If You Understand How Violence Works, You’ll See What’s Happening to Democracy Right Now

The Hidden Psychology Behind Freeze, Compliance, and Democratic Collapse

If You Understand How Violence Works, You’ll See What’s Happening to Democracy Right Now

The Hidden Psychology Behind Freeze, Compliance, and Democratic Collapse

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #705: Sunday, December 28th, 2025

Most people think violence is about strength.
It isn’t.

Most people think democracy dies because people don’t care.
It doesn’t.

Both beliefs are comforting.
Both are wrong.
And both get people killed…physically in one case, civically in the other.

Years ago, I taught a class called “The Psychology of Violence: Applying the Science of Staying Alive.”
It wasn’t a martial arts class.
It wasn’t about fighting.
It wasn’t about winning.

It was about survival.

And the uncomfortable truth was this:
People don’t lose violent encounters because they’re weak.
They lose because they misunderstand how violence actually works.

What’s eerie…and increasingly obvious…is how perfectly those same principles…map onto what’s happening to democracy right now.

Different arena.
Same psychology.
Same failure modes.
Same fatal mistakes.

If you understand one…you understand the other.

The Lie That Gets People Hurt

Let’s start with the first lie.

In personal violence, the lie sounds like this:

“If it ever happens, I’ll figure it out.”

In democratic collapse, it sounds like this:

“If it ever gets bad, people will stop it.”

Both are fantasies built on the same flawed assumption:

That danger announces itself clearly.
That threats are obvious.
That escalation is dramatic.
That you’ll know when it’s time to act.

You won’t.

Violence doesn’t start with punches.
Authoritarianism doesn’t start with tanks.

They both start with boundary violations that feel small.

And that’s where almost everyone fails.

Lesson #1: Attackers Don’t Look for the Weak

They Look for the Quiet

One of the first things I taught in that class was deeply unsettling for people to hear:

Attackers don’t choose the weakest person.
They choose the quietest opportunity.

Violence is not random.
It’s selective.

Predators…human ones included…are exquisitely sensitive to:

• hesitation

• politeness

• compliance

• silence

• uncertainty

They’re not looking for a fight.
They’re looking for permission.

Now replace the word attacker with authoritarian movement.

Same rule.

Democratic backsliding doesn’t begin by crushing resistance.
It begins by testing silence.

A small norm violation.
A rule bent “just this once.”
A lie that goes unpunished.
A threat reframed as a joke.
A cruelty explained away as strategy.

And everyone waits.

Surely someone will say something.
Surely the courts will handle it.
Surely the media will stop it.
Surely it’s not that serious.

That silence is the signal.

Just like in personal violence…the message is clear:

“No one is stopping me.”

Lesson #2: The Freeze Response Is Normal-and Deadly

In self-defense psychology, there’s a concept most people don’t learn until it’s too late: freeze.

Not fight.
Not flight.
Freeze.

It’s a hardwired biological response to overwhelming threat.

Your brain says:

• “I don’t understand what’s happening.”

• “This doesn’t fit my model of reality.”

• “If I stay still, maybe it will pass.”

Freeze is not weakness.
It’s normal.

But…it’s also the most dangerous response of all.

Now look at democracy.

What do you see?

People frozen by:

• disbelief

• norm shock

• “this can’t be real” thinking

• the hope that institutions will self-correct

They don’t move…because movement feels drastic.
They don’t speak…because speaking feels premature.
They don’t act…because action feels embarrassing if they’re wrong.

So they wait for certainty.

But certainty only comes…after it’s too late.

Freeze doesn’t mean people don’t care.
It means reality…has outrun their mental models.

That’s how both assaults…and authoritarian takeovers…succeed.

Lesson #3: Violence Runs on Scripts

So Does Authoritarianism

Here’s something else most people don’t realize until you point it out:

Most attackers are running a script.

Approach.
Test boundaries.
Apply pressure.
Exploit compliance.
Escalate.

They’re not improvising.
They’re following a pattern that works because people respond predictably.

Democratic erosion works the same way.

Step 1: Undermine trust
Step 2: Discredit watchdogs
Step 3: Normalize lies
Step 4: Frame resistance as extremism
Step 5: Capture enforcement mechanisms

At every stage, the system survives only if people behave the way the script expects:

• cautious

• polite

• procedural

• slow

• divided

In my Psychology of Violence class, I taught one overriding principle:

Break the script.

Noise breaks scripts.
Movement breaks scripts.
Unpredictability breaks scripts.

And in democracy?

Public pressure breaks scripts.
Mass attention breaks scripts.
Relentless accountability breaks scripts.

Authoritarians depend on predictability…the same way predators do.

Lesson #4: Silence Is the Attacker’s Best Friend

In personal violence, silence helps the attacker:

• avoid attention

• maintain control

• escalate safely

That’s why yelling works so often…not because it scares them…but because it changes the environment.

Noise introduces risk.

Now translate that to civic life.

Silence allows:

• corruption to metastasize

• lies to harden into truth

• abuse to be reframed as normal

• intimidation to go unanswered

Authoritarian movements don’t fear disagreement.
They fear visibility.

They fear:

• sustained attention

• organized resistance

• loud, repeated objection

This is why they attack the press.
Why they mock protest.
Why they delegitimize dissent.

Silence is not neutrality.
It’s collaboration…through inaction.

Lesson #5: Pain Is an Unreliable Teacher

Another brutal lesson from violence psychology:

Pain doesn’t stop attackers.

Under adrenaline, people:

• fight through injuries

• ignore damage

• escalate despite consequences

Waiting until “it hurts enough” is a losing strategy.

Democracies make the same mistake.

People wait until:

• rights are clearly gone

• laws are clearly broken

• consequences are clearly personal

But by then…the system is already captured.

Authoritarianism doesn’t need your consent.
It only needs your delay.

Lesson #6: The Ground Is Where You Lose

In The Psychology of Violence, I taught this bluntly:

“The ground is where people lose.”

Because on the ground:

• mobility disappears

• options collapse

• leverage shifts to the stronger party

In democratic terms, “the ground” is when:

• institutions are hollowed out

• courts are captured

• enforcement is politicized

• elections are compromised

Once you’re there…escape becomes exponentially harder.

The goal is not to fight from the ground.
The goal is to never end up there.

Lesson #7: Survival Requires a Permission Switch

This may be the most important principle of all.

In self-defense, many people hesitate because they haven’t flipped what I called the permission switch.

They’re still asking:

• “Am I overreacting?”

• “Am I allowed to do this?”

• “What will people think?”

Survivors flip the switch early.

They understand:

“If someone is trying to harm me, I am allowed to act.”

Democracy requires the same switch.

People hesitate to defend democratic norms because:

• they fear social friction

• they fear being labeled extreme

• they fear being wrong too soon

But freedom doesn’t wait for unanimous comfort.

Staying free requires deciding…early…that certain lines are non-negotiable.

Lesson #8: Movement Creates Options

Stillness Creates Control

Attackers love stillness.
Authoritarians love apathy.

Movement doesn’t mean chaos.
It means engagement.

It means:

• voting every time

• organizing locally

• pressuring representatives

• funding watchdogs

• speaking publicly

• refusing normalization

You don’t need everyone.
You need momentum.

In violence…movement buys time.
Time buys distance.
Distance…buys survival.

In democracy…engagement buys leverage.
Leverage buys accountability.
Accountability buys freedom.

Lesson #9: Embarrassment Is Temporary

Oppression Is Not

One of the hardest things to teach teens about survival was this:

“Embarrassment is temporary.
Silence can be permanent.”

The same is true civically.

People stay quiet because:

• they don’t want to look foolish

• they don’t want to “overreact”

• they don’t want conflict

History is unkind to that instinct.

No one looks back and says:
“I spoke up too early against authoritarianism.”

They say:
“I wish we’d acted sooner.”

Lesson #10: Escape Is Success

In violence psychology…we redefine success.

Success is not domination.
Success is not revenge.
Success is getting away alive.

Democracy needs the same reframing.

Success is not ideological purity.
Success is not winning every argument.
Success is keeping the system intact…long enough to correct course.

That requires:

• vigilance

• courage

• discomfort

• action before certainty

The Final Parallel

Violence and authoritarianism thrive in the same conditions:

• confusion

• silence

• hesitation

• politeness in the face of threat

And they fail under the same conditions:

• awareness

• noise

• movement

• early resistance

The psychology that keeps individuals alive…is the same psychology that keeps societies free.

The One Sentence That Matters

In my Psychology of Violence class, I always emphasized this:

“Create disruption…create space…and get away.”

For democracy, the translation is simple:

Disrupt normalization.
Create accountability.
And act before escape becomes impossible.

Freedom…like survival…is not guaranteed.

It is practiced.

And the science…has never been clearer.

BONUS: Principles Applied Specifically to Personal Safety

(This is a segment from the classes I taught.)

Why YELLING + MOVEMENT Often Works Better Than Strikes

Violence works on the body.
Yelling and movement work on the brain.

And the brain is where assaults succeed or fail.

1. Most attackers are running a script (this is critical)

The majority of real-world attackers are not looking for a fight.

They’re looking for:

• compliance

• silence

• confusion

• isolation

They rely on a predictable sequence:

approach → pressure → freeze → control

Yelling and sudden movement BREAK THE SCRIPT.

When the script breaks…attackers hesitate.
Hesitation = opportunity to escape.

2. Yelling hijacks the nervous system (yours AND theirs)

A loud, aggressive yell does several things instantly:

To the attacker:

• Triggers startle response

• Draws attention (which they do NOT want)

• Signals unpredictability

• Activates their threat-detection system

This can cause:

• flinching

• hesitation

• retreat

• loss of control

To the victim:

• Breaks the freeze response

• Forces breathing

• Re-engages motor function

• Switches from “shock” to action

This is why silence is dangerous…and noise is protective.

3. Movement destroys control faster than strength

Strength-based fighting fails when:

• the attacker is bigger

• adrenaline blocks pain

• fine motor skills collapse

Movement, on the other hand:

• creates distance

• forces the attacker to chase

• changes angles

• increases chaos

Attackers want stillness.
Movement…creates risk for them.

Even erratic movement is better than freezing.

4. Pain is unreliable under adrenaline

This is important to understand.

Under adrenaline:

• pain is delayed or muted

• strikes may not register

• “perfect technique” fails

This is why:

• people fight through injuries

• attackers don’t stop when “hit”

Yelling + movement do not rely on pain.
They rely on disruption.

5. Yelling recruits invisible allies

Even if no one is nearby, yelling:

• suggests witnesses

• increases perceived risk

• triggers fear of consequences

Attackers choose victims they believe:

• won’t be heard

• won’t resist

• won’t be noticed

Yelling signals:

“This is no longer safe for you.”

6. Why this is especially important for teens

Teens often:

• freeze out of politeness

• fear embarrassment

• worry about “overreacting”

As mentioned earlier, I always taught:

Embarrassment is temporary.
Silence can be permanent.

Yelling is not rude.
Yelling…is protective.

I Relentlessly Had Participants Do the Following Drill

• yelling “NO!”

• yelling “BACK UP!”

• yelling “STOP!”

While:

• stepping sideways

• moving diagonally

• creating space

Not calmly.
Not politely.
LOUD and SHARP.

This builds muscle memory.

The Key Survival Rule to Teach

Noise + Movement buy Time.
Time buys distance.
Distance buys survival.

Strikes are optional.
Escape…is not.

One Last Important Truth

Many survivors later say:

• “I wish I’d made noise sooner.”

• “I wish I’d moved faster.”

• “I froze because I didn’t want to make a scene.”

Teaching Noise + Movement before anything happens…changes outcomes.

Note to readers:
Regular paid subscriber–only articles will resume on January 2nd, 2026.

Until then, I’m keeping everything free as part of this end-of-year holiday run that began on December 22nd, 2025.

If you’re reading this as a free subscriber…I hope you’re enjoying the access…and I look forward to going deeper together in the new year.

#HoldFast

Back soon,

-Jack

Jack Hopkins

P.S. People always ask: “What’s the one thing that changes outcomes?”

It’s not strength.
It’s not certainty.
It’s not waiting to be sure.

It’s acting while you still can…
even when it feels uncomfortable…early…or impolite.

That’s how people survive.
That’s how democracies do too.

Further Reading & Foundations

The psychological principles discussed in this article are grounded in decades of research on human behavior under threat…stress…and power imbalance. Readers interested in going deeper may find the following works valuable:

• Gavin de Becker: The Gift of Fear
  On intuition, early warning signals, and how predators identify compliance.

• Bessel van der Kolk, MD: The Body Keeps the Score
  How the nervous system responds to threat, freeze, and trauma.

• Stephen Porges, PhD: The Polyvagal Theory
  The biology behind fight, flight, freeze, and shutdown responses.

• Bruce Perry, MD, PhD: What Happened to You?
  Why stress alters decision-making and behavior under pressure.

• Philip Zimbardo: The Lucifer Effect
  How silence, normalization, and authority enable harm.

• Stanley Milgram: Obedience to Authority
  Why people comply even when they know something is wrong.

• Marc MacYoung: In the Name of Self-Defense
  A reality-based look at violence psychology and survival over “winning.”

• Rory Miller: Meditations on Violence
  On disruption, escape, and the myth of clean outcomes.

• Hannah Arendt: The Origins of Totalitarianism
  A foundational examination of normalization and compliance in political systems.

• Vaclav Havel: The Power of the Powerless
  How refusal, visibility, and disruption undermine authoritarian control.

Closing Note

Across disciplines…self-defense…neuroscience…and political theory…the same insight emerges:

Silence…hesitation…and normalization enable harm.
Awareness…disruption…and early action…prevent it.