Jared Yates Sexton: Different Stage, Same Problem

[Nevilledog]

https://jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/different-stage-same-problem

This past weekend many of us in the analysis game shook our heads as we watched the results roll in from Italy’s latest round of elections. It was almost a foregone conclusion that Giorgia Meloni, leader of the neo-fascist Brothers of Italy party, would ascend to power. The conditions were too perfect, the stage was set, and the trajectory of current events all but made certain. Still, the numbers hit like a stiff uppercut. Brothers of Italy rode the wave of authoritarianism and desperation from an outsider position all the way to power.

And then, with predictable quickness, the normalization began.



The language in this opinion piece from The Washington Post is so by-the-books in terms of normalizing extremism that it probably came from a folder pulled out of the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s file cabinet labeled START HERE. The wrapping of dangerous nationalism in symbols and metaphors. The comparison to a “worse” country and regime. The focus on respecting “national traditions” and restoring “economic freedoms.”

Henry Olsen, the author, is capable of doing this all day, and luckily he’s rewarded for that willingness by donors like the Kochs and any number of Right Wing billionaires who keep the Center flooded with money to promote “Judeo-Christian morality in business.” In other words, it’s the usage of religion and mythical traditions to legitimize extreme wealth and antidemocratic actions.

To someone like Olsen and his fellows, Meloni is a literal godsend. A Right Wing demagogue who mixes militant capitalism with perfect amounts of fearmongering, racism, and conspiracy theories in order to make the whole thing go down and generate populist support. These people either have no ability to understand the inherent fascism in their views or are well aware and see it as a necessary bonus. Either way, they aren’t alone. Their views and laundering are gaining traction in mainstream publications and networks because we are steadily marching toward fully-accepted authoritarianism.

*snip*

[crickets]

1. K&R for visibility.