by From Robert Locke Erich Fromm’s 1941 book, with this title, came to mind while watching Donald Trump and his followers in the Cleveland arena. In his book “Fromm distinguishes between ‘freedom from’ (negative freedom) and ‘freedom to’ (positive freedom). The former refers to emancipation from restrictions such as social conventions placed on individuals by other people or institutions. This is the kind of freedom typified by the Existentialism of Sartre, and has often been fought for historically, but according to Fromm, on its own it can be a destructive force…Fromm analyzes the character of Nazi ideology and suggests that the psychological conditions of Germany after the first world war fed into a desire for some form of new order to restore the nation’s pride. This came in the form of National Socialism and Fromm’s interpretation of Mein Kampf suggests that Hitler had an authoritarian personality structure that not only made him want to rule over Germany in the name of a higher authority … but also made him an appealing prospect for an insecure middle class that needed some sense of pride and certainty.” Widepedia. Only he could save America Trump proclaimed to the cheering Trumpites, sprewing out a hate of Hillary Clinton that resembled the mindless chants of Hitler’s followers against the November criminals who made peace and “betrayed” Germany in 1918.
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from Robert Locke
Erich Fromm’s 1941 book, with this title, came to mind while watching Donald Trump and his followers in the Cleveland arena. In his book
“Fromm distinguishes between ‘freedom from’ (negative freedom) and ‘freedom to’ (positive freedom). The former refers to emancipation from restrictions such as social conventions placed on individuals by other people or institutions. This is the kind of freedom typified by the Existentialism of Sartre, and has often been fought for historically, but according to Fromm, on its own it can be a destructive force…Fromm analyzes the character of Nazi ideology and suggests that the psychological conditions of Germany after the first world war fed into a desire for some form of new order to restore the nation’s pride. This came in the form of National Socialism and Fromm’s interpretation of Mein Kampf suggests that Hitler had an authoritarian personality structure that not only made him want to rule over Germany in the name of a higher authority … but also made him an appealing prospect for an insecure middle class that needed some sense of pride and certainty.” Widepedia.
Only he could save America Trump proclaimed to the cheering Trumpites, sprewing out a hate of Hillary Clinton that resembled the mindless chants of Hitler’s followers against the November criminals who made peace and “betrayed” Germany in 1918. In a Germany beset with massive unemployment and saddled with the war guilt clause by the victorious allies in the Versailles treaty, Hitler fanatics were willing to escape from the freedom of the Weimar Republic into a National Socialists dictatorship. History never repeats itself, but the hatred of Clinton and willingness to submit to Donald Trump I saw in the arena was a frightening reminder of events in the 1930s when Germany went berserk.