It is hard to turn down the fight—especially if we are a male living in the Western World. We are socialized to take up the sword (or gun) and engage in battle. The remarkable social observer, Riane Eisler (1995), writes about this predisposition as a turn to the Blade. She notes the extent to which this turning to and reliance on the blade has dominated most of Western history for the past twenty centuries—and used the term “dominator” when describing this predisposition (Eilser, 1995, p. xvii).The blade, in turn, usually means that the battle is being guided (and controlled) by a single authority. There is no room for democracy or careful, deliberative discussions when the enemy is at our gate! Authoritarianism and the blade belong together. One can’t really exist for long without the other.
What if fight is not an option? The lion is too ferocious or is too elusive (coming and going from our imagination). This being the case, then we can always run away. Flight is an option and is engaged through escape into another world. This world might be found in the television or cable programs we watch many hours a day—be it “reality TV”, soap operas or sci-fi series. It might instead be an addictive consumption of goods (clothes, sports cards, automobiles) or obsession with the “alternative reality” to be found on some media outlets. The central point is that we have turned from a firm grasp on the “real” world and have allowed other people (media executives, advertisers, movie producers) to dictate what we are to see and believe. This is an escape from true freedom to a false freedom and abdication to what might be called a “soft authoritarianism” – or what xxx calls “friendly fascism.”
There is yet another “what if” to be addressed. What if neither fight nor flight are an option – or at least not an option that we wish to acknowledge. Then there is a third “F”. This is Freeze. We simply give up. We shrink into a state of helplessness and hopelessness. In this state, we do nothing but look bleakly on a world that will never get any better. Putin is probably right: democracy will fail and authoritarian rule is inevitable in the 21st Century. Why go to the rally if nothing will ever change—and frankly why even vote. For that matter, why write an essay such as this if no one will read it and nothing will have an impact? Such an acknowledgement leads to depression and often substance abuse. If widely engaged, then freeze will inevitably lead to the success of authoritarian rule that Putin predicted—a self-fulfilling dynamic is in effect. Freeze and authoritarian rule go hand-in-hand just as do fight, flight and dictatorial rule.
