Eros belongs to democracy while fear and destructiveness fuel fascism

Evidence

Thus, we need not suppose that appeal to emotion belongs to those who strive in the direction of fascism, while democratic propaganda must limit itself to reason and restraint. If fear and destructiveness are the major emotional sources of fascism, eros belongs mainly to democracy. … The authors’ identification with the cause of democracy was an attack on American democracy, crediting not it but its victims with having the strength for change. … This diagnosis of anti-democratic potential observed its indications neither in anti-Semitism nor, more generally, in prejudices against minorities, but in the general dissemination of stereotyped conservative political and economic attitudes; nor did it consider American democracy to be a basically healthy social order, which could be freed from embarrassing defects through appropriate propaganda, information and educational measures. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 448

Categorization

• DEFINE: The Authoritarian Personality’s democratic-affect thesis: democracy’s emotional base is eros, not restraint or reason.
• XREF: Connects to Marcuse’s Eros and Civilization and the Institute’s later fusion of Freudian drive theory with political critique. — connects to: Fascism exploits natural human tendencies while democracy requires uphill virtues; Liberated Eros repels only supra-repressive social organization, not civilized relationship itself — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 527; Fascism exploits psychological tendencies rather than being caused by them. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 206 (+3 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Fascism exploits natural human tendencies while democracy requires uphill virtues; Liberated Eros repels only supra-repressive social organization, not civilized relationship itself — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 527; Fascism exploits psychological tendencies rather than being caused by them. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 206 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Attitudes called potentially fascist may actually be democratic resistance. #complicates (0.80)
• Fascism exploits psychological tendencies rather than being caused by them. #complicates (0.78) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 206
• Fascism persists because it matches natural human tendencies that democracy must resist. #complicates (0.76) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3857
• Fascism defines itself explicitly against democracy as rule by sheer numbers #complicates (0.73) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2215