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Smilo

(1,944 posts)
Sun Apr 14, 2013, 11:51 AM Apr 2013

How do 'characteristics of fascist state' look today?

I am posting this in its' entirety because otherwise would not do it justice.

Ten years ago this month, a surprising document swept the Internet. An op-ed in Free Inquiry magazine, supposedly by a political scientist named Lawrence Britt, described “14 characteristics of fascist states.” Britt had studied the regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Francisco Franco in Spain, Suharto in Indonesia and Augusto Pinochet in Chile and identified traits he said were common in all.

The story turned out to be bogus — there was a Laurence Britt, with a “u,” but he was a businessman, not an academic. His one book, titled “June 2004,” was a critique of right-wing extremism, and the op-ed was aimed at the George W. Bush administration.

Bush was riding a post 9/11 wave of approval, and criticism was not well-received. I don’t know how linking Republicans with fascism went over elsewhere, but when I cited Britt’s essay here, I got hammered. Even hinting at fascism in America, many readers said, gave comfort to the enemy.

But that was 10 years ago. I came across the 14 points again recently, and they’re scarier now than they were the first time around.

First, a definition: Fascism, in the dictionary, is a governmental system with complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, emphasizing nationalism and often encouraging racism.

Here are Britt’s characteristics. As you read, remember that when I presented them a decade ago, suggesting that they were the goal of the neo-conservative movement, readers in wholesale lots rejected the idea. View them now with your 2013 eyes:

1. Powerful and continuing nationalism, including “constant use of patriotic mottoes, symbols ... and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere.”

Remember the flag pins every politician wore for awhile? The antenna flags?

2. Disdain for the recognition of human rights. “People are persuaded that human rights can be ignored. ... (They) tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners etc.”

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. People are “rallied into a patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat.”

4. Supremacy of the military.

Got to quote this one verbatim: “Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate share of government funding ... soldiers and military service are glamorized.”

5. Rampant sexism. Think back to “legitimate rape.”

6. Controlled mass media.

7. Obsession with national security. “Fear is used as a motivational tool ... over the masses.”

8. Religion and government are intertwined.

9. Corporate power is protected.

10. Labor power is suppressed.

11. Disdain for intellectuals and the arts. “Free expression ... is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.” As in the annual attack on National Public Radio.

12. Obsession with crime and punishment. “The police are given almost limitless power… the people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forgo civil liberties in the name of patriotism.”

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.

14. Fraudulent elections, “sometimes a complete sham. ... Smear campaigns … use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries ... use (of) judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.”

In 2003, this seemed quite a stretch. How’s it sounding now?

Cory Farley is a freelance writer who lives in Verdi. http://www.rgj.com/article/20130414/COL0101/304140050/Cory-Farley-How-do-characteristics-fascist-state-look-today-
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How do 'characteristics of fascist state' look today? (Original Post) Smilo Apr 2013 OP
It is happening in my beloved Canada, too, PDJane Apr 2013 #1
Perhaps folks would be fredamae Apr 2013 #2
The more important characteristics would be treestar Apr 2013 #3
Well, I think there is a lot of exaggeration here. JayhawkSD Apr 2013 #4
Bunk when they were proposed, and bunk now. Donald Ian Rankin Apr 2013 #5

fredamae

(4,458 posts)
2. Perhaps folks would be
Sun Apr 14, 2013, 12:10 PM
Apr 2013

well served to focus upon current events that are the definition as opposed to obsessing about the "term", imo

treestar

(82,383 posts)
3. The more important characteristics would be
Sun Apr 14, 2013, 03:09 PM
Apr 2013

a totalitarian state, no bill of rights, no legislation, no courts to review the laws, a lot more militarism than even we have, no freedom of speech, etc.

 

JayhawkSD

(3,163 posts)
4. Well, I think there is a lot of exaggeration here.
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 01:35 AM
Apr 2013

Some of the things claimed to be happening are exaggerated. i.e. funding of the arts. Yes NPR funding is attacked, but there is no general disdain for art and culture, and no push to reduce the importance of them.

Other points are by no means limited to facism. Cronyism and corruption can exist in many systems, and their existance is certainly not de facto evidence of facism. Additionally, the "protection of corporate power" is simply another way of saying cronyism and corruption.

Labor power is suppressed by military governments and by dictatorships, too, so using that as evidence of facism is a bit weak.

And saying that the "intertwining of religion and government" is a sign of facism is just plain nuts. Did Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto or Pinochet use religion? Seriously?

Donald Ian Rankin

(13,598 posts)
5. Bunk when they were proposed, and bunk now.
Wed Apr 17, 2013, 06:04 PM
Apr 2013

This is basically nothing to do with the definition or identification of fascism. It's just things Dr Britt reverse-engineered to help him pretend America was going fascist.
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