It takes a worried man
I spend a surprising amount of time worrying about fascism.
Granted, we beat Hitler and Mussolini and Hirohito. And, as Chevy Chase once reminded us, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. But fascism itself is alive and kicking. We conflate it with Nazis, mostly, but it's a broader term. And it applies to things people are doing and saying and believing right now.
I think fascism is harder to define than some of the other creepy governmental forms, like communism or theocracy. The best I've come up with so far is: violent ultra-nationalism. It's the belief that Different Groups Of People Exist, and that They Are Fundamentally Different, and that One Group Should Rule Another Group, and that Hurting The Weaker Groups Is Okay. Codify that with a governing structure and voila! Fascism!
So why do I worry about it? Because despite its crushing defeat in World War II, the movement is alive and healthy all around the world. Right now, the fascist Golden Dawn party holds almost 10% of the seats in Greece's parliament, and seems to have infiltrated their police. France has long had the fascistic National Front party in its government and its civic life. The term "Islamofascist" was a poorly-chosen distraction, but some of the hyper-religious groups in the Middle East do qualify.
What about here? We'll talk about that soon.
Granted, we beat Hitler and Mussolini and Hirohito. And, as Chevy Chase once reminded us, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. But fascism itself is alive and kicking. We conflate it with Nazis, mostly, but it's a broader term. And it applies to things people are doing and saying and believing right now.
I think fascism is harder to define than some of the other creepy governmental forms, like communism or theocracy. The best I've come up with so far is: violent ultra-nationalism. It's the belief that Different Groups Of People Exist, and that They Are Fundamentally Different, and that One Group Should Rule Another Group, and that Hurting The Weaker Groups Is Okay. Codify that with a governing structure and voila! Fascism!
So why do I worry about it? Because despite its crushing defeat in World War II, the movement is alive and healthy all around the world. Right now, the fascist Golden Dawn party holds almost 10% of the seats in Greece's parliament, and seems to have infiltrated their police. France has long had the fascistic National Front party in its government and its civic life. The term "Islamofascist" was a poorly-chosen distraction, but some of the hyper-religious groups in the Middle East do qualify.
What about here? We'll talk about that soon.