On Fascism . . .the other “F” word.

by Joss Armstrong | 6:28 pm, March 2, 2009 | Comments Off

You’ve more than likely seen “fascist” thrown around a LOT–and I’ll bet you dollars to donuts when you’ve seen it the meaning has been a tad inconsistent.

  After performing many a google search for contextual references to “fascist” and “fascism”,  I found George Orwell made offering up the word’s internet flame-fest definition easy:

The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies “something not desirable.”

Fascist has generally also been used in place of “Someone who doesn’t agree with my politics.”

Don’t agree with me? Fascist!  

So what, really, is a fascist?  Words that I have heard used (correctly) as synonyms are “statist” and “authoritarian” and “collectivist”.  Think centralized government planning.  Think government intervention.  I’m trying very hard  to be objective instead of a . . . a . . . capitalist bitch, but to heck with it.  Think “stimulus” packages, think governmental bailouts, think free health-care, think wealth redistribution, think industrial nationalism.  It’s all there in Mussolini’s writings.

To quote Mussolini:

“Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived in their relation to the State.”

“Against individualism, the Fascist conception is for the State … Liberalism denied the State in the interests of the particular individual; Fascism reaffirms the State as the true reality of the individual”

Note the term “liberalism” is used in the European, or classic sense.  

 I chose to link to this piece because it cites Mussolini, the father of fascism,  to support its conclusions.

Since I hear progressives play the fascist card so often, I did make a concerted effort to find a progressive academic resource that defines their oft-used and much-beloved epithet.  Actual factual analysis and definitions are oddly lacking.  Coincidence?  I think not.

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