“fascism” from wikipedia - come on, there’s enough history and stuff here where we don’t need private definitions of the terms, you can actually even go read “the Doctrine Of Fascism: written when it was a viable political marketing strategy and not simply pejorative : Fascism was influenced by both left and right, conservative and anti-conservative, national and supranational, rational and anti-rational.[39] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-ah.brookes.ac.uk-39> A number of historians regard fascism as either a revolutionary centrist doctrine, as a doctrine that mixes philosophies of the left and the right, or as both of those things.[40] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-sr3-40>[41] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-er71-41> Fascism was founded during World War I <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I> by Italian national syndicalists <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_syndicalism> who drew upon left-wing <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing_politics> and right-wing <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics> political views. Some scholars consider fascism to be right-wing because of its social conservatism <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_conservatism> and its authoritarian means of opposing egalitarianism <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egalitarianism>.[42] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-The_Routledge_companion_to_fascism_and_the_far_right-42>[43] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-Modern_Free_Society_and_Its_Nemesis:_Liberty_Versus_Conservatism_in_the_New_Millennium-43> Roderick Stackelberg places fascism—including Nazism <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism>, which he says is "a radical variant of fascism"—on the political right, explaining that, "The more a person deems absolute equality among all people to be a desirable condition, the further left he or she will be on the ideological spectrum. The more a person considers inequality to be unavoidable or even desirable, the further to the right he or she will be."[44] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-google6-44> Italian Fascism <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Fascism> gravitated to the right in the early 1920s.[45] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-ZeevSternhell-45>[46] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-massachusetts-46> A major element of fascist ideology that has been deemed to be far-right is its stated goal to promote the right of a supposedly superior people to dominate, while purging society of supposedly inferior elements.[47] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-Oliver_H._Woshinsky_2008._p._156-47> In 1919 Benito Mussolini <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini> described fascism as a movement that would strike "against the backwardness of the right and the destructiveness of the left".[48] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-varldenshistoria.se-48>[49] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-littlefield-49> Later, the Italian Fascists described their ideology as right-wing in the political program The Doctrine of Fascism <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doctrine_of_Fascism>, stating: "We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the 'right,' a fascist century."[50] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-Jeffrey_Thompson_Schnapp_2000.2C_p._57-50>[51] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-Benito_Mussolini_1935.2C_p._26-51> Mussolini stated that fascism's position on the political spectrum was not a serious issue for fascists: "Fascism, sitting on the right, could also have sat on the mountain of the center ... These words in any case do not have a fixed and unchanged meaning: they do have a variable subject to location, time and spirit. We don't give a damn about these empty terminologies and we despise those who are terrorized by these words."[52] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#cite_note-Gentile.2C_Emilio_2005._p._205-52>
---- Joshua Case jwc...@gmail.com <mailto:jwc...@gmail.com> “International tensions. Mounting international tensions. First there were states of precautionary alert, then there were enhanced readiness centers. This was followed by maximum arc situational preparedness. We can measure the gravity of events by tracing the increasingly abstract nature of the terminology. One more level of vagueness and that could be it." > On Feb 2, 2017, at 12:10 PM, Steve Kinney <ad...@pilobilus.net> wrote: > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > On 02/01/2017 11:34 PM, jim bell wrote: >> I looked up the (Google?) definition of "fascist", and it stated: >> / fas·cism //ˈfaSHˌizəm/ //noun //an authoritarian >> and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social >> organization./ >> >> 1. /synonyms:/ /authoritarianism > >> /(in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant >> views or practice./ > >> But that seems to be a circular definition: It refers to >> "right-wing", but doesn't explain why (other than common usage) >> "fascism" is thought to be "right wing". I was under the impression >> that 'traditional' fascism involved government control (but not >> ownership) of the means of production. But Socialism, I thought, >> amounted to heavy taxation of the means of production, which is >> tantamount to government control, too. And Communism might simply >> be labelled a form of extreme Socialism. So why isn't "fascism" >> merely seen as being another form of "Socialism"? > > My preferred definition of fascism describes it as rule by a wealthy > oligarchy composed of industrialists and financiers, a.k.a. > capitalists, under a veneer of pretended "democracy." > > On the domestic front, fascist States consolidate and expand the power > of a ruling elite through a propaganda regimen presenting an > existential conflict between the country's racial and ethnic "rightful > owners" and selected racial, ethnic and foreign scapegoats. > > On the international front, fascist States wage aggressive wars to > further the commercial interests of their ruling elites, under the > pretext of national self defense against notional existential threats > to the State's racial and ethnic "rightful owners." > > Today, I view U.S. Progressive Liberal and Conservative Right > constituencies as products of marketing campaigns respectively > promoting covert and overt, or soft and hard, fascist values and > agendas to the public. I view the political conflict between the > nominal Left and Right at the national policy level as a friendly > competition between financiers (Left) and industrialists (Right) for > dominance in setting national policy for their own benefit. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v2.0.22 (GNU/Linux) > > iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJYk2f8AAoJEECU6c5XzmuqXfcH/38DCslWU8jQgdrvOud9lulg > ICOfW8x4+exsSh219n8okLtJ+zQxRD6yMF+4On44Eur7VDSAON5n9SLevwzujsCF > /ut5LocisehG5n3YF+J49C0EL+7MCaCSBuDmW75eTuBorwO3L35fBy8t7yLhiTzc > nB9Pu7MoZDz8+rFCWb9f32EuVljn8aJjlDEWceJxLM3Q7Wjh7Z2MtQrL/BslqMwn > TjeyM8Bvl+KHmfRBK1JwTyHM9cKExRbSE7dDmdGAPuZmCdj3sQJ53tUnHQUOGdpj > l/sn0JxD9FsqWO8/zusUBOqT9HQP2PI0S6C8K2GoJjGKvTIHAGRB7mvc518xvVc= > =6JtU > -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
