What is Fascism? And, what is fascism? Are they the same thing? Even the basics about this once seemingly simple to define political philosophy now appear to be flipped upside down?
Fascism is on the extreme left of the political spectrum. True or False.
Fascism is on the extreme right of the political spectrum. True or False.
Turns out, it may just depend on who you ask.
I'm asking you. Feel free to click on your answer in the poll.
Until then, however, a guided tour through the week's emails, websites, and podcasts where your intrepid diarist discovers fascism is more complicated than he once thought.
Or, is it?
What I Once Thought
I once thought Fascism was a political philosophy, or style of government, that lived on the extreme conservative right-side of the political spectrum. This is the same spectrum where I would have put Anarchy on the left.
I don't know if this is because someone taught this to me (though I suspect this is the source), or I read about it on my own, or simply picked it up from friends with mohawks in high school in the 1980s who just called everyone they didn't like "Fascist Pigs."
Even today's ultra-modern Wikipedia page for "political spectrum" places Fascism as the sole proprietor of the extreme right wing conservative corner of that page's namesake. It also supports my fading memory that Socialism and Communism are left-wing philosophies, making them natural pole-opposites to Fascism on the political spectrum scale.
Ha! So much for calling our President a Socialist-Fascist-Communist-So-And-So-Whatever I also once thought. These things exist in opposition to each other, so how could one person occupy all that political space at once?
Turns out that spectrum is backwards, at least for some, but calling people "Fascist" when they are not liked has not gone out of style when it comes to presidents, or friends from the 1980's.
A Funny Email
I get lots of emails from lots of different people. At my peak, I had over 6,000 emails in my crazy-box. But I digress, Fascist email inbox!
One recently included a link to some random looking video on an even more random looking website called "Wimp." Wimp (whoever runs this thing couldn't have thought of a better name?) claims to provide short web videos for seniors and children. They also provided one to my Tea Party Father-In-Law through an email forwarded to him from some other Tea Party active person. He graciously then forwarded it to me, letting me know that he "found it amazing."
Well, so did I.
The American Form of Government
Turns out, according to this video on Wimp, I, and all my 80's pre-hipster-parachute-pants-wearing high school friends had the whole entire political spectrum thing completely wrong.
The narrator thankfully sets us straight, with a wonderful graphic symbol with a 100% sign on the left, and a 0% on the right, as he reads:
Many have been led to believe that the political spectrum places groups such as Communists on the far left, Fascists or dictators on the far right, and political centrists or moderates in the middle. However a more accurate political spectrum would show government having no power on the far right to government having absolute power on the far left. At the extreme right, there is no government. The extreme left features total government under such labels as Communism, Socialism, Nazism, Fascism, etc…
There they are! All together at last. Commies, Socialists, Nazis, Fascists, all together on the left. Who's on the right in this new spectrum of political organization by "amount" of government? The Anarchists stand all alone in their world with no government at all.
And, we are reminded, the United States stands proudly in the center of this seesaw:
Those that claim that Fascists and Nazis are rightwing never define their terms, this spreads confusion. In the middle of the spectrum can be found government limited to its proper role of protecting the rights of the people. That’s where the Constitution of the United States is.
Whew! That is pretty amazing! I mean, the part about Fascists and Nazis only being on the right side of the spectrum because confused people fail to define those terms. That's the part I found amazing at least.
Reality and the Sacred
And then I heard this:
The Taoists aspire to always have one foot in order and one foot in chaos, Because if you’re only in order, nothing that’s interesting ever happens to you. Everything is a repeat of all the things you already know. That’s the state that Fascists desire. Because Fascists desire things to be exactly the way they are forever.
The very next day, I was packing and washing dishes, and then packing the washed dishes (we're moving to a new apt.). I was catching up on some podcast listening while doing this, when on theBig Ideas podcast from Canada came the voice of Jordan Peterson, Psychology Professor at Toronto, saying the words "Fascists" and "Taoists" together in the same paragraph. I was instantly curious. So, I paid more attention, and heard this:
Young people are often very... cynical because often the people who are teaching them the traditions don’t seem to believe in them themselves. It’s very easy for young people to look at the traditions that were and to notice the breaks. But throughout human history the truth is that tradition has always been anachronistic and out of date.
And that's when I began to think something interesting was happening. In less than 24 hours, both of these random references to Fascism found their way to my ears. In the first one, a seemingly strange and maybe even ridiculously simplistic redefinition of the political spectrum, a redefinition attractive to Tea Party people. In the other, a nuanced calling out of the inconsistencies and hypocrisies of those preaching that the young accept tradition while flouting it themselves at every turn.
"America First!" and "Let's Take Our Country Back!" Followed by "Let's Secede when the other party wins the election!" Conservative traditional family values stalwarts who vote against equal rights for gays and lesbians being caught in the act with other men, or apparently just before or after the act, as the case may be. Running up historic deficits, then as soon as the other party gets elected, screaming and yelling about how the deficit is too big so the new administration shouldn't be allowed to do anything. And on, and on, and on...There are so many to list, it makes my head hurt. So, instead of taking an aspirin, I'll just stop listing them.
I especially liked the part about tradition always being out of date. By the time it has become tradition, the world has moved on or passed it by.
The alternative? Progress.
What I Think Now
The word "Fascism" itself was coined by Mussolini. Things didn't work out too well for him.
Fascists since Mussolini have been definable (without confusion, random narrator-dude), by their desire to return their nation to a previous state of perceived glory (whether actual or mythical hardly matters). This is done through a show of force both domestically with suppression of minorities and dissidents, and externally, through warfare as a form of demonstrating and expanding power. Minorities are suppressed because one race or religion is deemed to be superior, and the others are perceived as holding it back in some way, and must be prevented from doing so. A premium is placed on order and efficiency, and that's what led to the legend that at least the trains ran on time before Mussolini met his, to him at least, rather untimely end.
When I look out the window at the political winds blowing in the United States today, I see only one group loudly shouting about taking the country back to a perceived glory day. I see only one party's supporters showing up at rallies and parades with guns openly strapped to their hips and backs, in a symbolic demonstration of the threat of violence. I only see one party stirring up the political pot by demonizing minorities, whether they have sought and gained permission to construct a community center or mosque, or have ascended to the highest elected office in the land.
Now, I'm not claiming that the Tea Party people are Fascists, and neither is my Gmail inbox. But, both sure do frustrate me sometimes.
TWLTW
- “A pro takes the job knowing it’s not a great role, just a paying job. But every word has music in it. My satisfaction is trying to reach that music.” -William Shatner in the NYT Magazine on his career (his new sitcom, "$%&# My Dad Says" debuts this fall).
- For a peek at how many lottery winners go bankrupt within 5 years of winning the big prize, go to this link.
- Woody Guthrie wrote "This Machine Kills Fascists" on his guitars and banjos.
- Congress.org, a Capital Hill watchdog group, put together a consensus statement of what the candidates who are backed by the Tea Party are talking about most in the campaign season leading up to Nov. midterm elections. Their list of observations boils down to:
- Repealing the recently enacted Health Care Law
- Cutting Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and other "entitlement" programs
- Holding elected officials accountable, themselves and other, with protests and feet on the ground
- A focus on local and state candidates, building a long-term presence through elections at every level
- Selecting a presidential candidate for 2012, as one Tea Party planner said, " lot of groups are realizing that we don’t have to like each other and we don't have to get along, but we do have common goals and we need to find a strategy or we'll be screwed."
- Apple made some announcement about something last week. The new iPod Touches, though, still only have 2MB still cameras, compared to the iPhone's 8MB equipment. Even though both shoot HD video?
- A South Korean woman finally passed her driver's written exam after taking it 960 times. Each trip to the testing location took 1 hour each way by bus, and the buses only come by every 2 hours. Her last name translates to "vehicle" in English.
- There is a coalition out there advocating for the abandonment of the dollar bill to be replaced by the dollar...coin. The claim it would save $500 million a year from the federal budget.
- And, yesterday's announcements of tax cuts for small businesses and a $50 billion infrastructure construction plan. That's the Obama I like to hear. Of course, my Wimpy friend might call that Fascist, though. But, I like out front, leading the team, moving the ball down the field. I hope he presses for some votes before Nov. 2nd.
- And, NYS just became the first in the Union to provide working rights to nannies and housekeepers. One day a week off, and overtime pay after 40 hours in a week are now guaranteed by law to domestic employees.
What Did You Learn This Week?