Obsession with playing the National Anthem constantly in schools.
Obsession with Pledges¹ or Flag Raising Ceremonies²
Mandated Politically related Attires³
Government involvement in family planning⁴
Non-violent⁵ critique of leader(s) results in near certain police warning/harassments or detained/arrested
¹USA “Pledge of Allegiance”
²PRC, Flag-Raising Ceremony was done very frequently, I remember it being like either weekly or monthly
³PRC, the “Little Red Scarfs” that symbolizes “Communism”, I didn’t know what that meant at the time
⁴PRC: One Child Policy, forced abortions against the mother’s will, forced sterilizations; On the other side of the coin, in USA: Abortion bans and forced to continue an unwanted pregnancy
⁵PRC: “Xi should resign”; USA: anything Charlie Kirk related, Bald JD Vance memes, anything deemed “anti-ICE”
I don’t know about most of these - nationalism is not necessarily authoritarian. Maybe authoritarians frequently use nationalism as one of their tools to keep the population in line
Zero news media criticizing the leader(s)
Obsession with playing the National Anthem constantly in schools.
Obsession with Pledges¹ or Flag Raising Ceremonies²
Mandated Politically related Attires³
Government involvement in family planning⁴
Non-violent⁵ critique of leader(s) results in near certain police warning/harassments or detained/arrested
¹USA “Pledge of Allegiance”
²PRC, Flag-Raising Ceremony was done very frequently, I remember it being like either weekly or monthly
³PRC, the “Little Red Scarfs” that symbolizes “Communism”, I didn’t know what that meant at the time
⁴PRC: One Child Policy, forced abortions against the mother’s will, forced sterilizations; On the other side of the coin, in USA: Abortion bans and forced to continue an unwanted pregnancy
⁵PRC: “Xi should resign”; USA: anything Charlie Kirk related, Bald JD Vance memes, anything deemed “anti-ICE”
I don’t know about most of these - nationalism is not necessarily authoritarian. Maybe authoritarians frequently use nationalism as one of their tools to keep the population in line