I recently finished Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind by Annalee Newitz. In the book she references The Authoritarian Personality by Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson, and Nevitt Sanford, in regards to the California F-scale, a 1947 personality test designed by Adorno and others to measure the “authoritarian personality.”
Instead of asking people directly if they supported fascism, the test measured implicit personality traits across nine dimensions using an agree-or-disagree questionnaire, including:
- Authoritarian Submission and Aggression. An uncritical obedience to idealized leaders combined with a desire to punish those who violate traditional norms.
- Conventionalism and Rigid Thinking. A strict adherence to middle-class values and a reliance on stereotypes rather than nuanced, independent thought.
- Anti-Intraception. A hostility toward imagination, introspection, subjective feelings, and intellectual or artistic pursuits.
What captured my imagination was basically the antidote they found once they identified a fascist. Adorno and his colleagues concluded that the “authoritarian personality” was largely shaped by rigid, punitive childhood upbringings that discouraged questioning authority and fostered fear of unfamiliar “out-groups.” Based on their findings, the researchers and subsequent psychologists argued that countering authoritarian tendencies required breaking down rigid cognitive patterns:
- Exposure to Diverse People. The study found that prejudiced, authoritarian thinkers relied on abstract stereotypes because they lacked real-world contact with different groups. Interacting with diverse populations helps dismantle the “us versus them” mentality.
- Critical Thinking and Reading. Because high scorers on the F-scale showed strong anti-intellectualism and a fear of ambiguity, fostering curiosity through broad reading, arts, and liberal arts education was seen as an essential way to build empathy and independent judgment.
For me, this reflects what I’ve done to elevate myself out of my conservative upbringing in rural Oregon. More importantly, it reflects what I continue to do to make myself resistant to the fascist tendencies of the technology sector I work in. In short, reading and exposing myself to diverse ideas are key to being a human in 2026. If you aren’t reading, and if you aren’t reading books offline from diverse people, you aren’t doing the work. If you are just reading online, you have left yourself open to fascist ideology, whether you are voting Democrat or Republican in this country.
