“Before they seize power and establish a world according to their doctrines,” wrote the German philosopher Hannah Arendt, “totalitarian movements conjure up a lying world of consistency which is more adequate to the needs of the human mind than reality itself.”
In the past seven days we’ve seen such a “lying world of consistency” inspire mass actions by far-right movements, from the far-right invasion of Portland, to the storming of the Reichstag by anti-lockdown protesters, to the Trafalgar Square demonstration, also against masks and lockdowns.
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