Documenting the erosion of democratic norms and the rule of law in real-time
Philosophical vulnerability enables institutional capture. Media radicalization produces acceptance. Court capture provides legal cover. Military purges enable enforcement.
Nietzsche warned that democratic societies would eventually produce 'last men'—creatures so comfortable they would trade freedom for security without a second thought.
Tocqueville imagined a new form of despotism where the state wouldn't break citizens' will but would 'soften, bend, and guide it.'
Arendt's insight wasn't that evil requires monsters—it was that evil proceeds through thoughtlessness, through people who stop examining what they're doing.
Moral-emotional content increases social media sharing by 20%, and platforms have optimized for exactly this metric. When rage equals revenue, radicalization is good business.
