What is Fascism?

Discussion in 'Fascism' started by Scarecrow13, Dec 19, 2022.

  1. Scarecrow13

    Scarecrow13 Members

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    It is a word thrown around so much lately it has lost all meaning.
    The dictionary definition is "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. "
    We can start with a bit of History. Fascism was originated by Giovanni Gentile, a student of Hegel, much like Marx. So in a similar vein to Marxism, it is totalitarian control. Now there are things we could point to, for instance an economy that is controlled by cronyism, backed by government favoritism, could be the economic aspect of Fascism. So in that way, we do have some fascist aspects to the American economy. The purpose of the Fascist economy was supposed to be somewhere between capitalism and socialism, with aspects of both. So economically,l it is radically centrist, if we are going by a strictly left right scale of economics. Fascism tends to utilize political violence to accomplish its ends (although not all political violence is fascist)
    What Fascism is not, it is not tied to any specific religion, and actually often views religion as a threat to its goals (see Hitler's attitudes toward religion when he wasn't pandering to the German people). Gale - Product Login
    Now Mussolini himself was religious and is even largely responsible for the Vatican in its current form.
    Fascism can be but is not necessarily inherently racist Hitler was racist, Mussolini was indifferent.
    This is really just a basic overview, but again, the term is wildly misused as rhetoric.
     
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  2. Piobaire

    Piobaire Village Idiot

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    Considering that one of the two political parties in this country didn't even advance a platform in the last two elections, essentially endorsing whatever their Dear Leader wanted, refer to their failed coup d'etat attempt of January 6th 2021 as "legitimate political discourse"; endorse single-party minority rule characterized by hyper-nationalism, militarism, authoritarianism, overt hostility to democracy, a free press, and an independent judiciary, the overt scapegoating of minorities, blatant corporatism & corruption, White supremacy, misogyny, xenophobia, and religious bigotry, and explicit promotion of political violence, with 25% of the population; more than 60 million Americans, now stating that violence is justified “to preserve an American way of life based on western European (White) traditions” and 47% of the electorate voting for a charismatic kleptocratic autocrat who has voiced admiration of Nazis and has cultivated a personality cult which would make Kim Jong Il blush, I find your assertion truly astounding.

    If anything, the word 'Fascism' isn't used nearly enough.
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2022
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  3. granite45

    granite45 Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    Don’t be fooled. The flag draped, racist, misogyny laden, violence based thugs calling themselves “revolutionaries” have nothing in common with the American revolution or the hippies of the 60s. They don’t want freedom or democracy…..they want domination, control and the triumph of hate. The brown shirts in Germany and oligarchs in Russia portrayed themselves as a populist based movement for the average person but they were just ordinary neofascists.

    So too are the proud boys, oath keepers, white supremists, and the rest of the extreme right and religious zealots. We need to support love, tolerance, and inclusiveness and send the purveyors of hate to the scrap heap of history…by the triumph of ideals not violence.
     
  4. jagerhans

    jagerhans Far out, man. Lifetime Supporter

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    Many have tried to define fascism. Human history is full of oppressive regimes but not all tyrannies are fascism.
    Fascism was strictly a reactionary movement: the organized answer of ruling classes against the mounting threat of Communists, Socialists, Anarchists that right after WWI were gaining momentum and causing the old order to dwindle. The russian revolution had scared shitless the wealthy classes now fearing not just to lose wealth but life too. Meet Benito Mussolini, a renegade socialist leader who literally sold himself first to the British intelligence and then to the italian tycoons, ultimately creating a front of capital and church against the working classes on the brink of a violent revolution.
    Fascism is the law of the jungle elevated to a creed; violence is glorified, nationalism is a staple, but the most important feature is the cult of the State. Fascism was the first "totalitarian" ideology theorizing that "nothing must exist outside of the state", which in layman's terms means that you cannot even found a chess club without authorisation, and the chess club MUST be a FASCIST chess club directly controlled by members of the party. A democratic organization is forbidden: everything and everyone in the fascist state MUST BE FASCIST, period. I think that right wing americans aren't really fascists in the historical meaning of the word. They may borrow some cosmetic features from the nazis but they are just a bunch of racists and nationalist thugs, and the fascist were this, but also much more than this. The fascistoid are legion, true fascists are less common birds.
    Ito make an example in Putin's russia they don't impose you to put on a shirt of some colour every sunday and parade in the streets right after the mass like we had it in Italy during proper historical fascism: putin is a Tzar, not the leader of an ideological, totalitarian regime: he is just a tyrant.
     
  5. Piobaire

    Piobaire Village Idiot

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    Kevin McCarthy's lesson: There's a real downside to fascist trolling"

    Ultimately, it's not about Kevin McCarthy at all. It's about the Republican Party's self-conception in its exciting new fascist iteration (which was forged under Donald Trump but doesn't really have much to do with him either). Fascism needs to be understood less as an ideological movement and more as a movement devoted to the worship of power for its own sake, and also a dramatic aesthetic of constant warfare and performative purification of an ever-narrower conception of the body politic.
    Those are big words, and I apologize, but here's a simpler way to put it: Fascists are a bunch of trolls who are never satisfied. They must always prove their power by ganging up on someone who's been cast as an "outsider." As the Atlantic's Adam Serwer famously observed, "The cruelty is the point." Most of the time, the targets are racial and sexual minorities, liberals or immigrants. But sometimes, that restless need to constantly bully someone manifests in purification rituals, where a once-trusted or even beloved insider is deemed an outsider who must be ritually purged. It's just Kevin McCarthy's turn in the proverbial barrel, though he almost certainly hasn't helped his cause by constantly debasing himself before the hardliners. He's marked himself as a weenie, and that just makes his tormentors enjoy watching him suffer even more.

    Watching Republicans tear each other apart is both entertaining and useful. Fascists are always itching for a fight, and given the chance they'll turn on each other like a bunch of weasels in a sack.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2023
  6. Piobaire

    Piobaire Village Idiot

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  7. Piobaire

    Piobaire Village Idiot

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  8. tjr1964

    tjr1964 Members

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    The MAGA / Q Anon / GOP are losing their War Against The Truth .
    Casualties :
    Alex Jones
    Tucker Carlson
    Fox News

    Mike Lindell is in the middle of a Litigation Mine field .... the truth will blow him up, like a " Bouncing Betty " landmine.

    I hope Karma gets Alex Jones and Mike Lindell .
    I hope that Alex Jones and Mike Lindell cuttle in a cardboard box on a cold night under an overpass, in Round Rock , Texas .... and the Radical Right Wing Jesus runs them over as they snuggle in their cardboard box together . !!!!
     
  9. Piobaire

    Piobaire Village Idiot

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    Our Very Own Home-Grown Fascists

    "Why should it matter whether Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and the Republican Party he’s largely taken over represent a kind of fascism? The answer: because the logic of fascism leads so inexorably to the politics of extermination. Describing his MAGA movement as fascism makes it easier to recognize the existential threat it truly represents — not only to a democratic society but to specific groups of human beings within it."
     
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  10. Piobaire

    Piobaire Village Idiot

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  11. Scarecrow13

    Scarecrow13 Members

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    Could you enlighten me about Mike Lindel? As far as I can tell, he expressed an opinion, free speech, and historically, Fascists were the ones to oppose free speech.
     
  12. Piobaire

    Piobaire Village Idiot

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  13. Tishomingo

    Tishomingo Members

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    Last edited: May 20, 2024
  14. Tishomingo

    Tishomingo Members

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    Last edited: May 20, 2024
  15. Piobaire

    Piobaire Village Idiot

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  16. tjr1964

    tjr1964 Members

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    The Constitution protects Free Speech, but not Defamation ....look it up !!!!

    tsr-Fox-Lies-ONLINE-COLOR.jpg FB_IMG_1706695852146.jpg
     
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  17. Scarecrow13

    Scarecrow13 Members

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  18. Scarecrow13

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    None of that seems to justify seizing his phone.
    As for Dominion, looks like they have in fact discovered vulnerabilities
    Expert Hacks Georgia Voting Machine in Court, Revealing Potential Election Vulnerabilities (msn.com)
    And for years, long before Trump claimed it and made it all about him, people who designed voting machines have admitted they can be manipulated.
    FLASHBACK: Computer Programmer Testifies that He Rigged Voting Machines - The Washington Standard
     
  19. Tishomingo

    Tishomingo Members

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    Last edited: May 20, 2024
    skip and tjr1964 like this.
  20. Scarecrow13

    Scarecrow13 Members

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    And as I responded above, at least in regard to Dominion, he would seem to g=have been vindicated.
    Expert Hacks Georgia Voting Machine in Court, Revealing Potential Election Vulnerabilities (msn.com)
     

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