Fascist leaders subjectively drive the catastrophe they always expected

Evidence

The opinion that the leveling-down and standardization of men is accompanied on the other hand by a heightened individuality in the “leader” personalities that corresponds to the power they enjoy, is false and an ideological pretense. The modern Fascist bosses are not so much supermen as functions of their own propaganda machine, the focal points at which identical reactions of countless citizens intersect. In the psychology of the modern masses, the Führer is not so much a father-figure as a collective and overexaggerated projection of the powerless ego of each individual—to which the so-called “leaders” in fact correspond. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 225 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Organizing the people is the process in which the revolutionary leaders, who are also prevented from saying their own word, initiate the experience of learning how to name the world. This is true learning experience, and therefore dialogical. So it is that the leaders cannot say their word alone; they must say it with the people. Leaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people—they manipulate them. They do not liberate, nor are they liberated: they oppress. — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 571 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Fascist leaders are focal points of citizens’ reactions, not supermen — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 225; Leaders who impose decisions oppress themselves as much as the people — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 571

Broader Connections

• Fascist leaders are focal points of citizens’ reactions, not supermen #contradicts (0.82) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 225
• Leaders who impose decisions oppress themselves as much as the people #expands (0.78) — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 571