Matthew Crawford has an interesting article available, one which delves into the breakdown of what I typically refer to as our 'constitutional order'. By that I mean the rule of law based on a rational vision of man's place within reality and a balance of a natural aristocracy (the Senate) with populist input and control over oligarchical elite tendencies (the House). Yes, we've come a long way in, from an historical perspective, not that long a time.
I'm putting this comment on this old thread, despite knowing almost no one will see it, just because it fits better here than in more recent posts.
The redqueen.substack site has a good post up (theredqueen.substack.com/p/what-is-fascism-and-where-does-it) giving a pretty good explanation of how the wokerati are fundamentally fascists. Anyone with eyes to see knows this, but it's always nice when someone takes a little trouble to spell out why. I'll just paste the second half of the post in here - no commentary needed. (Though note, the hyperlinks in the original don't transfer over to this comment.)
With these misconceptions in mind, what criteria would a modern form of fascism likely have? Here is a list I have come up with, that is by no means comprehensive, but should help establish where to look:
1. Subversion of the individual for the sake of the collective
2. Opposition to the doctrines of liberalism — freedom of speech, tolerance of others, individual civil rights, openness to new ideas
3. A promise of rectifying economic injustice
4. Scapegoating a readily identifiable group as responsible for economic strife
5. Entitlement to land, resources, wealth, or power at the expense of others
6. Belief in the use of violence to enforce will on others; rejection of pacifism
7. The pursuit of power through corporations and the market
8. Totalitarian — imposes costs of rejecting its ideology on everyone, especially those who are apolitical
All of these criteria are consistent with the tenants of fascism as they were established by Mussolini, Hitler, and the political authors before them. If we, as a society, are to be wary of fascism, then we should be wary of any ideology that possesses these traits. A truly anti-fascist society would be one that supports the individual, fosters liberalism, pursues economic prosperity not equality, foments accountability not scapegoating, is not entitled, is not pro-violence, does not coerce market forces or corporations to adhere to its ideology, and is not totalizing — it leaves others alone. I am afraid that we are far afield from that vision in the west today.
III. Where does fascism lurk?
Technically speaking, fascism is back.
The woke ideology is a fascist movement under the guise of Black Lives Matter, anti-racism, pro-LGBTQ, and even anti-fascism (clever, innit?). Consider how the woke ideology satisfies every criteria:
1. The identity politics of the woke movement is all about ignoring the principles and traits of individuals with those of the ideology: race and gender identity are used to subvert individualism to foster adherence to the collective ideology (see here, here, here).
2. The woke are openly opposed to freedom of speech (examples here, here, here, here) and are intolerant of those who oppose their world view (examples here, here, here, here).
3. The entire woke playbook is predicated on pursuing economic equity — equalizing economic disparities resulting from historic injustice. This is what Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are all about (examples here, here, here)
4. This goes hand-in-hand with #3, but it is generally the white people (especially the straight males) who are scapegoated as the cause of the inequality felt by those in the movement (here, here, here).
5. Again, the entitlement goes hand in hand with items #3 and #4, but it is worth pointing out that it exists. Affirmative action and reparations are both ways to grant something fungible to those who claim to be entitled to it (here, here, here, here).
6. The violence of ‘Antifa’ and others associated with this movement more broadly has been well documented, despite the mainstream denial of it (examples of both the violence and denial here, here, here, here, here).
7. One does not have to look far to see how eager corporations are to fall in line with this ideology (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here).
8. This goes hand in hand with item #2, but people who voice even the slightest disagreement with the woke ideology are met with hostility and a relentless attempt to impose costs to deter future dissent (here, here, here, here, here, here).
The truth is, I could have spend much longer looking up and linking examples for each of the 8 criteria listed above, but it is just so easy to do. Not only is this woke movement fascistic in nature, it is obviously so. The woke use a façade and a distraction technique to shroud the movement in ostensible moralistic objectives, such as defeating racism or bigotry towards sexual minorities. In truth, one need not be a bigot to oppose the movement. In fact, one need only be skeptic of fascism to recognize the hazard of the woke ideology.
Whether or not the movement also satisfies many of the criteria of Communism is besides the point and a bit of a non-sequitur. Given the plethora of similarities between the two political ideologies, the question is really about whether a movement that presents itself as anti-fascist can actually be trusted as such. And the answer is a resounding “No!”. The woke ideology shares many traits—too many—with fascism to be regarded as a panopticon of progress, and should instead be regarded as a hazard that portends to repeat the most costly mistakes of the 20th century.
If you haven't found him yet, check out Paul Kingsnorth's writing here on SubStack 'The Abbey of Misrule'; some wonderful, profound and deeply sobering work. Lots of it behind his subscriber wall, but here is his intro - it hits on exactly this breakdown we're living through...but it's bigger than 'just' our own constitutional order and rule of law. He writes (across multiple essays) that the disintegration of culture(s) have essentially happened the same way since the time of Egyptian slaves (Lewis Mumford).
The intro - "The 2020s have seen us us staggering, masked and muted, into a new time. We can all sense the craziness in the air, the feeling of our moorings being cut one by one. It feels hard sometimes just to stay upright as we live through a threefold earthquake: a global ecological breakdown; the cultural disintegration of the West; and the rise of networked technologies of control and surveillance which daily have us tighter in their grip.
The powers of the world are merging: corporate power, state power, institutional power, ideological power, the power of the oligarchs who built and control the Internet, the power of the network itself. Call it the Great Acceleration, the Great Reset, the coming of Technocracy: whatever you call it, it has been long planned and long feared, and now it is upon us.
Welcome to the age of the Machine.
The Machine makes us - is designed to make us - homeless. It rips up our roots in nature, in real cultures connected to time and place, in our connection to the divine centre. In their stead we are offered an anti-culture, an endless consumer present: planned, monitored, controlled, Smart, borderless, profitable and soul-dead, increasingly detached from messy reality, directed by who-even-knows, mediated through monitored screens.
Now, as old certainties fall away, the culture crumbles, the climate changes and hearts harden, it becomes hard to speak without being forced to take sides; hard even to know what we are permitted to say, as our language is remade and the range of acceptable opinions is seemingly narrowed daily.
These are not questions of economics, or politics; it’s bigger than that. I believe that our society is spiritually wounded, and it barely even knows it. We have to identify the site of the wound, and the cause, before we can imagine what health might look like on the other side.
But be of good cheer. The storm is here and an age is ending, but new and old hearts stay steadfast on the margins. God is not mocked, and reality bats last. In an age of Big Everything, small remains beautiful and shall, in the end, inherit the Earth."
I think one of the greatest mistakes conservatives make is believing that this is the "liberal elite". I can't be the only one that's noticed both sides for the larger part are loaded with progressives.
Note I use that term in it's classical sense of both sides simply falling for the trick of the only cure for every ailment is... more government.
Love the academic discussion, but my reality is quite different. I agree that “In complying, we enact the new terms of citizenship.” As of the last election, I comply and curse under my breath. More bothersome to me is that it would seem all Washington, up to and including the Supreme Court, was involved and hell bent on installing the Biden 'presidency', in spite of most Americans having come to the conclusion the election was stolen. The Rasmussen poll puts the number at 56%, but if you include the Democrats and liberals who are delighted the election was 'fortifyed' I assume 80% of Americans are convinced the last election was stolen. Not content with this, the administration is intent on putting us all in our place and imposing draconian restrictions on our conduct. Garland was told to his face that Americans are coming to regard the government as the enemy. This bodes ill for a government whose only skill seems to be to mess up whatever they touch. I have faith in the American people to craft their own solutions to our coming troubles and preserve our way of life on an individual level, while the government makes life miserable for the dependent masses. Not to worry, the compliant press will paint things as the best of times while real people starve.
Quite relevant, here are two videos that were sent me this morning. If anything, God has indeed knit us so carefully together, as we share this remarkable experience together in the name of Jesus the Christ.
The message here is brilliantly delivered; listen quietly and carefully:
And here is a remarkably historic speech by Jim Caviezel titled "The Storm is Upon Us: The Sound of Freedom." After Jim talks about what his experience in the making of “The Passion,” he is set on fire with passion for freedom and our country.
I'm putting this comment on this old thread, despite knowing almost no one will see it, just because it fits better here than in more recent posts.
The redqueen.substack site has a good post up (theredqueen.substack.com/p/what-is-fascism-and-where-does-it) giving a pretty good explanation of how the wokerati are fundamentally fascists. Anyone with eyes to see knows this, but it's always nice when someone takes a little trouble to spell out why. I'll just paste the second half of the post in here - no commentary needed. (Though note, the hyperlinks in the original don't transfer over to this comment.)
_________________________________________________________________
With these misconceptions in mind, what criteria would a modern form of fascism likely have? Here is a list I have come up with, that is by no means comprehensive, but should help establish where to look:
1. Subversion of the individual for the sake of the collective
2. Opposition to the doctrines of liberalism — freedom of speech, tolerance of others, individual civil rights, openness to new ideas
3. A promise of rectifying economic injustice
4. Scapegoating a readily identifiable group as responsible for economic strife
5. Entitlement to land, resources, wealth, or power at the expense of others
6. Belief in the use of violence to enforce will on others; rejection of pacifism
7. The pursuit of power through corporations and the market
8. Totalitarian — imposes costs of rejecting its ideology on everyone, especially those who are apolitical
All of these criteria are consistent with the tenants of fascism as they were established by Mussolini, Hitler, and the political authors before them. If we, as a society, are to be wary of fascism, then we should be wary of any ideology that possesses these traits. A truly anti-fascist society would be one that supports the individual, fosters liberalism, pursues economic prosperity not equality, foments accountability not scapegoating, is not entitled, is not pro-violence, does not coerce market forces or corporations to adhere to its ideology, and is not totalizing — it leaves others alone. I am afraid that we are far afield from that vision in the west today.
III. Where does fascism lurk?
Technically speaking, fascism is back.
The woke ideology is a fascist movement under the guise of Black Lives Matter, anti-racism, pro-LGBTQ, and even anti-fascism (clever, innit?). Consider how the woke ideology satisfies every criteria:
1. The identity politics of the woke movement is all about ignoring the principles and traits of individuals with those of the ideology: race and gender identity are used to subvert individualism to foster adherence to the collective ideology (see here, here, here).
2. The woke are openly opposed to freedom of speech (examples here, here, here, here) and are intolerant of those who oppose their world view (examples here, here, here, here).
3. The entire woke playbook is predicated on pursuing economic equity — equalizing economic disparities resulting from historic injustice. This is what Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are all about (examples here, here, here)
4. This goes hand-in-hand with #3, but it is generally the white people (especially the straight males) who are scapegoated as the cause of the inequality felt by those in the movement (here, here, here).
5. Again, the entitlement goes hand in hand with items #3 and #4, but it is worth pointing out that it exists. Affirmative action and reparations are both ways to grant something fungible to those who claim to be entitled to it (here, here, here, here).
6. The violence of ‘Antifa’ and others associated with this movement more broadly has been well documented, despite the mainstream denial of it (examples of both the violence and denial here, here, here, here, here).
7. One does not have to look far to see how eager corporations are to fall in line with this ideology (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here).
8. This goes hand in hand with item #2, but people who voice even the slightest disagreement with the woke ideology are met with hostility and a relentless attempt to impose costs to deter future dissent (here, here, here, here, here, here).
The truth is, I could have spend much longer looking up and linking examples for each of the 8 criteria listed above, but it is just so easy to do. Not only is this woke movement fascistic in nature, it is obviously so. The woke use a façade and a distraction technique to shroud the movement in ostensible moralistic objectives, such as defeating racism or bigotry towards sexual minorities. In truth, one need not be a bigot to oppose the movement. In fact, one need only be skeptic of fascism to recognize the hazard of the woke ideology.
Whether or not the movement also satisfies many of the criteria of Communism is besides the point and a bit of a non-sequitur. Given the plethora of similarities between the two political ideologies, the question is really about whether a movement that presents itself as anti-fascist can actually be trusted as such. And the answer is a resounding “No!”. The woke ideology shares many traits—too many—with fascism to be regarded as a panopticon of progress, and should instead be regarded as a hazard that portends to repeat the most costly mistakes of the 20th century.
_________________________________________________________________
If you haven't found him yet, check out Paul Kingsnorth's writing here on SubStack 'The Abbey of Misrule'; some wonderful, profound and deeply sobering work. Lots of it behind his subscriber wall, but here is his intro - it hits on exactly this breakdown we're living through...but it's bigger than 'just' our own constitutional order and rule of law. He writes (across multiple essays) that the disintegration of culture(s) have essentially happened the same way since the time of Egyptian slaves (Lewis Mumford).
The intro - "The 2020s have seen us us staggering, masked and muted, into a new time. We can all sense the craziness in the air, the feeling of our moorings being cut one by one. It feels hard sometimes just to stay upright as we live through a threefold earthquake: a global ecological breakdown; the cultural disintegration of the West; and the rise of networked technologies of control and surveillance which daily have us tighter in their grip.
The powers of the world are merging: corporate power, state power, institutional power, ideological power, the power of the oligarchs who built and control the Internet, the power of the network itself. Call it the Great Acceleration, the Great Reset, the coming of Technocracy: whatever you call it, it has been long planned and long feared, and now it is upon us.
Welcome to the age of the Machine.
The Machine makes us - is designed to make us - homeless. It rips up our roots in nature, in real cultures connected to time and place, in our connection to the divine centre. In their stead we are offered an anti-culture, an endless consumer present: planned, monitored, controlled, Smart, borderless, profitable and soul-dead, increasingly detached from messy reality, directed by who-even-knows, mediated through monitored screens.
Now, as old certainties fall away, the culture crumbles, the climate changes and hearts harden, it becomes hard to speak without being forced to take sides; hard even to know what we are permitted to say, as our language is remade and the range of acceptable opinions is seemingly narrowed daily.
These are not questions of economics, or politics; it’s bigger than that. I believe that our society is spiritually wounded, and it barely even knows it. We have to identify the site of the wound, and the cause, before we can imagine what health might look like on the other side.
But be of good cheer. The storm is here and an age is ending, but new and old hearts stay steadfast on the margins. God is not mocked, and reality bats last. In an age of Big Everything, small remains beautiful and shall, in the end, inherit the Earth."
I think one of the greatest mistakes conservatives make is believing that this is the "liberal elite". I can't be the only one that's noticed both sides for the larger part are loaded with progressives.
Note I use that term in it's classical sense of both sides simply falling for the trick of the only cure for every ailment is... more government.
I like Matthew Crawford’s writing, but I can’t get over the fact that he had his young daughter jabbed. He really seemed savvier than that.
Love the academic discussion, but my reality is quite different. I agree that “In complying, we enact the new terms of citizenship.” As of the last election, I comply and curse under my breath. More bothersome to me is that it would seem all Washington, up to and including the Supreme Court, was involved and hell bent on installing the Biden 'presidency', in spite of most Americans having come to the conclusion the election was stolen. The Rasmussen poll puts the number at 56%, but if you include the Democrats and liberals who are delighted the election was 'fortifyed' I assume 80% of Americans are convinced the last election was stolen. Not content with this, the administration is intent on putting us all in our place and imposing draconian restrictions on our conduct. Garland was told to his face that Americans are coming to regard the government as the enemy. This bodes ill for a government whose only skill seems to be to mess up whatever they touch. I have faith in the American people to craft their own solutions to our coming troubles and preserve our way of life on an individual level, while the government makes life miserable for the dependent masses. Not to worry, the compliant press will paint things as the best of times while real people starve.
Quite relevant, here are two videos that were sent me this morning. If anything, God has indeed knit us so carefully together, as we share this remarkable experience together in the name of Jesus the Christ.
The message here is brilliantly delivered; listen quietly and carefully:
https://jumpshare.com/v/ivmc5H79c26AgWudq5sF
And here is a remarkably historic speech by Jim Caviezel titled "The Storm is Upon Us: The Sound of Freedom." After Jim talks about what his experience in the making of “The Passion,” he is set on fire with passion for freedom and our country.
https://rumble.com/vo6vjd-jim-caviezel-the-storm-is-upon-us-the-sound-of-freedom-juan-o-savin-histori.html