(Applied Case Study of Authoritarianism and the Architecture of Obedience)
by Peter Kahl, 2025-09-20
This essay applies the framework developed in Authoritarianism and the Architecture of Obedience (Kahl, 2025) to contemporary U.S. politics. It examines the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! under pressure from President Donald Trump and the FCC as a case study in authoritarian epistemic capture. Obedience is analysed not merely as behaviour but as epistemic submission: the substitution of another’s judgment for one’s own, the silencing of conscience, and the inhabiting of categories fabricated by authority. Drawing comparisons with Nazi concentration camp guards as test cases, the essay explores how dissonance is channelled into compliance and how fiduciary–epistemic scaffolds might resist such architectures of obedience.
authoritarianism, obedience, epistemic clientelism, fiduciary–epistemic theory, cognitive dissonance, trump, jimmy kimmel, colbert, free speech, media censorship, populism, epistemic constitution
Kahl, P. (2025). Kimmel suspended, Colbert outraged: How Trump turns dissent into disobedience. Lex et Ratio Ltd. GitHub: https://github.com/Peter-Kahl/Kimmel-Suspended-Colbert-Outraged DOI: https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.16001.52326
First published in London by Lex et Ratio Ltd, 2025-09-20.
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