Been reading Daily Kos on and off since the Bush Era, but this would be my first ever actual diary post!
I’m on on the neurodivergent spectrum, and haven’t been able to get an adequate mileage of answering a thought that came to mind. This has driven me past my overall shyness to ask it in public in a place I felt safest to discuss the issue. I’ve too many thoughts jumping around in my head, but I’m trying to put these emotions and thoughts to type to check my ‘calibration’ with others. These are my opinions, all I have to back this up is my minor in anthropology.
The question came to mind with watching my mother’s journey through addiction, and eventual escape.
We’ve learned that ‘The Cruelty is the Point’ but there is a question that grew from my own experience...
‘Is Fascism an addiction to cruelty?’ or more specifically ‘Is Fascism an addiction to betrayal?’
You can get a rush from cruelty. Hell, Game of Thrones was basically human cruelty porn that was almost a decade in popularity., it has appeal. Our social media landscape has a habit of hyper charging ideas into extremes of addictive experiences. I think this also applies to the rise of fascism with such loosely regulated social media.
Fascism is defined most specifically the rule of a ever shrinking party over a great group, but is also emotionally defined by how cruel fascism is.
The fascist seeks to build trust in order to specifically betray that trust later. Trump claims he alone will and can save everyone, but also regularly attacks and betrayed those who needed their President to protect them. He’s like a junkie regularly getting his fix on grabbing trust and then breaking it on a national scale. Right wing sites like twitter (and worse) are oceans of scammers, like sharks preying on each other. Betrayal of trust after betrayal of trust.
Desantis and Abbott’s migrant bus and plane cruelties come to mind of an addict needing their fix and getting a massive public display of it. Same with the slew of attacks on LGBT+ identities.
Even looking at historical fascism like the Nazis in Germany, they betrayed the basic trust of the Jewish (amongst other) populations in order to bolster the trust of others to gain power. They then further betrayed their allies at the time as ‘useful idiots’. Common in the Soviet Union, as well, since despite being supposedly Communist practiced its own flavor of fascism.
I’m Soviet born(living in America since I was 5), and have Jewish ancestry (my family got both ends during WW2). I’m seeing Putin’s enormous propaganda fostering deliberate trust from the Russian people despite the clear betrayal of their interests. I’m also LGBT+, and nonbinary (he/him for those that wonder). I remember when over 10 years ago Putin hired Nazis to torture gay teenagers to death in Russia, I have no illusions on what the fascists will do when they have enough power. I’ve worked hard keeping my family out of Putin’s propaganda talons, but I’m only one voice that’s easy to drown out because I'm the ‘weird one’ in the family.
Slava Ukraini (In case it needed to be stated)
Why is this question important? because if Fascism IS an addiction, it may be a useful way to approach that issue of half the people in this country are repeatedly indulging themselves in it. It’s fine if I'm wrong, or incomplete in my thoughts, my hope is to help in some way.
Poll included because it seems helpful.