This is part of an ongoing series highlighting some of the best political commentary from Reddit. Content skews to the left, because — as they say — facts are inherently liberal. All credit for this content goes to the original author. For more great content like this, check out the Reddit category or tag.
Everyone should read Umberto Eco’s Ur-Fascism essay (PDF but there are tons of other versions online). It is less than ten pages long and outlines in 14 points the features of a fascist society. Trump and his hardline followers tick off every checkbox on the list.
He also explains why fascist ideology is so incomprehensible:
Fascism was a fuzzy totalitarianism, a collage of different philosophical and political ideas, a beehive of contradictions. … The Fascist Party [here he means the Italians who defined fascism] was born boasting that it brought a revolutionary new order; but it was financed by the most conservative among the landowners who expected from it a counter-revolution. At its beginning fascism was republican. Yet it survived for twenty years proclaiming its loyalty to the royal family, while the Duce (the unchallenged Maximal Leader) was armin-arm with the King, to whom he also offered the title of Emperor. But when the King fired Mussolini in 1943, the party reappeared two months later, with German support, under the standard of a “social” republic, recycling its old revolutionary script, now enriched with almost Jacobin overtones.
The 14 points:
- Cult of tradition — anti-intellectual reversion to “revealed truth” — no learning allowed.
- Rejection of modernism and irrational appeal to the “old”
- Cult of action for action’s sake — thinking = emasculation — act now think later
- Disagreement is treason — criticism is a betrayal of traditional thought
- Fear of the other — exploits differences — inherently racist
- Angry middle class — economic crisis or fear of lower social groups — fascism historically appeals to this group — in US white majority is rapidly declining and growing angry…
- Obsession with identity and plot — we derive our identity only by finding enemies within & without who constantly plot against us
- Enemies are stronger & weaker, smarter & dumber — Jews run the world but are inferior, etc — “We are humiliated by their wealth & power, but they are weak and stupid so we shall take it from them”
- War is Life — until we defeat all our enemies in the final battle at the End of Days and attain our Utopia — see the Thousand Year Reich concept
- Contempt for the weak — there is a strict pecking order and everyone beneath me is worthless and deserves my contempt
- Cult of heroism — a heroic death is the reward for a heroic life in service to the State
- Machismo — real war is dangerous but I can avoid that and still be a hero by being a real man to the ladies…. Trump, “cuck!” etc
- Selective populism — The People are a prop only used for show, a monolithic entity expressing a common will interpreted by their leader while they cheer — “The People have no power so I will act for you” — Trump said “I alone can fix it”
- Newspeak — alternative facts….
Another interesting essay is Orwell’s Notes on Nationalism. It’s a bit more abstract but the basic ideas are still there.
- Nationalism is obsessed with superiority and focused on competitive prestige, is defined by instability and loyalty transfer (see alt-right folks who switch allegiances at the drop of a hat), and is characterized by power hunger and self-deception. It is militant loyalty ao any cause with the goal of universal expansion by force.
- “What remains constant in the nationalist is his state of mind: the object of his feelings is changeable and may be imaginary.”
- Uncertainty about objective truth makes it easier to cling to lunatic believes — some border on schizophrenia (cf Eco’s beehive of contradictions)
- Important: displays, names, appearances
- Not important: reason, facts, reality
- Motto: “My side is the best side no matter what”
- “I can’t lie because I’m always right” (see: Trump) — drives dopamine-fueled tribal blindness in followers
- Authoritarian minds seek identity through group membership — it’s not about the tribe its about the mindset — tribal loyalties can shift and the new loyalty can come with hatred of the previous group.
- History is a team sport. “We didn’t murder those people, we liberated the oppressed.”
- Most intellectual “revolutionaries” care more for perceived prestige than actual meaningful change.
- Competitive prestige leads to confirmation bias leads to unrealistic predictions (who should win)
Especially important in Orwell’s short essay is the concept of pseudo-intellectuals seeking salvation by switching loyalties suddenly and violently to preserve their public image and ego.
There is also a free book online by the foremost psychological researcher into the authoritarian mindset detailing numerous studies showing how the authoritarian mind actually works. He also blogs occasionally about the growing dark authoritarianism in the US. https://theauthoritarians.org/
