The Seven Pillars of Fascism - II

We covered the first factor on October 14, 2021. If you don't know what I mean, go read the first few paragraphs of that post and come back. Now we are up to the second in line:

  The fascist uses force or intimidation to coerce people to accept their political will.

2.     The fascist claim that they are victims and that their opponents are oppressors.

3.     The fascist creates a false scapegoat.

4.     The fascist seeks to divide and often uses race, ethnicity and/or religion to do it.

5.     The fascist gains control of critical social institutions, like the media, the police and the education system.

6.     The fascist is dishonest, and often uses fake crises or exaggerates them in order to more easily take or maintain power.

7.     The fascist takes complete control of the law and all facets of society within his or her reach – not just the reins of government.

    When I was growing up, the saying we were taught was "sticks and stones can break your bones, but names will never hurt me." Not that names didn't hurt then, they did, but we were taught that the beneficial thing to do was to "suck it up." Don't misunderstand - I did not grow up in "the greatest generation" or the days of Teddy Roosevelt imploring us to live the "vigorous life." It was already, at least where I lived, pretty wimpy, and I was no exception. But, it's gotten a lot worse.

    Now, kids are not taught to walk it off. No one would blame great champions like Simone Biles or Naomi Osaka for losing a tournament or choking after all the times they exceeded everyone else, but now they are part of the preaching of quitting because of what seems like stress under the guise of mental health, and kids are being taught, that's okay. Athletes, of course, have mental health problems like every other group and if they stop them from performing, then that's what happened and the rest of us have to move on, I'd hope, without castigating them or making them feel worse.  But, we don't have to admire them for it or celebrate it or think them especially courageous either. In the end, in sports, there is tremendous pressure for everyone and we should admire those who overcome it. Isn't that what we have always done?

    Even in football, what was the epitome of virile sports, they are starting to lean wimpy. I don't know about you, but I was a little shocked to hear that the openly gay defensive end for the Oakland Raiders (a team also once known for its virility), Carl Nassib, had to take a personal day after his coach was revealed to have made misogynistic and homophobic emails (some look like that, though I don't know the context they were made - many people say horrible things as jokes among their friends). Forget for a second that this is the same coach, the only one in the league, to have an openly gay player on his team (no less start him), but exactly why did Carl have so much to process? That's what the team said - he had to process it. It is not fun to be stigmatized or insulted by people because of who we are, which still happens every day in this world to most of us. You wouldn't think a comment made to Gruden's friend (the owner of the Washington Redskins) using the word "queers" (it is not always considered a slur, but it is when used in a derogative meaning) or stating his belief that there shouldn't be pressure to hire gay players would make a player take a day off of work. I get insulted every day just by my evalovin' gf - and that's personal.  Yes, I'd like to think Carl was tougher than that. Not because insults don't hurt, but because we are - or were - supposed to shrug them off. And when we can't, then we are defeated by them. Maybe it even gives homophobes (and there are plenty) reason to say - see, gays can't take it. I don't think Carl can say now that he doesn't think he's a victim. Because no one else had to take the day off.

    Most of the league is black, as is well known - about 2/3rds anyway. I guess some of them must support the need to have a "black national anthem" played at games (I've read it is every game) and be given their own holiday, known as Juneteenth, after the day in June, 1865 when Texas slaves were liberated. Why? Is there any other reasons than that these multi-millionaire athlete/celebrities still, despite their abilities, success and the lack of any roadblocks based on skin color, feel like victims, and they need to be consoled by their own holiday and song. I don't know why the other victims in the league don't get their own (forget whites, who now are actually victims, and certainly not the few Jews in the league, who are the no. 1 victims in the country of hate crimes, because, frankly, many people with political clout don't like them).

    Victimhood is big business today. BLM matter is entirely built on supposed victimhood. While no rational person with an inkling of historical knowledge could deny that blacks, probably along with American Indians (I know, I know, whatever I'm supposed to call them now) have been the biggest victims in American history. Of course they were. Now, quite the opposite. George Floyd's family, proved that with the 27 million they pocketed, if anyone had any doubt. Someone sent me a link to an article recently about the purveyor of so much nouveau hate and newspeak, Ibram X. Kendi, tweeted about white kids pretending they were minorities to get into school, before he scrubbed it, as it proved those white kids certainly think that minorities have a better chance than they do. Actually, it's common knowledge that many schools, including the top schools (Ivy League, etc.) do favor minorities. 

    But, it is hardly just BLM (who I've said over and over I do not think really represents blacks).  Sometimes it seems like every group wants to be a "victim" these days for whatever benefits it brings them. One of the reasons I stopped watching America's Got Talent before I stopped watching all tv was the prevalence of the contestants in who was the biggest victim. The last straw for me was when one contestant performed and as he was leaving the stage, remembered his instructions and yelled out - "And I was bullied!" 

    Last year some Antifa creature or another yelled out, "We don't want Biden. We want revenge." Leave aside the mental illness or ignorance that must arise before anyone would want to be Antifa, but "revenge?" It can only be because they are self-declared victims. Last year a few Asian-Americans were killed by a psychopath out to kill hookers (I know, I know, I'm not supposed to use that word either) even though the muttonhead himself said it had nothing to do with their ethnicity, but only their jobs.

    Whose left? There was a WAPO article a few years ago about which states had what hate crime protection. Among many others:

    7 states - the homeless

    5 states - the police (who, in some cities, yes, I'd say they were victims).

    4 states - political affiliations

    Utah had 18 categories including the military, emergency responders and school rivalry

But, that's nothing. The FBI keeps records for hate crimes against American, Indians or Alaska Natives (okay, call me ignorant, but what's the difference?), Arabs, Asians, Blacks Hispanics, Hawaiians/Islanders, whites, any other ethnicity not listed, Buddhists, Catholics, Russian and Greek Orthodox, other Christians or religions, Sikh, atheists and agnostics, Hindus, Islamic, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, or any other religion, gay, bisexual, heterosexual, transgender or non-conforming gender, or mix thereof, the mentally disabled, the physically disabled, men and women. 

Isn't that everybody?

But, I'm supposed to be talking about Fascism. Historically, fascists use their self-appointed status as victims to jump start their programs. Hitler was a master of playing the victim card: 

• The German nation was a victim of the Allied Powers who enforced an unjust peace on them at the end of WWI, taking their colonies and stripping them of their armed forces. Not surprisingly, German forced Russia to a very similar treaty when they sued for peace with Germany after their own revolution.

• Hitler used the real Reichstag Fire as an excuse why he needed emergency powers which he used to crush opposition.

• Hitler used the assassination of an German embassy official in France by a Jewish young man angry at the expulsion of his family from Germany (arguably, it was over a broken love affair between the official and himself) as an excuse for Kristallnacht and other anti-Jewish actions.

• Hitler claimed that Germans were being attacked in Austria, Czechoslovakia and then Poland when he wanted to attack or threaten those countries into submission. Attacks on Germans in Czechoslovakia were few, so Hitler sent his own troops in under a false flag to attack Germans.

• Hitler claimed that Germans were being attacked by Poles in the Polish Corridor (long story what that is, but Hitler wanted Poland out of it). He then faked a Polish attack on a German radio station on the border as a pretext to attack Poland.

    The Bolsheviks acted essentially the same, and despite the fact that the Nazis hated them, were actually a predecessor in a number of Nazi tactics. They not only used capitalists and Jews as scapegoats, but repeatedly used the threat of a Czarist reactionary attack as a predicate for the most horrible abuses (Lenin often gets a pass from history because Stalin's victims were so many, but he was also a cold-blooded murderer who couldn't care how many people died so long as he could make his warped society). The victimization claims worked well to a large degree on their less blood-thirsty socialist companion groups like the Social Democrats and Mensheviks, who thought better to have the violent Bolshies than the defeated Czarist forces. As bad as the Czarist system was, it was better than the Soviets.

    Sadly, the siren call of "I'm a victim" has grown. We can all think of ways to claim we are victims, but some do and some don't. Of course, there are real victims and even real groups that are victims. Ironically, how that is perceived has nothing to do with the narratives that get the attention.

    This was my first post of the new year. Back to fascism. It's not my preferred post. But it is a calling.

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