Does anyone know the meaning of "fascism?"

Apparently some have no knowledge.

Why do some think "fascism" has no meaning and is only an insult?

Books have been written about fascism, for example, philosopher Jason Stanley.

"The Mass Psychology of Fascism," was written about Germany.

If we get censored for using the word, our nation is really in big trouble.

 

That, I think, is the latest epicycle in a rollback of liberal democracy that we’ve seen across the world. You can ask your parents about what 2004 and 2005 were like. They will tell you that there were hopes for democracy. Democracy was spreading with the color revolutions in Eastern Europe; five, six years later, the Arab Spring. It seemed that liberal democracy was some kind of unstoppable force. That moment, in hindsight, was a little optimistic. What we have now is ultranationalist, far-right movements that have come to power in Russia, Hungary, Poland, India, Turkey, Iran—there are theocracies across the world that fit the structure that I’m going to argue fascism does—and now the United States.

Microsoft Word - STAN001-HowFascismWorks.doc (theunheardherald.com)

 

How is fascism distinct from other extreme ideologies? These 10 traits offer clues.

These traits are:

The Mythic Past: The creation of a mythical, idealized past to look to as a moment of national glory to which the country should return. While often based on some easily exaggerated moment in history, it needn’t be based on much at all. Leaders in fascist Italy placed a higher value on the myth itself than its historical veracity, for example.

Propaganda: While many political philosophies use propaganda, fascists lean on it to establish a sense of “us and them,” and to frame “them” as an existential threat to the nation.

Anti-Intellectualism: The “them” typically include intellectuals or sources of expertise that might disagree with the leadership of the government or the fascist movement. Beyond intellectuals in the humanities, leading figures in the hard sciences can also be targeted if they go against what the leader needs to be true.


Unreality: Fascists tend to ignore details that might trouble them and define truth as whatever the leader declares it to be. This can make propaganda more effective because it allows for a leader to get their followers to ignore problems that might derail a more reality-based movement. It can also lead to things like the Nazis trying to find Atlantis.

Hierarchy: Pretty much any fascist movement will establish a hierarchy of humanity with a particular group — be it a race, religion, sex, gender, or nation — on top and everybody else below. Equality is denied and the value of the alleged dominant group will be parroted for all to hear.

Victimhood: Despite the claims of superiority, the fascist tends to also claim this group has been victimized by others — say, stabbed in the back while they were about to win World War I — and that bold action is needed to right this “wrong” and restore the hierarchy. This also tends to make equality look like discrimination against a group that isn’t being discriminated against.


Law and Order: Fascists often promise to bring law and order to a nation, though they often end up more corrupt than anybody else.

Sexual Anxiety: Like other right-wing movements, fascism tends to play on fears of and prejudices against homosexuality. Fascist politicians often frame themselves as protectors of women and children in the face of fanatic homosexuals out to harm them.

Sodom and Gomorrah: Many authoritarian, right-wing regimes gather support from the countryside by painting the urban parts of the country as the source of decadence, cosmopolitanism, sin, crime, and moral decay. Urban elites are contrasted with the “real” citizens living a wholesome, traditional life in the country.

How is fascism distinct from other extreme ideologies? These 10 traits offer clues. - Big Think

 

New books on fascism are popping up everywhere, from independent presses, former world leaders like Madeleine Albright, and academics like Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. Stanley’s latest book, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, has been described as a “vital read for a nation under Trump.” And yet, as The Guardian’s Tom McCarthy writes, one of the ironies Stanley points out is that—despite the widespread currency of the term these days—fascism succeeds by making “talk of fascism… seem outlandish.”

Is it?

Yale Professor Jason Stanley Identifies 3 Essential Features of Fascism: Invoking a Mythic Past, Sowing Division & Attacking Truth | Open Culture

 

What about fascism? Is it completely historically located? Senghor writes, about the concept of dialectical materialism, that it is “born of history and geography; it was born in the 19th Century and Western Europe.” According to Senghor it is no longer applicable, and is no longer used by those “seeking to penetrate realities no longer of the nineteenth but of the twentieth century.” Is fascism a concept like this? If so, it should no longer be used to penetrate twenty first century realities, because the assumptions about society that make it useful as an interpretive tool in social theory would no longer remain true. If so, fascism is only useful as an interpretive tool historically.

The Philosophy of Fascism - Jason Stanley | The Philosopher (thephilosopher1923.org)

 

Mussolini named his political goal "fascism" and defined it as being a right-wing ideology in opposition to socialism, liberalism, democracy and individualism. He said in "The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism":

"Granted that the 19th century was the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy, this does not mean that the 20th century must also be the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy. Political doctrines pass; nations remain. We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the 'right', a Fascist century. If the 19th century was the century of the individual (liberalism implies individualism) we are free to believe that this is the 'collective' century, and therefore the century of the State."


My rather old American Heritage Dictionary (1973) defines it as "A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism."

The Oxford Dictionary defines fascism as:
"An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization."
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/fascism

 

The idea that fascism comes only from the right is a lie...Is ludicrous. What does loving capitalism (being a righty) have anything to do with fascism?...Except if you hate capitalism.
For crying out loud, the father of fascism, Mussolini, was a lefty.

 

Fascists are enemies of democracy.

 

Where did you get "capitalism" from?! Nothing I posted mention "loving capitalism" .

 

Mussolini named his fascism as right-winged because he had such a hatred for communism which invaded the Soviet Union and other areas close to Italy.
Mussolini was a lefty. He just wasn't a communist...He hated communism.

 

Not valid. Everyone but Trump supporters say that Trump is a fascist who studied the fascism of Hitler and is focused on turning the USA fascist. That is as contemporary, timely, and relevant as it could be.

 

What made Mussolini a "lefty?" Historians never assert that.

 

The false definition pushed by many dictionaries is fascism is strictly right winged...I also included the traditional definition for righty which is a lover of capitalism.

 

Mussolini's policies made Mussolini a lefty. Mussolini favored socialism over capitalism.

 

Again, where did anything I posted say capitalism is good or bad?

 

Well that is VERY descriptive of what we've seen of Trump and the Republicans supporting him. Point-for-point it is Trump!

 

Post the evidence.

 

Trump: FBI is corrupt. DOJ is corrupt. Democrats are corrupt. Media is corrupt.

 

Then why did Mussolini write/say/agree in "The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism":

"Granted that the 19th century was the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy, this does not mean that the 20th century must also be the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy. Political doctrines pass; nations remain. We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the 'right', a Fascist century. If the 19th century was the century of the individual (liberalism implies individualism) we are free to believe that this is the 'collective' century, and therefore the century of the State."

And why was his first acts in office the rounding up and execution of socialist and the banning of socialist parties and other leftist organizations?

 

I think that the following definition from Wikipedia is as good as any I've read:

Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and the economy that rose to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.

Additionally, I think that any form of government can pass rare and occasional fascist laws and not become a completely fascist government.

 

Trump is the opposite of a fascist. A fasicist wouldn't have allowed the Floyd riots and the Charlottesville riots since a fascist doesn't allow speech or thought that is different than the fascist's speech and thought. A fascist doesn't believe in the first amendment nor in the second amendment.

I assume the fascists don't know what a fascist is especially that it isn't themselves (like progressives and ANTIFA, for examples).

 

In the primary, Trump told people at a rally to beat up a protester.

 

Yes, the "I am rubber you are glue" argument. Brilliant.

 

Did you not read my post which stated Mussolini hated communism?? Your quote of fascist doctrine is Mussolini firmly stating he hates communism.

Are you insinuating one must be a righty to hate communism?Bill Clinton hated communism. General George Patton voted democrat his whole life. Was Patton a fascist?..A righty?

Sigh...This is the age of disinformation.

 

Even Trump is smart enough to fight the battles he believes he can win as he gradually turns the heat up on the pot of water you're sitting in.