This paper argues that conspiracy theories are in operation wherever they resonate politically, and that they can be used as fascist tactics. It discusses the transformation of Italian citizens by Mussolini’s fascist movement, the famous conspiracies of the Gunpowder Plot, and the dangers of conspiracy theories. Yale professor Jason Stanley outlines the 10 pillars of fascism and warns about the dangers of conspiracy theories.
Conspiration theorists provide social support for extremists, and it is crucial to focus on everyone in extremists’ social circles to target better interventions. Politicians who support a poisonous rhetoric fueling neo-fascism sanctioned by most of the Republican Party support a neo-fascism of historical erasure and hate.
Despite hundreds of studies examining belief in conspiracy theories, it is still unclear who demographically is most likely to believe them. The goal of fascism is based on a friend-enemy distinction, so you are either.
The paper also discusses the nature of more recent variants of fascist conspiracy theories, including the “wellness-to-woo pipeline” and the “wellness-to-fascism pipeline”. The lost practice of face-to-face communication has made the world more extreme.
However, social anthropology has yet to traverse the connection between conspiracy theory and fascism, with fascism not seen even in Hitler’s Germany. The rise of fascism in France is also evident, with Marie Le Pen’s party being fascist in orientation.
📹 The 10 tactics of fascism | Jason Stanley | Big Think
Fascism is a cult of the leader, who promises national restoration in the face of supposed humiliation by immigrants, leftists, …
📹 Fascism and Conspiracy Theories | Attic Philosophy
What are conspiracy theories, and how do they support fascist and far-right politics? I discuss how fascist politics attempts to …
To me, in the United States, the biggest threat to your democracy is the way your news media report the simple news of the day. You can’t have 2 different stories, one is either true and the other false. You might say that there is a conservative take and a liberal take on a news item but the extreme difference in the report is immense. I live in Canada, we have a national network, French and English and a few other national news outlets, I can pick any of them on any given night so, CTV or CBC, for example, if there is a national story, I know the story will have the same facts and the same tone, it’s not going to favor the right or the left. In America, a story breaks and you watch CNN/MSNBC and then you watch Fox and you’d think that they are not even talking about the same thing…Walter Cronkite is rolling in his grave.
The fact that fascism keeps emerging in developed liberal democracies cannot be ignored. It is too often framed as an aberration, or some historical moment of exceptional madness. I think it is time to admit there is a contradiction at the heart of our political systems that causes them to move in this direction. At minimum, we have to start a conversation about the features of open cosmopolitan societies that push them into authoritarianism and intolerance. We have a responsibility to self-examine, and determine if how we strive for our best will always end in our worst.
There are a number of key factors missing in this list though. 1. Political violence. No genuine fascist movement has risen to power without at least some form of paramilitary organisation. 2. Rejection of democratic principles. You can tick all of the 10 aforementioned points and still be a “populist” movement if you abide by democratic principles. Take for example the swiss” People’s party”. 3. Militarism.
Another thing about Fascism (I think) is sometimes it was/is a reaction from actual problematic treatment or a very real traumatic event that precedes its rise. However these issues tend to be complex so it is easier to scapegoat minority groups to “sell” the ideology to average-to-low educated citizens What do I mean? Well Fascist Italy was a product of WWI really. Horthy’s Hungary was largely a product of failed Hungarian statehood after Austria-Hungary was carved up. Hitler would have had a much harder time gaining power had it not been for the Treaty of Versailles, France’s occupation of the Rhine, and Germany imposed crippling war reparations from WWI. Which all of those, rightly so- would piss off the respective local populations. Similarly you can make the case with Putin since Russia after the collapse of the USSR in 1991 was left to rot in civil wars and social catastrophe with no Marshall-Plan style aid… Which partially created the revanchist irredentism of Putin’s Russia today…
“The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.” F D Roosevelt 1936
Something that concerns me is that around the world, we’re seeing fascist tendencies as a response to authoritarian leftism. That is: we see a -2 and the response is a +2, instead of responding with a 0. We need to respond to extremism with a more neutral position, but we’re responding to it with extremism in the other direction. This is the rise of hyperpartisanship that we’re seeing around the world.
Regardless of which “ism” – fascism, Nazism (Germany’s fascism with a racial component), socialism, communism – is claimed as the basis for Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’ Soviet Union, Mao’s China, etc. They were all, in fact, totalitarianism, where none of the “promises” of national greatness were never realized.
Umberto Eco’s essay “Ur-Fascism” is also a good diagnostic tool. That it was written long before the current situation makes it much more chilling, because it’s clearly not a response to anything current. Mussolini’s “Doctrine of Fascism” (most likely actually written by Giovanni Gentile with Mussolini’s approval) is also a good thing to read to understand fascism by people who thought it was a good idea.
Friedrich Nietzsche once embraced in one of his treatises the notion of the Superman, the idea that people can rise above hardship and become a much greater version of their current selves. Fascism requires membership. Anyone with an ego worth talking about will not follow blindly into that membership. Fascism requires weakness. Fascism requires obedience. The Nietzsche model rejects this paradigm.
I have never been inclined to politics or political ideas but the current situation of my country and the world in general I started looking into why we are where we are and what are the solutions. This article just gave me my political standpoint. I am definitely gonna speculate every new aspect I find about this for now I stand with you.
This is really good, but the element that connects all of this is only named indirectly-it’s fear. To make people do horrible things you need to bypass their capassity of empathy, love, intellect, mind, clear thinking and choke them with fear. Fear of losing one’s or your dearest persons’ life can turn you into a real life monster, anything seems excusable. It is blocking your frontal cortex and activating your lizard brain for survival,no matter if the threat is real or imagined. We humans didn’t evolve as much as is necessary. Consciousness, compassion, patience with oneself and others is a must we missed to learn and teach our children on a worldwide scale. But it is still a MUST for the survival of us humans!
“A fox is always more dangerous in the forest than a wolf. You can see the wolf coming. You know what he’s up to. But the fox will fool you. He comes at you with his mouth shaped in such a way that even though you see his teeth, you think he’s smiling and take him for a friend” Malcolm X Question everything regardless of your politics
“The nature of psychological compulsion is such that those who act under constraint remain under the impression that they are acting on their own initiative. The victim of mind-manipulation does not know that he is a victim. To him the walls of his prison are invisible, and he believes himself to be free. That he is not free is apparent only to other people. His servitude is strictly objective.” ~Aldous Huxley~ Power of manipulation.. Pertinent to Facism 💯
Surprised but satisfied that the image of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s last president came up when he was talking about putting fear into conservatives. He led a really bizarre phenomenom fighting science, culture and minorities in general, which led to a bizarre anger – in practically half the country – that had no foundation at all. People in your inner circle, even in the family, which one would think once was reasonable, kind and understanding, suddenly developed an enourmous hatred towards some enemies that never were made clear who they were, or what they did particularly to these individuals. A scary, silent force that creeps into peoples minds very slowly and quietly, almost carrying out to a coup d’état (that is being investigated as of this moment).
This is a great teaching article, great for helping people start a foundation for complex ideas. Too many people arguing online want to dive in at the top of the pyramid with a few buzzwords that they don’t truly understand. If people would strive to build that base, that foundation of knowledge first, it would be a great start to sharing, debating, and understanding complex issues.
Seems we are seeing signs of fascism on a global scale. Where is it coming from? Who is it coming from? Would be nice to think it’s coming from one political party or group. But is that the case? Seems it’s coming from all sides. I think there are those that want the whole world as others have in the past but now they’ve gotten smarter. Spread it around so the people are confused. Keep them divided. Fighting each other. And that’s how we fall.
My fellow citizens, The rise of this blusterous man bewilders the educated among us; conjoins opposing politicians; agonizes our international allies; threatens minorities, spits on the disabled and touches the hearts of those who just don’t know any better. Let us stop propounding how mad this all is, but instead, do something.” Liselotte Hubner ~ Germany, 1929.
The problem is when what he is arguing against is actually true. For example, not all but some non-normative sexually are coming for your children. Also, it is one thing to tolerate those who are non-normative sexually but another to be cajoled into celebrating them. It is also important to differentiate between those who can not work and those who will not work. It is also possible for a nation to enter into self-loathing. In turn we elect politicians that allow other countries to take complete advantage of another country in an unfair way. I believe it is important not to let a fear of fascism prevent us from being reasonable. The standing joke “everything is racist” comes to mind. When used too frequently, it no longer has meaning. Oftentimes, the person making a claim is the one guilty of the crime or sin. Balance in understanding is key.
This focuses on fascism as a set of techniques. But the heart of fascism is the submersion of individual will to that of the leader, in the belief the leader personifies the nation. He admits Communists Stalin and Mao were bad, but won’t admit they were bad in most of the ways Hitler waS bad. The deification of the leader,the subjectification of truth, the nullification of the individual and his/ rights, are common to all three.
Fascism is the U.S.A. – insert the Powell manifesto – ”A Corporate Blueprint to Dominate Democracy’. Written in 1971 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, by Lewis Powell the memo coincidently had the effect to create the greatest income inequality ever seen in America while simultaneously increases productivity. Powell would go on to become Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Chamber of Commerce became the largest and most influential lobbyist in government today. “Since the 1970s, neoliberal political-economic ideology and (fascist) practices have dominated policy in the United States. Based upon the belief that deregulation, privatization, trade liberalization, and ending social welfare programs are key to maximizing market efficiency, this neoliberal fascism is rooted in the idea that human wellbeing is dependent upon capitalism as a means to create wealth and prosperity. However, the primary focus of classic (sic) neoliberalism is not reducing inequality or alleviating poverty but creating wealth.” At a time when we continue to witness the greatest transference of Americas working class wealth to the top richest percentile, corporations record their highest profits and highest productivity while cutting jobs, cutting hours, cutting wages, cutting benefits, cutting retirement, cutting insurance, etc. Now they cut and run with corporate inversions like “free loaders” who ignore any social contract with America. A fascist Oligarchy benefits in a Socialist state, we however, live under their Capitalism.
When we have seen the atrocities committed by both extremes of the political left and right in history, you realise that the balanced, moderate centre position is much better for stable and peaceful societal development. Maintaining consensus on what is considered centre and what is moderate however, has become quite difficult today as also occurred in times past. The squeezing of the centre and push towards the outer extremes is something we should strive to peacefully reconcile. How we can achieve this though, I do not know.
I’m not sure how someone can describe fascism without mentioning Leon Trotsky. Trotsky wrote the definitive description of fascism while it was still emerging in Germany. There is a great pamphlet called “Fascism: What It Is And How To Fight It” freely available on the internet. In that pamphlet you will find Trotsky’s description of how Hitler rose to power, and how Stalin failed to understand what fascism was. Required reading for anyone who wants a clear view of fascism.
Thank you for this excellent article! I have struggled to understand the foundations of different political terms since my high school government class; this gave me more clarity than my entire 12th grade year! I am grateful for your investment in making me a more knowledgeable consumer of news and a smarter person.
Marvelous and easy to understand. When I was in high school we had a unit defining all the current ideologies. The economic ones and the political ones. I now notice a commercial running that negatively addresses socialism w/o explaining what socialism is. The take away here is that socialism is evil, w/o ever defining what it is. Thank you for this.
I think this is absolutely brilliant — so simple to understand, easy to see reflected in contemporary circumstances. I only wish you were teaching when I was an undergrad, 40 years ago. I may have been actually invested in learning something. But I WILL pass it on to my 19 y.o. And if he actually watches it, he’ll see this. Hi, Levi!!!
Yes you are right, and I wanna know how you justified it so perfectly, I am from India… and call me crazy …. I too have always thought that Modi is fascist but he bought media people and never let the normal people know that he is so bad, but somewhere in my heart I knew he is bad … and sarcasticly when you showed his image I this article in this time … you proved me right .
Despotism can rise on the left or right, and the tools are the same. It’s about having control and suppressing resistance. It’s about displacing truth with lies. It’s about controlling not only what people say, but what they think. As far as I’m concerned, the difference between despotism on the left and despotism on the right is a matter of nomenclature, not substance. Both are manifestations of the evil of which we are capable.
There is no ethnicity worse than an other. But in Western societies we face minority groups with a homogenous ethnical background causing social disorder and we hesitate to intervene because we don’t want to be called racist. Examples: mass rape incidents in Cologne/Germany and Rotherham/England, demolition raids of inner cities in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, countless single cases of rape, assault and murder which is significantly higher by percentage than in native population, organized tribal crime, religious fanatism and mass murder. Ethnic tensions tear countries apart and looking the other way and denying that there are huge oroblems and muting critics as racist will not fight facism but nurture it.
I’ve seen a lot of comments saying about how we are repeating the mistakes of our forefathers. What we must understand is that politics is as about logic as it is about emotion (perhaps way more about the latter). And human emotions are the same now as they were throughout history. We will never cease to see fascism and other totalitarian ideologies making their way in the politics. No matter how much we study and try to educate the population
I think I’ve gotten to the point that everyone just uses the word ‘fascism’ to describe their enemies. I don’t even know what it means anymore—and that’s assuming that I ever did know in the first place. Maybe the best thing for me to do is to just try to be a decent person and forget what the political ideologues say because they always simply depict the people on the other side as being the ones at fault.
“Fascist” is perhaps the most abused term in the political lexicon, and this isn’t a new phenomenon. (Read Orwell’s 1944 essay on the topic.) It’s mostly used as a blunt slur against one’s political opponents—left or right—rather than a description of any sensible meaning. Genuine fascism is actually an amalgam of (the worst of) left and right thought. Its modern misuse as a cheap insult is therefore understandable, because if a particular faction defines fascism as existing only among its opponents, then that faction doesn’t have to acknowledge it in its own ranks. It’s the laziest of slurs
A decent job at explaining some of the tenets of fascism but misses the mark on a few points. Using Nazi Germany as the example, disabled people were not targeted due to “laziness” but due to being perceived as weak and a genetic mistake. They were seen as a drain on the system and therefore should be eradicated. This is the reason they were perceived as less than human. The Nazis framed this mindset as an act of mercy because no one should have to live with a genetic disability. Another key tenet that was not mentioned is the ultimate allegiance to the State. The State rules all. In Nazi Germany, a business could be run by an owner, as long as that business was ultimately subordinate to the whims of the State. This combined with a “pure” blood line were major focuses of fascist leaders. Loyalty to the “Land” and “Pure blood”. Many of these points aren’t “fascist” per say but “cult of personality/leader”. Stalin and Mao used many of the points being described and they were not fascist.
I see many similarities between fascism and revolutionary socialism. The main difference is the preferred collective: when communists talk about “the people” that they represent, they mean the proletariat, fascists claim to represent the nation, national-socialists claim to represent the “race”. And then they persecute those that are outside “the people” whether those are the rich, foreigners, or ethnic minorities, respectively. And they use many of the same tactics. The main difference is that their definitions of who is or isn’t “the people” are incompatible. Thus they consider each other the exact opposite of themselves. Sure, there are some differences, but there are many more similarities. Just like the cows in the field probably consider each other very different..
If you want to impress your friends with you command of language, “palingenetic ultranationalism” is a fun definition of Fascism to throw out. “Palingenetic” means relating to rebirth, and “ultranationalism” is simply an extreme form of nationalism; put them together and you get an ideology based on the idea of a supreme nation dragged down from its rightful place, which must be reborn. It doesn’t get all the details of fascism, but it’s a pretty good summary of the ideological core if you don’t want to get into a list of traits.
Not all 10 apply. From experience, Cult of the Leader 0:00, 1 Mythic Past (1:53) and 8 Sexual Anxiety (6:34) may not apply. Or are applied in a different way. See below. For Cult of the Leader, sometimes the focus is on a dead person, maybe the first ever leader. The current leader may be weak, so here Cult of the Leader doesn’t apply – but he will constantly make use of the first ever leader’s name and legacy. It also helps if the current leader is the son putting his father on a pedestal, for example. For Mystic Past, sometimes the focus is not that “we were great” but “he was great” or “that time under his rule was great” – again the first ever leader’s name and legacy would be used and repeated. For Sexual Anxiety, sometimes the focus is not on the LGBT crowd. The LGBT topic is only used as a sparring topic with the political opponents. The “others” will always be the other political opponents. If the other political opponents have their whip lifted and may appear not to have a unified party’s stand regarding support for the LGBT crowd, then the fascists will make use of this to discredit their political opponents. Fascism has become subtler in approach.
People need to always be cautious and on guard on everything you allow your mind to believe on this type of subject matter. Although the guy gives a great thorough explanation on fascism no one is without their biases and opinions and this guy is no exception. Some of his examples he chose to pass off as fact in his presentation were poor examples at best and could definitely be held up for debate, glean the obvious truths and view the rest with a grain of salt. Obviously, he’s a left-wing liberal Democrat.
The only thing I disagree with in this article is the implication that conservatives were “lured” into fascism, as if they are innocent in all of this when they are anything but. Fascism is in their nature, and they’ve been waiting generations for someone like Trump to come along, and they refuse to let go under any circumstances after how close Trump came to making all their wildest and most evil dreams come true.
In the U.S., did Republican presidential candidates win the popular vote in these election years? 1992: No 1996: No 2000: No 2004: Yes 2008: No 2012: No 2016: No 2020: No In summary, in the last 8 presidential elections, Republicans lost the popular vote 7 times. Does this help explain why the GOP is leaning toward fascism?
To those perusal this article, be very careful. Fascism is a COMPLEX and difficult ideology to define. I encourage you to do some research on your own and not take this one YouTube clip as gospel on all things fascist. Given today’s extremely divisive political climate it would be easy to hurl the label of fascism on the modern Republican party and Trumpism. However, keep in mind that although some of the traits for a fascist regime to take power are present in the modern nationalist movement coming from the right, there are DISTINCT and significant differences – Those differences being the core values of Liberty and Equality of Opportunity, which are both cherished on the American right. Fascism, for example, has a core tenant of a master race of people. The current nationalist sentiment within the US coming from the right has no such criteria. Fascism believes in a societal hierarchy based on immutable characteristics and social standing. The American right believes in equal opportunity and equal standing under the law. The key takeaway here is that a fascist movement MUST be authoritarian. Do not confuse Fascism with Nationalism. Again, the American right values individualism, liberty, and equality of opportunity. The extreme political division that the US and other western nations are facing right now can be explained by something else, something far more insidious… Currently, the American left is becoming quite radicalized. The US and other western nations are experiencing a cultural revolution akin to the Maoist revolution in China.
A really interesting film but I couldn’t help but feel it was manifesting some “motivated reasoning”, quite deliberately drawing us towards identifying Trumpism with fascism and sacrificing some rigour about what actually constitutes “fascism” in pursuit of that objective. Trumpism is undoubtedly proto fascist, and the US faces a moment when a fascist alternative is definitely being cultivated. We in the UK sailed close to this after Brexit, which in the hands of some politicians such as those in the ERG became a potential moment of “national renewal”. But what we mostly are suffering from at the moment is a “grass is always greener” reaction to liberal democracy. People seem to be scouting around for alternatives and are drawn to systems which are non current, just so they can imagine them being better than what we currently have.
Traditionally, a few wealthy and privileged ruling families in a corporate-dominated state was a critical defining element of fascism (ex: Zaibatsu), this separated it from communism in which economic equality is sought. I find it curious that the military industrial complex in a corporate state wasn’t included here. I would add that a secret police and their ruthless methods was/is a commonality in all forms of totalitarianism, which Marxist-socialism (communism) and fascism are the twin branches of. I don’t deny the gist of what has been said here. I’m simply uncomfortable with the omissions above. My point isn’t to condemn corporations but to simply indicate how close the United States has come to being a truly fascist nation.
I am afraid, but as someone who lost majority of relatives in such regimes, who visited countries following mathematical sett of such ideologies and was born in ruins of Dictatorship in Germany, I must personally disagrees with some points. I would ask you for example to compare People’s Republic of Democratic Korea and Great German Empire regimes or with Soviet Union. Fascism here is loosing meaning.
So it’s quite interesting that you see elements of all of these principles in modern American everyday life too. Companies today drive the Arbeit Macht Frei. (those who work for companies with restaurants and laundry services are there to keep you there 😉 ). In the case of the US it’s not just the left or the right, but some combination of both. It has me (for many years) questioning if the leaders of today truly believe in the message of the founding fathers, or if they have managed to water it down to give us just enough of a leash to keep them in power? All these isms/labels that society comes up with to divide are elements of the very things you spoke about in this article as it relates to “Americanism” today, it’s not a Trump issue, it’s not a Biden issue, it’s not a leftist or rightist issue but a societal issue. Those in power (all the elites, not just the elected) are actively working in a fascist (and narcissistic) model to maintain power..
The theoretical idea of fascism is strength in unity, as symbolized by the fasces, a bundle of sticks tied with a cord. The fasces symbol was used in the Roman Empire, along with an axe to represent enforcement, and it was adopted by the 13 colonies to stand for unity. “United we stand, divided we fall”. Fascism is an abuse of that symbology, twisting “unity” to mean forced total obedience. When Mussolini said that fascism should be called corporatism he wasn’t talking about business corporations. He meant “corporation” as a “body” such as a company, a church, a union, the military, the schools and university. . . the theory was that all should stand together and in practice it meant that all lost their freedom. And fascism holds that a country should be economically self-sufficient. It arose after the First World War and is ridiculously outdated even in theory. Today’s fascists, of course, don’t have any credible claim to idealism of any kind. Hitler and Mussolini showed what it turns into and left it as something that appeals only to sadists and wanna-be dictators.
Thank you a lot. To me the 10 criteria do well characterize Totalitarianism, but don’t really make a difference between communism (as it existed in China and the Sovjet Union) and Fascism; the first one completely rejects free-market related economic ties in the society while the second one preserves them to some degree. The concepts of race and of proletariat are both useless ideology, capitalists work hard too and race also only hints at a cultural background but doesn’t give other useful information.
Genuine question: Can you extend fascism to a cult of an ideology instead of a leader? World Economic Forum comes to mind and sure there are figure heads but it seems a larger cult propping up a globalist idea instead of a single figure necessarily. Since we live in clown world now could fascism “evolve” in that way or is that something else entirely.
You made a very good article of how fascism works by telling us what it hates. But you forget to focus of what it promotes and what values it supports. Things as performance, success, culture, admiration of individuals, of those in power. It pushes advancement, betterment of one’s self. Being better than the other is the high motivational factor of those embracing fascist ideologies, whatever they or that society percieves as better. It’s based on comparing individuals by their worth, ultimately resulting of turning them into slaves of trying to be worthy.
Strangely, I have more respect for hard working small farmers than some power hungry technocratic bureaucrat. A farmer can feed me. A bureaucrat can only steal that which they do not produce. A more realistic view of the rise of a fascist state? A corrupt bureaucracy that hungers for more power hollows out trust in a government by elevating its needs and concerns over those of the public. The public eventually realizes something is wrong and seeks a solution. That is where a clever psychotic politician can mobilize a sector of the public promising redress. The Other can take many forms but the bureaucracy never seems to be the problem. I was amused by the passing mention of the two recent examples, Hitler and Stalin. Why not use them as templates? Because of their basic belief in State Socialism. The power of the State is supreme over the ruled. The entrenched bureaucrat over the public. Solution? Fire every tenth bureaucrat yearly by lottery. Turnover will eventually neuter the entrenched power brokers.
it was not very clear the difference between fascism and an authoritarian dictatorship, all “tactics” of fascism described are correct, but somehow the main one was forgot? the big difference between fascism and a authoritarian dictatorship, even tho many times they are conflated in the mainstream, is in fascism there is a large FACTION of society ( Italian fascio -> fascism) that believes in a NEW MAN, a better man, a superior man, and that faction of society believes they represent that man, and must enforce their ideology to the other part of society because the others are wrong. A simple dictatorship does not need part of population to believe in a ideology of a new man, just power, police, army, fear and the economic groups backing, even tho all the other tactics in the article are applied also. in the case of the Nazi party, their ideology was of the superior race, the Aryan master race that must take control of all other races, in the case of Mussolini was the rebirth of the roman empire, and ancient roman glory and power etc in any case what defines fascism is ideology, all the rest is accessory.
It’s not fascism we need to worry about, it’s authoritarianism which can come under any belief system….in my opinion this is incomplete. today’s cultural, political and moral affiliations are not all aligned in the same places as they once were; meaning that the application of the formula as described in this article would not necessarily work or maybe the formula still works but the substances are arranged in a different formation… nevertheless the one thing that does seem to remain constant is the intellectual class and where they’re attention is fixated…those who supported fascism in Germany the most were the intellectuals and the progressives…during the French revolution you have a very similar experience with the educated classes using their intellect to turn on their pay masters. But again this period is different in terms of affiliations so the formula/ingredients are also different….but what remains is an active push on behalf of those who hold the keys to academia…and I’m sorry to say but conservatism by any stretch is not the key ingredient in most universities, intellectual or even corporate circles…the point is, traditional fascism as a threat is about as realistic as people noticing that neil young isn’t on their Spotify playlist anymore. What do the sophisticated and the educated promote in our learning centers ? Not anything resembling traditional fascism so I have no idea why I should worry about some Austrian guy with a mustache when I’ve just had my own left wing government deprive me of security, and equality of rights under the law.
So apparently when you can’t find a parallel between fascism’s political theory you start to focus on fascism’s tactics so you can finally find parallels between them and the RW populists. Also i like how you explicitly make references to Hitler (and his brand of weird, unorthodox fascism) and Mussolini only, ignoring others like the Falange, the Legionarists, Mosley, Quisling etc., while having non-fascists (who are actually liberals and defend capitalism which fascism opposes), like Pinochet or Orban. As a final note, here are a few extra facts: the Italian Futurists who hated tradition in favor of progressive stuff like the ABOLITION OF MARRIAGE, as well as the Syndicalists who were Marxists that wanted the dictatorship of the proletariat as well as workers’ self-management, played a huge role in Mussolini’s government. Now, yes, tying anti-traditionalism and Marxism to fascism is very biased and cherry-picking (as most fascists were still traditionalists and anticommies) but i just wanted to share these stuff to people (aka normies/centrists) that dont know.
This guy is a supposed philosopher who is only capable of speaking in buzzwords. “Truth is the heart of democracy! The truth is Equality! Equality is freedom!” That’s not philosophy that’s called being a propagandist. And apparently the regime finds him a good propagandist so he gets high status and prestige as a “philosopher”. This entire article is just projection. You say so called fascists (who are your “other” and your enemy in the friend enemy distinction) dislike urban areas and urbanites prefer the country. There is no evidence for any historical fascism being opponents of urbanism lol. This is obvious projection because Jason hates the country sides because he’s jewish and is paranoid that country folk are more suspicious of jews and compromise the jewish way of life (jews of course thrive more in urban areas).
Wow, his description of fascism sounds a lot like the rhetoric and propaganda coming from the current Administration, Democrats, mainstream left-wing media, Hollywood, teachers from kindergarten all the way up to University, BLM, LGBT, antifa, multinational companies, newspapers, magazines ( both print and online) big Pharma, professional sports and social media outlets. But I guess if the majority is doing it, it’s no longer fascist but fashionable.
Lafayette had a conversation that was wack, that he never told Me about. But he didn’t lose himself during the course of it. The Word exchange took place, with Zack, Sherry and Freddie Flare, after Byron Dayde was put in Jail. Sherry said to him, “So don’t call Anthony your cousin, cause Gloria is not related to us and don’t be calling her Aunt Gloria, like Greg.” Lafayette noticing that Zack, kept fidgeting with a police Glock, that seemed to wide for him, while Sherry was feeling on her self, while him and Freddie watched. “Our family took him, they took Greg from her, she’s his real mother and then our family took her, from her father.” Yup, said Zack, looking like Greg. “And then, really our family had her father killed.” So Lafayette said, then why does Zack look so much like Greg? “Same Father.” Blurted Zack, finally going lemon squeeze on the dab he must have had, and Sherry dunked herself in what little bit of peripheral vision, Lafayette had. That’s when it dawned on him, that she must be spoiled and doesn’t leave her toys at home. “So if he gets kicked out of school for beating down that white boy, the Cane book guide said that, you might be able to rule over him.” Lafayette’s eyebrows raised, like what? “Rule over him?” Freddie Flare, from the MC Breakers laughed a little, while Lafayette continued, “we on welfare. Besides why would I wanna rule over him?, we crew. Why did our family even take him, if they were gonna leave him on welfare?”. “Lafayette I don’t know. But Gloria’s not your Aunt and Greg is just your cousin,” and then she said, “your real brother will be famous.
Don’t forget this can apply to other extremist movements, too, even if not exactly. Communist and identitarian ideologies, like Leninism and even so-called “wokeism”, share similarities with fascist ones, most prominently an us-them dynamic. For instance, there can be an urban-rural divide, except urbanism could be favored over the countryside. There can be a belief that certain groups are inherently inferior, disloyal, lazy or violent, except applied to majorities instead of minorities, or even by minorities against other minorities, or even simply “anyone who isn’t us.” But in the end, they’re more alike than different because they come from the same place: fear.
there are entities that are against nations and culture not just fallacy. There are nations and cultures that if were to flourish would benefit the entire world, not just themselves and not just dominate/destroy anyone and everything, but to do so, they would have to look after and protect their culture first before it can fully spill over to the rest of the world.. the very concept of fascism would then label the defender negatively although the nation would be a positive force on earth and under attack!
I am from India and i can observe that facism is in rise and crony capitalism is inclined very much in my country by central government in many cases they try to glorify our present condition and always speaks about glorious mythologyical past which was not reality even our media is supporting this thing 😢 How damn fucking you can be so right about point mentioned above
Left or right, communist or fascist, totalitarianism (a central controlling regime that destroys and eliminates its opposition) is the greatest threat. To oppose it spirited debate is invaluable, so is true diversity, not based on characteristics or traits but on a difference of experience and ideas. The founders of the United States understood this and tried to limit centralized power as much as possible and foster strong local and state governments.
The way the world responded to Covid, especially in Australia and Canada, and particularly in the way that those who broke rules, or were unvaccinated, was chilling. Terrifying. The hatred and discrimination towards the unvaccinated was terrifying. Much of it was from liberals and the Left. I’m English, vaccinated and not a Trump fan, but it was horrible to see how people succumbed.