1. Most people blindly follow a figure of authority due to an inbuilt culture of obedience, where positional power eclipses any sound judgement.
2. Authoritarians ensure most of the information never reaches people, by discrediting or cutting off the information sources.
3. They use incremental action by gradually increasing the demands that are made on others.
4. They ensure that people don’t have any personal responsibility for their actions. Example: Managers hiding behind company policy to justify unfairness at the workplace.
5. They use the power of fear by discrediting facts, scapegoating, polarization, and divide and rule tactics.

Many people are susceptible to follow and be ruled by an authority figure and obey commands that defy logic, reasoning and are also unfair or dangerous to others.

Fear is a powerful tool deployed by authoritarians, who make use of how a person’s brain proc...