pimpnamedraypeat
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- Dec 25, 2014
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Peat's had a lot to say about authoritarianism I wonder what he'll think of this:
Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism
Parasite = ***holes. How interesting.
According to experts on the matter, it would take about 3 days of no food to turn cities into war zones
I wonder if vaccinations and fluoridation and GMOs, all of which lower the immune system, are used to keep keep the populations parasite load and threat of illness high so they support whatever bull**** their authoritarian government throws their way. If you're healthy and vibrant and full of energy it's much harder to brainwash you. You're probably outside doing something with yourself instead of passively consuming media.
Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism
According to a "parasite stress" hypothesis, authoritarian governments are more likely to emerge in regions characterized by a high prevalence of disease-causing pathogens. Recent cross-national evidence is consistent with this hypothesis, but there are inferential limitations associated with that evidence. We report two studies that address some of these limitations, and provide further tests of the hypothesis. Study 1 revealed that parasite prevalence strongly predicted cross-national differences on measures assessing individuals' authoritarian personalities, and this effect statistically mediated the relationship between parasite prevalence and authoritarian governance. The mediation result is inconsistent with an alternative explanation for previous findings. To address further limitations associated with cross-national comparisons, Study 2 tested the parasite stress hypothesis on a sample of traditional small-scale societies (the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample). Results revealed that parasite prevalence predicted measures of authoritarian governance, and did so even when statistically controlling for other threats to human welfare. (One additional threat—famine—also uniquely predicted authoritarianism.) Together, these results further substantiate the parasite stress hypothesis of authoritarianism, and suggest that societal differences in authoritarian governance result, in part, from cultural differences in individuals' authoritarian personalities.
Parasite = ***holes. How interesting.
In addition to their intolerance of nonconformity, authoritarian political systems are also characterized by nepotism and ethnocentrism [20]. These behavioral tendencies too have been empirically linked to the threat of disease. At a psychological level of analysis, individuals who are—or who merely perceive themselves to be—more vulnerable to infection tend to endorse more xenophobic and ethnocentric attitudes [21], [22], [23]. At a societal level of analysis, countries characterized by higher prevalence of parasitic diseases are also characterized by stronger family ties, increased frequency of intrastate ethnic conflict, and several indicators of increased ethnocentrism [24], [25], [26], although the interpretation of some these results remains a matter of some disagreement [27], [28].
According to experts on the matter, it would take about 3 days of no food to turn cities into war zones
Thornhill and colleagues [7] empirically tested this parasite stress hypothesis, using modern geopolitical entities (e.g., countries) as units of analysis. The hypothesis was tested on four different measures of democratization and/or authoritarianism, using a parasite stress measure derived from a modern epidemiological database. Consistent evidence was observed across all measures: Higher levels of parasite stress were associated with less democratic, more highly authoritarian political systems (N’s >192, absolute r’s >.45, p’s<.001). These relationships remained statistically significant when statistically controlling for measures of economic development and economic inequality (as assessed by a country’s GDP per capita and GINI coefficient respectively). Additional analyses revealed that country-level differences in authoritarian governance were even more strongly predicted by a measure of historical (rather than modern-day) parasite prevalence [29]—a finding consistent with the hypothesis that authoritarian governance is a consequence (rather than a cause) of parasite stress.
I wonder if vaccinations and fluoridation and GMOs, all of which lower the immune system, are used to keep keep the populations parasite load and threat of illness high so they support whatever bull**** their authoritarian government throws their way. If you're healthy and vibrant and full of energy it's much harder to brainwash you. You're probably outside doing something with yourself instead of passively consuming media.