Take sex away from people. Make it forbidden, evil. Limit it to ritualistic breeding. Force it to back up into suppressed sadism. Then hand the people a scapegoat to hate. Let them kill a scapegoat occasionally for cathartic release. The mechanism is ages old. Tyrants used it centuries before the word 'psychology' was ever invented. It works, too.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Authoritarians suppress sexual freedom to create scapegoats and release social tension through violence.
- In plain terms
- Restricting sex creates anger and lets tyrants use violence as an outlet.
- What can you take from it?
- Sexual repression can be used to control populations.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do rulers control populations?
- What are the effects of repression?
Another view
It offers a specific psychological explanation that may not fit all historical cases.
More from Robert A. Heinlein
Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal.
Permalink to quote #9 The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.
Permalink to quote #11 Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do.
Permalink to quote #8
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