“Fascist” is approaching the level of “racist” in the competition of words that, when spoken, convey “stop listening to me immediately” This is an artifact of political discourse, not language itself — but it’s increasingly hard to solve.
Joseph Welch's famed quote is difficult to improve upon. "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency?" this is what it has always boiled down to for me.
The obfuscation of meaning has been a deliberate political strategy (“a Marxist, a communist, and even a fascist”) of Republicans and their media machine. The trivial use of “fascist” and “Nazi,particularly by those on the left, has contributed to that degradation, as you correctly point out. A bigger part of the problem is the passing away of those, as Orwell put it in his essay on Koestler, “who happened to see totalitarianism from the inside”, as well as those who fought it. It wouldn’t have been possible for a party would have an admirer of Hitler as its candidate some 50 to 60 years ago.
Maybe it moves the needle, the generals saying this guy is bad news. A little, where it counts, in rural PA and so forth. The military is an institution conservatives respect. The court cases might be political, Cheney might be a traitor -- but discount two generals? Of course, the problem at the root of everything is that his voters might barely hear the information, locked as they are inside the Fox bubble.
And while Harris is closing with Let's Save Democracy -- certainly less fun than They're So Weird -- Trump is closing with The Trans Menace. Difficult to imagine "Please, think of the children's dicks" will drive a red wave -- but then my whole life has been in Los Angeles and NYC, so what do I know about the bees in the bonnets of Altoona and Sheboygan. Maybe it's gold.
Closing arguments are like opinions, everyone has one they're convinced is One Weird Trick. Harris has the weight of Saving Democracy on her shoulders, so she's going with the biggest message she believes in that might resonate. Trump is going with the message that gets the biggest response from his base. No one knows what resonates in the Heartland, but I guess we'll find out soon enough.
I do too, but every politician has a good angel on one shoulder and a consultant on the other, whispering in each ear. "State your principles and convictions, use rhetoric to make a compelling argument for them". "The polls say you'll get slaughtered, focus on the economy, stand with Israel, and promise to clear out the homeless encampments". I stand firm on my conviction that a majority of American voters do not understand politics, governing, or policy. Look at the number of intelligent, informed Americans who refuse to believe in the practice of diplomacy and call it lying because they have no idea what goes on in those meetings guys in suits are always flying to. Or God have mercy on your soul, go to a city council meeting with public commemts.
The modern use of "fascism" in its present sense originated not with Mussolini in Italy but in France a decade or so earlier. I don't have the citation handy. It may be in Chris Millington's "A History of Fascism in France."
I don't think so, though. French Wikipedia talks about the ideology as the "revolutionary right" , conjonction entre une radicalisation antidémocratique de certains mouvements d'extrême gauche (notamment le syndicalisme révolutionnaire) avec une nouvelle droite nationaliste, formant la « droite révolutionnaire », dont est issue le fascisme https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascisme formed between 1880 and 1914, which I'm familiar with as the ideology of the anti-Dreyfusards in the mid-1890s, anti-democratic, nationalistic-militaristic, and fiercely antisemitic (goes with a particular kind of conservative Catholicism, I think "ultramontanist"). But the f-word is Mussolini's by all accounts I can find.
Alice Kaplan, "Reproductions of Banality" p. xxviii: "The Marquis de Morès. . . in 1894 published his 'doctrine du faisceau' an anti-Semitic populism that moved him to organize racist leaguesin the Paris suburb of La Villette. It is in France, then, that a 'faisceau' bound by racism is first organized."
Kapla, in turn, cites Zev Sternhell's "La Droite revolutionaire" as her source.
Wow, thanks, that’s fantastic. It seems https://books.openedition.org/enseditions/2209?lang=en the development (well before Mussolini) was in both countries and the word fascio/faisceau had left connotations originally and wavered between left and right as Mussolini himself did in World War I.
Yes, that's my impression. And the symbol of the bound fascii (sp?) was revived many times by both "left and "right" leaning groups and theorists. And antisemitism has frequently found itself at home on the left as well as the right. Many of the antisemitic fascist leagues in France included people with more or less "left" agendas (anti-capitalist, quasi-socialist).
Okay, I'll dig out the citation. But I have about 5 or 6 books on French Fascism and I’m not sure where I spotted this little morsel. It even cited the name of the person.
“Fascist” is approaching the level of “racist” in the competition of words that, when spoken, convey “stop listening to me immediately” This is an artifact of political discourse, not language itself — but it’s increasingly hard to solve.
Joseph Welch's famed quote is difficult to improve upon. "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency?" this is what it has always boiled down to for me.
It doesn't help that fascism famously has no clear deinition, but our political discourse encourages corruption of language and everything else.
The obfuscation of meaning has been a deliberate political strategy (“a Marxist, a communist, and even a fascist”) of Republicans and their media machine. The trivial use of “fascist” and “Nazi,particularly by those on the left, has contributed to that degradation, as you correctly point out. A bigger part of the problem is the passing away of those, as Orwell put it in his essay on Koestler, “who happened to see totalitarianism from the inside”, as well as those who fought it. It wouldn’t have been possible for a party would have an admirer of Hitler as its candidate some 50 to 60 years ago.
Postscript: this is why Putin is so keen to eliminate Russian critics abroad. They put the lie to craven admirers like “Spank me Daddy” Carlson.
It really is. It's an important concept! But the word is becoming completely useless outside an academic context.
Maybe it moves the needle, the generals saying this guy is bad news. A little, where it counts, in rural PA and so forth. The military is an institution conservatives respect. The court cases might be political, Cheney might be a traitor -- but discount two generals? Of course, the problem at the root of everything is that his voters might barely hear the information, locked as they are inside the Fox bubble.
And while Harris is closing with Let's Save Democracy -- certainly less fun than They're So Weird -- Trump is closing with The Trans Menace. Difficult to imagine "Please, think of the children's dicks" will drive a red wave -- but then my whole life has been in Los Angeles and NYC, so what do I know about the bees in the bonnets of Altoona and Sheboygan. Maybe it's gold.
Closing arguments are like opinions, everyone has one they're convinced is One Weird Trick. Harris has the weight of Saving Democracy on her shoulders, so she's going with the biggest message she believes in that might resonate. Trump is going with the message that gets the biggest response from his base. No one knows what resonates in the Heartland, but I guess we'll find out soon enough.
I guess. I wish it could be smarter, I wish politicians could trust voters to be smarter (then I made fun of Sanders for doing exactly that).
I do too, but every politician has a good angel on one shoulder and a consultant on the other, whispering in each ear. "State your principles and convictions, use rhetoric to make a compelling argument for them". "The polls say you'll get slaughtered, focus on the economy, stand with Israel, and promise to clear out the homeless encampments". I stand firm on my conviction that a majority of American voters do not understand politics, governing, or policy. Look at the number of intelligent, informed Americans who refuse to believe in the practice of diplomacy and call it lying because they have no idea what goes on in those meetings guys in suits are always flying to. Or God have mercy on your soul, go to a city council meeting with public commemts.
Bad-brained, bad actor.
But would make a pretty good surrealist stand up comic, if you go for his schtick.
Possibly Banana Man level.
The modern use of "fascism" in its present sense originated not with Mussolini in Italy but in France a decade or so earlier. I don't have the citation handy. It may be in Chris Millington's "A History of Fascism in France."
Thanks!
I don't think so, though. French Wikipedia talks about the ideology as the "revolutionary right" , conjonction entre une radicalisation antidémocratique de certains mouvements d'extrême gauche (notamment le syndicalisme révolutionnaire) avec une nouvelle droite nationaliste, formant la « droite révolutionnaire », dont est issue le fascisme https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascisme formed between 1880 and 1914, which I'm familiar with as the ideology of the anti-Dreyfusards in the mid-1890s, anti-democratic, nationalistic-militaristic, and fiercely antisemitic (goes with a particular kind of conservative Catholicism, I think "ultramontanist"). But the f-word is Mussolini's by all accounts I can find.
Alice Kaplan, "Reproductions of Banality" p. xxviii: "The Marquis de Morès. . . in 1894 published his 'doctrine du faisceau' an anti-Semitic populism that moved him to organize racist leaguesin the Paris suburb of La Villette. It is in France, then, that a 'faisceau' bound by racism is first organized."
Kapla, in turn, cites Zev Sternhell's "La Droite revolutionaire" as her source.
Wow, thanks, that’s fantastic. It seems https://books.openedition.org/enseditions/2209?lang=en the development (well before Mussolini) was in both countries and the word fascio/faisceau had left connotations originally and wavered between left and right as Mussolini himself did in World War I.
Yes, that's my impression. And the symbol of the bound fascii (sp?) was revived many times by both "left and "right" leaning groups and theorists. And antisemitism has frequently found itself at home on the left as well as the right. Many of the antisemitic fascist leagues in France included people with more or less "left" agendas (anti-capitalist, quasi-socialist).
Okay, I'll dig out the citation. But I have about 5 or 6 books on French Fascism and I’m not sure where I spotted this little morsel. It even cited the name of the person.