what is fascism

I consider fascism to be one of the two forms of socialism. The only style of government that can implement it is a dictatorship or an oligarchy. It can only be implemented by force.

Fascism is that form of socialism that doesn't outright own property or the means to produce wealth. It lets the individual take all the risk of starting a business. Government then comes along and tells you how to run that business. It will tell you what to make, where you can sell it, and how much you can sell it for.

Beyond this, various other characteristics about such governments, such as genocidal tendencies, tribalism and class warfare, the theft of wealth becoming concentrated among the 'elite', are the same as that other form of socialism, communism.

Fascism, like any socialism, steals wealth. It doesn't create it. It can only be implemented by force.
 
its run by the wealthy silly

Mussolini sold off all the country's public systems


then named all those wealthy people who he sold everything to the top seats in his government
 
I always suspected that guy Franco was a socialist! Most people thought he was ultra-conservative, but I guess that was just a front.
 
evince said:
after telling the people they will be given all sorts of good programs to help them and then NEVER following through



its a way to grab power so you can then rule HOWEVER you want


Not all Fascist dictators rule the same way


but they all LIE their way to power and then secure all the power and leave the people with very little
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LIKE OBAMA DID!! :good4u:
 
evince said:
after telling the people they will be given all sorts of good programs to help them and then NEVER following through



its a way to grab power so you can then rule HOWEVER you want


Not all Fascist dictators rule the same way


but they all LIE their way to power and then secure all the power and leave the people with very little
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Damn I’m good
 
Did anyone actually read the article and background stuff related to it?

Evince asks "What is fascism?" and gives a link to an article.

Well, I read it.

A new book by Yale philosopher Jason Stanley is the latest attempt to clarify what fascism is and how it functions in the modern world. Stanley focuses on propaganda and rhetoric, so his book is largely about the tropes and narratives that drive fascist politics.
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https://www.vox.com/2018/9/19/17847110/how-fascism-works-donald-trump-jason-stanley

So, what Evince uses as evidence of what fascism is, is an article about a book that is based on anecdote. Tropes, and personal or rhetorical narratives show little to nothing about fascism. Instead, it is suggesting that fascist propaganda is evidence of what they actually were planning and doing.

Then an interview by the article's author with the book's writer follows. Here's some of what the author said.

I think of fascism as a method of politics. It’s a rhetoric, a way of running for power. Of course, that’s connected to fascist ideology, because fascist ideology centers on power. But I really see fascism as a technique to gain power.
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This is opinion and nothing more. His opening sentence is nothing but stating the obvious. What follows has no basis from that statement.

Or this:

In the past, fascist politics would focus on the dominant cultural group. The goal is to make them feel like victims, to make them feel like they’ve lost something and that the thing they’ve lost has been taken from them by a specific enemy, usually some minority out-group or some opposing nation.
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This is just vapid. I'd ask what specific enemy / minority out-group did Mussolini or Franco focus on as opposing their nations? This is an indictment that the author focused on Nazi fascism while ignoring all other uses of it.

This is partly why I think of fascism as a kind of anti-politics. I remember reading a quote from Joseph Goebbels, who was the chief propagandist for the Nazis, and he said that what he was doing was more like art than politics. By which he meant their task was to create an alternative mythical reality for Germans that was more exciting and purposeful than the humdrum reality of liberal democratic politics, and that’s why mass media was so essential the rise of Nazism.
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This reinforces my previous statement. This idiot liberal arts professor focused on Nazi Germany then applied it in a vague and offhand way to politics in general

Basically, the book is worthless.

What's worse, is the author then tries to tie current Conservative / Right wing politics to this nonsense in the same idiotic way, as if that wasn't to be expected...
 
Again, I wouldn’t claim — not yet, at least — that Trump is presiding over a fascist government, but he is very clearly using fascist techniques to excite his base and erode liberal democratic institutions, and that’s very troubling.

Indeed. "Fake news." "Immigration crisis". Calling people with different opinions the enemy of the USA. And so on.
 
Hitler, Mussolini and Franco were operating in societies that were close to collapse as a result of war and economic turmoil; and none of those societies had a strong democratic tradition in the first place.

A person would have to be very smart - even a political genius - to make fascism gain traction in America. Trump is using elements of fascist rhetoric, but fortunately he isn't very smart, to put it mildly. You might say he isn't smart enough to be a fascist. :laugh:

He could still do considerable damage. His antics especially over the past year have undoubtedly damaged American society - how much remains to be seen. And for what? To serve his own ego, nothing else. There is a possibility that someone much smarter could learn lessons from his career and do it "better".
 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Stanley


Jason Stanley (born 1969) is an American philosopher who is the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University.[1][2] He has made contributions to the philosophy of language and epistemology,[3] which often draw upon and influence other fields, including linguistics and cognitive science. He has written for the New York Times philosophy blog "The Stone".[3] In his more recent work, Stanley has brought tools from philosophy of language and epistemology to bear on questions of political philosophy, especially in his 2015 book How Propaganda Works
 
AProudLefty said:
Again, I wouldn’t claim — not yet, at least — that Trump is presiding over a fascist government, but he is very clearly using fascist techniques to excite his base and erode liberal democratic institutions, and that’s very troubling.

Indeed. "Fake news." "Immigration crisis". Calling people with different opinions the enemy of the USA. And so on.
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And promising to fix everything that the people find lacking


Running as if it’s all for the little guy


Then fixing nothing and sucking the dicks of the wealthy


Like Benny the moose did


Mussolini made the trains run on time



By reducing all the trips the trains made


Leaving the people walking
 
evince said:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Stanley


Jason Stanley (born 1969) is an American philosopher who is the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University.[1][2] He has made contributions to the philosophy of language and epistemology,[3] which often draw upon and influence other fields, including linguistics and cognitive science. He has written for the New York Times philosophy blog "The Stone".[3] In his more recent work, Stanley has brought tools from philosophy of language and epistemology to bear on questions of political philosophy, especially in his 2015 book How Propaganda Works
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T A Gardner

Or


This guy?



That was easy
 
Wow


So you think they are doxing people?


Then sue them and make a buck


Maybe you could be the new owner


For a minute until all the posters bailed


If they doxed me I’m so old the judge would slam their heads in a cell door putting them away so quick

Isn’t having laws and regulations awesome


Yeah


A judicial system standing free of the other branches was an awesome idea huh


And to think your dumb ass wants government to be an empty powerless shell


Damn your dumb
 
evince said:
T A Gardner
Or
This guy?
That was easy
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Irrelevant appeal to authority fallacy. Just because someone has a bunch of degrees doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. Provide support that his statements I quoted define what fascism is. That's the crux of the matter here.

To reiterate:

1. Fascism is a political and economic system much like Communism, Socialism, and other such systems are.

2. Fascism is not defined by its propaganda any more than any other political and economic system is.

3. Trying to define fascism by its propaganda is a futile effort. One doesn't equal the other.

So, what does define fascism?

Nationalistic
Totalitarian
Prefers a Socialist economy usually in the form of Statist Capitalism
Often militaristic

Those are some basic traits.
 
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