Post #1754030

2026-04-23 15:43 UTC

@dashdsrdash @feoh it's debatable if fascists even *have* core beliefs, and I think there's a compelling case that they do not: truth is just another weapon to a fascist. Maybe you can argue there is a core belief in violence as a natural state. Which is also why trying to point out hypocrasies is a complete waste: the people who care about that contradiction are by-definition the people who *aren't* constructing truth to meet the moment, but believe there is some sort of external Truth of reality against which people can measure up. I always end up back at Umberto Eco's "Ur-Fascism". The list of symptoms is just as relevant today as it was in 1995. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism

Replies (2)

@feoh@oldbytes.space 2026-04-23 16:24

@SnoopJ @dashdsrdash What a thoroughly fascinating man Eco was! I look forward to having contemplative time to sit down and read this. Thanks for sharing!

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@feoh@oldbytes.space 2026-04-28 14:13

@SnoopJ @dashdsrdash @AlexxKay My goodness this is an incredibly powerful piece! "If you browse in the shelves that, in American bookstores, are labeled as New Age, you can find there even Saint Augustine who, as far as I know, was not a fascist. But combining Saint Augustine and Stonehenge — that is a symptom of Ur-Fascism." "Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity. Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks for consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition." "We must keep alert, so that the sense of these words will not be forgotten again. Ur-Fascism is still around us, sometimes in plainclothes. It would be so much easier, for us, if there appeared on the world scene somebody saying, “I want to reopen Auschwitz, I want the Black Shirts to parade again in the Italian squares.” Life is not that simple. Ur-Fascism can come back under the most innocent of disguises. Our duty is to uncover it and to point our finger at any of its new instances — every day, in every part of the world. Franklin Roosevelt’s words of November 4, 1938, are worth recalling: I venture the challenging statement that if American democracy ceases to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means to better the lot of our citizens, fascism will grow in strength in our land." This is the kind of written work that germinates like a seed the first time you read it, and grows over time, maturing into a bumper crop of ideas. Thanks so much for sharing! I look forward to reading it again in a few months when it's had some time to marinate! :) #facism #philosophy #language #words #power

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