I love how quotable Mussolini is, to illustrate when someone is being a literal fascist.
"The Fascist State organizes the nation, but it leaves sufficient scope to individuals; it has limited useless or harmful liberties and has preserved those that are essential. It cannot be the individual who decides in this matter, but only the State."
I'm no expert, but the main thing that is missing to be literal fascism is a cohesive identity. These authoritarians love the state, but the state just means the government, without any contextual definitions such as culture, history, or lineage, as you'd find in fascism.
So, and I want to be clear that I'm no fan of fascism, but this modern bullshit is actually worse than fascism, since it actually further strips people of their identity and personhood. It's all the authoritarianism of fascism, without any of the community identity, (attempted) cohesion, or national purpose. It's blind authority of and obedience to the state, but without any concrete statements on what sort of society they're working toward. People are just cogs in the machine of the State, perhaps even more than they would be under the fascist regimes of old. Kind of scary to think about how far we've slipped, really.
I started off writing this to say it was very similar to fascism. I didn't expect to realize that it's actually worse in some ways. Disgusting.
I guess, and of course we're talking different ideologies here, but horseshoe theory and all that, and they're also both unquestionably ultra-authoritarian... I guess what it perhaps has (a bit) MORE in common with, then, is both Stalinism and Maoism...
Both rejected the "dominant" cultures of the places they corrupted. Both involved blind subservience to the state, violent suppression of ANY disagreement or dissent, and destruction of "old" things - temples, cathedrals, state buildings, foreign embassies, etc (particularly Mao)...
Both also involved intergenerational warfare and mass brainwashing, of course, and both demonstrated full control of the media... Interesting.
Also the body count thing... Both outstripped Hitler in sheer numbers by a significant margin, but because history is "inconvenient", and such, we tend to forget that... Especially Mao.
Committing genocide against "your own" people? Totally fine and dandy with the West, apparently, as long as we can utilise your cheap labour, and get you to make our flashy electronic goods, fast fashion and plastic junk, lol...
Again, not an expert myself, but what you say makes sense.
It seems to have more in common with communism, at least in the cultural aspects, than fascism. Communism is usual against the system and existing norms, while fascism often embraces the tradition, or at least claims to, and exalts the nation. It's not a perfect fit, as you've missing aspects of communism as well. Plus, communists are bold enough nowadays where they'll often tell you openly that they're communists.
But certainly from the cultural aspects it seems more in that direction than fascism, I suppose.
I love how quotable Mussolini is, to illustrate when someone is being a literal fascist.
"The Fascist State organizes the nation, but it leaves sufficient scope to individuals; it has limited useless or harmful liberties and has preserved those that are essential. It cannot be the individual who decides in this matter, but only the State."
Hmm, so when I say this is "fascist"... I'm not that far off the intended literal meaning then?
Good to know!
I'm no expert, but the main thing that is missing to be literal fascism is a cohesive identity. These authoritarians love the state, but the state just means the government, without any contextual definitions such as culture, history, or lineage, as you'd find in fascism.
So, and I want to be clear that I'm no fan of fascism, but this modern bullshit is actually worse than fascism, since it actually further strips people of their identity and personhood. It's all the authoritarianism of fascism, without any of the community identity, (attempted) cohesion, or national purpose. It's blind authority of and obedience to the state, but without any concrete statements on what sort of society they're working toward. People are just cogs in the machine of the State, perhaps even more than they would be under the fascist regimes of old. Kind of scary to think about how far we've slipped, really.
I started off writing this to say it was very similar to fascism. I didn't expect to realize that it's actually worse in some ways. Disgusting.
Hmm, interesting...
I guess, and of course we're talking different ideologies here, but horseshoe theory and all that, and they're also both unquestionably ultra-authoritarian... I guess what it perhaps has (a bit) MORE in common with, then, is both Stalinism and Maoism...
Both rejected the "dominant" cultures of the places they corrupted. Both involved blind subservience to the state, violent suppression of ANY disagreement or dissent, and destruction of "old" things - temples, cathedrals, state buildings, foreign embassies, etc (particularly Mao)...
Both also involved intergenerational warfare and mass brainwashing, of course, and both demonstrated full control of the media... Interesting.
Also the body count thing... Both outstripped Hitler in sheer numbers by a significant margin, but because history is "inconvenient", and such, we tend to forget that... Especially Mao.
Committing genocide against "your own" people? Totally fine and dandy with the West, apparently, as long as we can utilise your cheap labour, and get you to make our flashy electronic goods, fast fashion and plastic junk, lol...
Fuck, this is a blackpill and a half, hey..? :-(
Again, not an expert myself, but what you say makes sense.
It seems to have more in common with communism, at least in the cultural aspects, than fascism. Communism is usual against the system and existing norms, while fascism often embraces the tradition, or at least claims to, and exalts the nation. It's not a perfect fit, as you've missing aspects of communism as well. Plus, communists are bold enough nowadays where they'll often tell you openly that they're communists.
But certainly from the cultural aspects it seems more in that direction than fascism, I suppose.
No kidding.