幾段節選，我怎麽都覺得那麽精彩呢？

剛在我的圖書館也排上隊了，等這本書。謝謝推薦！

還想說句矯情話—你的靈魂豐富美好。