A Fascist Mindset - Quareness Series 188th "Lecture".
It's very noticeable these days how prevalent is the tendency to label someone or something as fascist when in passionate disagreement with a different point of view. Whatever the cause/
reason for such disputes it hardly helps our engaging in respectful dialogue with a view to learning how to live and let live.
In order to escape such bubbles of bias perhaps it might be prudent to look back at an original understanding of what fascism entails...as articulated by Benito Mussolini in his "The Doctrine of Fascism" (1932) when he wrote:
- "The Fascist conception of the State is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism is totalitarian."
- "The Fascist State...makes its action felt throughout the length and breadth of the country by means of its corporate, social, and educational institutions, and all the political, economic, and spiritual forces of the nation, organised in their respective associations, circulate within the State."
And as he stated in "Fascism: Doctrine and Institutions" (1935):
- "The corporate State considers that private enterprise in the sphere of production is the most effective and useful instrument in the interest of the nation. In view of the fact that private organisation of production is a function of national concern, the organiser of the enterprise is responsible to the State for the direction given to production."
These statements reveal an understanding of the Fascist State as a totalitarian public-private partnership where all policy, speech/expression and economic activity is controlled via mutually beneficial arrangement between the Government and a network of NGOs e.g. unions, think tanks, private corporations, officially sanctioned "charities". There's no room here for individual decision making in respect of social policy with no real diversity of opinion allowed when all information is controlled by the powerful elite of a Fascist State. In such societal circumstances any dissent or questioning of the doctrines of the State inevitably comes to be considered as disinformation and gets censored. The ongoing policy imperative is to tightly control opinion through propaganda and punishment.
Unfortunately we have in more recent times seen a very widespread marshalling of societies by our "authorities" which could fit quite easily with this understanding of the fascist inclination to be the only source of truth. The urge to restrict the free exchange of ideas, freedom of speech and expression has been on open display. Indeed many have regarded such as both righteous and virtuous and some have even gone so far as to call for those who question "official truth" to be punished, ostracised, "othered"...scapegoats of "mass psychosis".
Given the degree of control now made possible by the rapid evolution of communications technology, perhaps a more accurate description today for this type of closed mindset is "technofascism"? The core goal/value for its modern adherents appears to largely lie with seeking to seize control of the information highway in order to advance their own scientific, sociological, economic and historical "truths" to the exclusion of all others. Reminiscent of those fascists of old, it seems they cannot tolerate any challenge to their particular "progressive" ideology.
Whither real democracy?
Life on our Earth only seems sustainable
Because of trees and lands and seas,
Making it possible for all
To breathe and feed.
Life on our Earth hardly seems sustainable
Because of technological advances
In modified vapors and chemicals,
Increasingly sold as solutions.
And with so many now turning authoritarian
Among those who used to be freedom lovers,
Humanity could soon crumble under a heavy load
Bequeathing only the rustiness of dead machinery.
Sean.
Dean of Quareness.
July, 2023.