No. of Recommendations: 13
Jason Stanley is a Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. (His parents were also refugees of Nazi Germany.)
In 2018 he published an illuminating book entitled, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. It is certainly worth a read for those interested in understanding Fascism.
In the book Professor Stanley begins by describing what Fascism is,
"Facism is a cult of the leader, who promises national restoration in the face of supposed humiliation by immigrants,
leftists, liberals, minorities, homosexuals, women, in the face of what the fascist leader says is a takeover of the country's media,
cultural institutions, and schools by these forces. And that's why you need a really macho, powerful, violent response.
The fascist leader says that only he can solve the problem."
Stanley outlined ten tactics fascists use. See if any of these look/sound familiar...
1) The mythic past. Fascists promote a glorified mythical past to make people dissatisfied with the present. The past is painted as a time of greatness.
2) Propaganda. Fascists lie and manipulate language in order to rewrite the shared reality of the population. Fascist propaganda is based around naming 'friends' and 'enemies.'
3) Anti-intellectualism. Fascists attack experts, universities and educational systems because they could potentially teach people to challenge fascist ideas. The fascist leader sets the rules about what is true or false.
4) Unreality. Freedom and political equality require truth. Fascist voices work deliberately to create a state of unreality. Its adherents lose the ability to recognize truth. Reasoned discussion and debate is replaced with conspiracy theories and lies.
5) Hierarchy. Fascists create a hierarchy of human worth. They promote social divisions and harden social rankings over such things as race, religion, and gender.
6) Victim-hood. Once people come to believe that they are higher than another group in the hierarchy, any move toward equality by lower groups is used to stoke feelings of resentment and victim-hood among the dominant population. Equality becomes, not a goal, but a threat.
7) Law and Order. Law and Order politics is used to cast 'them' as dangerous, lawless, criminals and to justify brutal crackdowns on minorities or people who are out of favor. At the same time, however, the fascist leader is not bound by any law.
8) Sexual Anxiety. A fascist hierarchy is rigidly patriarchal and is threatened by gender equity. Hence, they impose strict control and dominance over women. They also promote paranoia about homosexuality.
9) Sodom and Gomorrah. Fascist movements emphasize an urban/rural divide. The cities are portrayed as decadent criminal centers full of enemy 'elites' and immigrants. City dwellers don't even do 'real' work like rural folks do.
10) Work shall make you free. This slogan was written on the gates of Auschwitz. Fascists claim that the minority groups and the leftists are lazy and must be made to work (hence, concentration camps and forced labor camps). Labor unions are said to be run by communists ' so unions must be crushed.
The antidote to Fascism? Empathy it is the game changer!
"No single book is as relevant to the present moment." Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586030/ho... 