The fascist leader performs the forbidden impulses his followers suppress

Evidence

The leader with his contorted face and the charisma of approaching hysteria take command. The leader acts as a representative; he portrays what is forbidden to everyone else in actual life. Hitler can gesticulate like a clown, Mussolini strike false notes like a provincial tenor, Goebbels talk endlessly like a Jewish agent whom he wants murdered, and Coughlin preach love like the savior whose crucifixion he portrays—all for the sake of still more bloodshed. Fascism is also totalitarian in that it seeks to make the rebellion of suppressed nature against domination directly useful to domination. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 144

Categorization

• XREF: Adorno names actual figures — Hitler, Mussolini, Goebbels, Coughlin — grounding the abstract theory in the specific historical moment, which connects to Burns’s later historically-grounded arguments. — connects to: Fascist leaders keep libidinal energy unconscious so it can be diverted into obedience — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 184; Fascist followers’ masochism is fused with sadistic impulses — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 328; Outsider groups serve as involuntary conduits for fascism’s own taboo impulses — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 145 (+2 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The closing sentence is the chapter’s crux: fascism turns the rebellion of repressed nature itself into an instrument of domination — the paradox at the heart of the whole Dialectic.

Broader Connections

• Fascist leaders keep libidinal energy unconscious so it can be diverted into obedience #contradicts (0.85) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 184
• Outsider groups serve as involuntary conduits for fascism’s own taboo impulses #complicates (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 145
• Fascist personalities substitute a group ego for their own super-ego #expands (0.80)
• Fascist followers’ masochism is fused with sadistic impulses #expands (0.75) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 328
• Fascist leaders are focal points of citizens’ reactions, not supermen #expands (0.75) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 225