I think we need to be clear in calling it out - "if the jackboot fits, wear it." My local school board had a meeting last night in which one of the board members launched into what is now the typical spiel about grooming, wokeness, CRT, etc. - the usual list of non-existent bogeymen. He and his fascist followers had stacked the audienc…
I think we need to be clear in calling it out - "if the jackboot fits, wear it." My local school board had a meeting last night in which one of the board members launched into what is now the typical spiel about grooming, wokeness, CRT, etc. - the usual list of non-existent bogeymen. He and his fascist followers had stacked the audience, and the chair couldn't or wouldn't maintain much decorum. It will be interesting to see, going forward, if she really wants all voices heard, or only those with torches and jackboots.
Laurence Britt's 14 points are helpful, as are Umberto Eco's 14 and the opinion of Emilio Gentile (although Gentile's ten indicators speak more to a government in power than to a movement). Eco grew up in the Fascist era (b. 1934) and Gentile has chronicled the rise and life of Italian Fascism extensively, although I'm not sure to what extent his work is available in English. It's a dense read in Italian, like you'd expect political history to be. :)
"... the typical spiel about grooming, wokeness, CRT, etc. "
As you know, there are many aspects of fascism but what I find the most fascinating is the psychological aspect. This woke/CRT/grooming nonsense fits into the classic fascist creation of wild conspiracies, victimhood, bamboozlement, scapegoating, paranoia generation and vengeance normalization. Fascism can twist the human mind into a pretzel. Since Mussolini was a sociopath, we see a connection between a sociopath's manipulation of individuals and fascism's manipulation of the masses.
You ain't seen nothing yet, my friend. As far as Psych goes, ChatBot will be our new Neurolinguistic Programming. 45% is already "Groomed". Mistakes will be made in 24, but the program is up and running.
Psychology is the foundation. Your last sentence seems key, untangling the sociopath as early as possible. With strategy call out / untangle the bullies you meet in your villages. Untangle the web(s) at the ground level. That can be a strategy too. These people are cowards and can be dismantled as individuals is my theory.
The entire essay is good. I think he originally wrote it in English, which is helpful; I didn't have to worry about mistranslations. Eco makes some interesting connections between things I wouldn't ordinarily connect with fascism.
I found Robert Paxton's "Anatomy of Fascism" helpful as well, above all his observation that "fascism is more plausibly linked to a set of 'mobilizing passions' that shape fascist action than to a consistent and fully articulated philosophy." In keeping with that, the nine points he lays out right at the end are what I'd think of as "practical" rather than philosophical.
I think we need to be clear in calling it out - "if the jackboot fits, wear it." My local school board had a meeting last night in which one of the board members launched into what is now the typical spiel about grooming, wokeness, CRT, etc. - the usual list of non-existent bogeymen. He and his fascist followers had stacked the audience, and the chair couldn't or wouldn't maintain much decorum. It will be interesting to see, going forward, if she really wants all voices heard, or only those with torches and jackboots.
Laurence Britt's 14 points are helpful, as are Umberto Eco's 14 and the opinion of Emilio Gentile (although Gentile's ten indicators speak more to a government in power than to a movement). Eco grew up in the Fascist era (b. 1934) and Gentile has chronicled the rise and life of Italian Fascism extensively, although I'm not sure to what extent his work is available in English. It's a dense read in Italian, like you'd expect political history to be. :)
"... the typical spiel about grooming, wokeness, CRT, etc. "
As you know, there are many aspects of fascism but what I find the most fascinating is the psychological aspect. This woke/CRT/grooming nonsense fits into the classic fascist creation of wild conspiracies, victimhood, bamboozlement, scapegoating, paranoia generation and vengeance normalization. Fascism can twist the human mind into a pretzel. Since Mussolini was a sociopath, we see a connection between a sociopath's manipulation of individuals and fascism's manipulation of the masses.
You ain't seen nothing yet, my friend. As far as Psych goes, ChatBot will be our new Neurolinguistic Programming. 45% is already "Groomed". Mistakes will be made in 24, but the program is up and running.
Bad use of technology.
War uses and develops all technology. War, and its ideology, doesn't care. It just kills. That's what this platform is all about, a warning.
Psychology is the foundation. Your last sentence seems key, untangling the sociopath as early as possible. With strategy call out / untangle the bullies you meet in your villages. Untangle the web(s) at the ground level. That can be a strategy too. These people are cowards and can be dismantled as individuals is my theory.
How frustrating to witness in real time. Kudos for being there. We can't give in.
Yes. I am having my students read Eco's list this semester
The entire essay is good. I think he originally wrote it in English, which is helpful; I didn't have to worry about mistranslations. Eco makes some interesting connections between things I wouldn't ordinarily connect with fascism.
I found Robert Paxton's "Anatomy of Fascism" helpful as well, above all his observation that "fascism is more plausibly linked to a set of 'mobilizing passions' that shape fascist action than to a consistent and fully articulated philosophy." In keeping with that, the nine points he lays out right at the end are what I'd think of as "practical" rather than philosophical.