People tend to use this word as a synonym to “everything bad”, but it’s not its actual meaning. Fascism is a one of totalitarian ideologies, that has racism in its core. We’ll have a separate post for racism, but its idea revolves around the natural superiority of one race over all “others,” leading to the belief that all “others” should either be eliminated or enslaved.
Natural superiority means it comes from nature, so once being born you can do abolutely nothing to change it.
Paradoxically, fascism did not originate from uneducated savages, but rather from respectable and intelligent professors.
A key element of Fascism is it’s populistic values. The collective under it is superior to the individual. Thus any individual sacrifice is justifiable if it meets the ends of the populous.
This is not unique to fascism. Any totalitarian regime value collective more than the individual.
Yeah, it’s a common element in deplorable ideologies. That doesn’t mean populism isn’t necessary for fascism.
Is that pic from MAUS?
Definitely
Probably
People tend to use this word as a synonym to “everything bad”
Do they really, or is this just a far-right stategy to shame people out of calling a spade a spade?
To have a strategy you need strategic thinking. I’m not sure this is the case in your example.
Democracy is talking itself to death. The people do not know what they want; they do not know what is the best for them. There is too much foolishness, too much lost motion. I have stopped the talk and the nonsense. I am a man of action. Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that some day.
-mussolini
I was actually curious about the actual definition the other day and did a little dive, and was really surprised by the amount of actual thought that went into some of the thinking. I can’t find the quote but it’s about starting ww2 in the name of progress “for God, and for nothing”. I was taken aback by the amount of self awareness in the quote.
Mussolini was into Nietzsche iirc. They were definitely intellectual types…mussolini was a Marxist, I believe, at some point before fascism too. I’m not a historian, but it’s worth the read, and quite frightening how one can go from one to the other fairly quickly given the right circumstances.
Simplisticly, they believe in extreme tribalism, they think it’s a natural state of man, to group up and to fight. Which tbh, is fair enough, but once you start letting that be your reality and not seeking out a better path forward is where it gets crazy, besides all the obvious stuff like imposing your will unquestioning, and all that shit about the state.
You’re spot on. Fascism and communism are at their core extremely similar ideologies. It all comes down to how you define your “tribe”. In fascism this is defined by race, ethnicity, and religion, whereas for communism this is defined by class. Both ideologies favor populism, in that the good of the “tribe” is more important than the good of the individual, and if you’re not in the “tribe” then you can get fucked. And both ideologies view the tribe as infallible in so far as that anything wrong in society must be the result of outside influence. I’d recommend looking into the work of Yuval Noah Harari, he’s written a lot of very insightful books on these topics.
fascism and communism are not similar ideologies.
i don’t have time or the energy for this discussion. Just keep this in your mind as a grain, a little crack in your certitude.
Whoa! Thank you so much for the recc. I have just lately dived into Marxism, and the adjacent history surrounding and leading to our modern time, and while lurking certain communities trying to learn, I had that same thought as your comment. So I’m really glad you have given me a personal recommendation that fits in with what I’m currently cramming my head with. Making up for lost time I guess. Appreciate it alot.
How did you come up with the idea that fascism has racism at its core?
I got this idea from Wikipedia:
Racism was a key feature of German fascism, for which the Holocaust was a high priority. According to The Historiography of Genocide, “In dealing with the Holocaust, it is the consensus of historians that Nazi Germany targeted Jews as a race, not as a religious group.”[56] Umberto Eco,[39] Kevin Passmore,[57] John Weiss,[58][page needed] Ian Adams,[59][page needed] and Moyra Grant[60] stress racism as a characteristic component of German fascism. Historian Robert Soucy stated that “Hitler envisioned the ideal German society as a Volksgemeinschaft, a racially unified and hierarchically organized body in which the interests of individuals would be strictly subordinate to those of the nation, or Volk.”[61] Kershaw noted that common factors of fascism included “the ‘cleansing’ of all those deemed not to belong – foreigners, ethnic minorities, ‘undesirables’” and belief in its own nation’s superiority, even if it was not biological racism like in Nazism.[45]
they seem to emphasize many times that it’s particular to Nazism. Nation is at the core of fascism, still to day, and not racism.
National state! See how all those fascists hate EU
this is simple and clear:
“the ‘cleansing’ of all those deemed not to belong – foreigners, ethnic minorities, ‘undesirables’” and belief in its own nation’s superiority
that last notion too is being transformed, i believe. Fascists from different nations seem to get along well as equals against their common designated enemies
or maybe fascism too became just another product. They are serving the needs of those who prefer to hate and make their money from this performance 🤷
