Having experienced some of these things in my own life, I can honestly say that I do believe that being an anti-authoritarian is often mistaken as a mental prob

Having experienced some of these things in my own life, I can honestly say that I do believe that being an anti-authoritarian is often mistaken as a mental problem. I believe that authority is the wielding of power by an institution or individual, and power is only useful if you voluntarily cede control (this doesn't apply always, but does in 99% of cases). Refusal to cede control returns that power back to you. People who /believe/ that they have power over you, when proven that they don't, by your inability or denial of compliance get irrationally angry and tend to think that it makes you a terrible person. I consider this a selfish response, if perhaps a natural one. To truly live in a free society we must be okay with having power over us when the situation requires (such as at work), while also being okay with rejecting power when our morals and ethics demand it of us. The issue seems to be that some people have the ability to do the latter, and other do not, always appealing to authority to base their arguments or guide their path. The fact that many of these people who are obsessed with authority end up in mental health professions is not really surprising, since the mental health professions largely base the current accepted practices on cults of personality rather than on scientific inquiry. The fact that I chose a profession where it's basically impossible to BS to anyone who knows anything because the rules of mathematics drive things far more than how eloquently you speak is also not surprising. Anti-authoritarians love facts, facts are a good basis for deciding when to cede power and when to take it back and provide a guiding principle in your life that doesn't rely on another person being an authority over you, even if they are outside your control. Anyway, that's kind of my reaction to reading the article. Definitely interesting to reflect back on some of my life experiences given this context and consider how things could have turned out differently, both for the worse or for the better.