truth is required to act freely. 
freedom requires knowledge, and in order to act freely in the world, 
you need to know what the world is and know what you’re doing. 
you only know what you’re doing if you have access to the truth. 
so freedom requires truth, and so to smash freedom you must smash truth. 

part of what fascist politics does is get people to disassociate from reality. 
you get them to sign on to this fantasy version of reality, usually a nationalist narrative 
about the decline of the country and the need for a strong leader to return it to greatness, and from then on their anchor isn’t the world around them — it’s the leader. 

jason stanley