We should not try to answer fascist lies, especially when/if they are posed as questions. Antidemocratic slogans such as "rigged elections", "race theory" or "gender ideology" cannot be normalized that way. Fascist lies are ideological statements that distort past & present
fascist lies contain the most simplistic answers to the most complex questions such as the meaning of democracy, equality & stability. Their function is to validate but not substantiated the cult of the leader.
of course, outside of the ideology of the leaders' cult, these might have a different context and meaning but when presented within, for example Trumpista o Bolsonarista ideologies they do not meant nothing beyond the fantasies, racism & prejudice of the leaders.
they refer to an alternative racist intolerant reality which is also the ideal world of ideology. This alternative universe is not rooted in facts but in myths/fantasies/fictions
Fascism transforms words into slogans, rendering the former part of a political faith. When words become slogans they turn into affirmations of the faith and should not be engaged by non-believers as part of a respectful dialogue or argument.
Dialogue vis-a-vis fascism. In fascism, words are devoid of previous meanings and become articles of faith...Words are then associated with the imagined evil intentions of imagined enemies
In short, we cannot have an argument with fascists or wannabe fascists (like Trump & cia). Fascists replace reason with a rationale to deny, distort, reformulate & eventually change reality. End of thread...
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I was recently asked about the so-called fascism debate regarding Trump. There is no such thing if the prevailing idea is that the question can be a definitive yes or no.& answer depends on whether Trump was/is a replica of Hitler. He was not and neither were Mussolini, Pinochet
We should leave this form of binary thinking that insists that fascism cannot happen in the US because it happened differently in Europe before. This view often combined views of American exceptionalism with a lack of historical knowledge of actual fascism.
It is often presented, I should better say affirmed without too much context by colleagues who work on something else & suddenly felt urgent need to present simple dichotomies, thus reducing fascism to their limited knowledge of some European cases. Fascism was global,still is...
Fascism & escape from reality are synonymous. These applies to leaders & followers. In recent days, Trump insisted on his great lies, "They rigged and stole our 2020 Presidential Election, which we won by a landslide" & "Radical Left will destroy our Country if we let them."
When you study Trump's recent statements you can confirm how close we were to fascism in the USA.
Not only theorists like Arendt or Adorno noted this issue of fascist simplification as a source of authority via denial of reality...but fascists were quite explicit about this.
Adorno wrote, "By talking with individuals of fascist leanings, one can learn the psychological implications of this ‘key’ idea. Their more-or-less cryptic hints frequently reveal a kind of sinister pride; they speak as if they were in the know and had solved a riddle
Beyond the issue of Trump's wannabe failed fascism, I hope some time in the near future discussions of fascism will reflect the transnational nature of the problem. Fascism was not only German & Italian & it crisscrossed the world, from Latin America to Egypt, India & China...
In fact in his failed fascism, Trump's presents features (in terms of coup, religiosity, economics, etc) which are more characteristic of other fascisms, especially but not exclusively Latin American ones.
but I think at least for historians, the problem is so many experts on Europe and USA have no clue of global south history whereas those working on global south cannot afford to ignore history of the north.
Trump's populism means danger of fascism because 1) glorification of violence & enabling paramilitary groups to go after perceived enemies; 2)places racism & xenophobia at center of politics; 4)conflates leader, movement & state institutions; 5) lies/fascist propaganda technique
6) questions electoral procedures & legitimacy of elections/electoral system; 7) presents an extreme cult of the leader/similar to fascist forms of political religion; 8)presents political theology where the leader is equated with formal religion
9) separation between secular & sacred is shaken; 10) corruption & dissolution of distinction between leader's interest & state interest
As historian of fascism & Holocaust, I would also call these centers concentrations camps. As a Jewish person who lost family in Holocaust, I regret that some Republicans use memory of the Holocaust to defend racist policies of trumpism. @aoc is right. wapo.st/2WTq6v1?tid=ss…
I think many Republicans can be educated on this by reading books on fascism, populism & Holocaust @ruthbenghiat@mabelberezin@levissullam@jasonintrator @TimothyDSnyderand also the books on camps by Dan Stone, Enzo Traverso & others. There is no lack of biblio here...