OK, time to post again the 14 defining characteristics of fascism.
Here they are:
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Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people 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 - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
From Liberty Forum
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Sounds familiar? No need to discuss each point as they happen, it's all in there, the same problem, the rise of fascism.
I do believe that if Obama were to wake up and listen to his own speeches from 2008, commit to peace and stop all this compromising with fascists, he might be able to stem the tide, by exposing it, and presenting policies that the media would have to report, and that are not in the fascist line. But he hasn't done it so far, and President Romney would be the final piece in the puzzle.
Otherwise, all fascist regimes eventually lose, as they destroy the very foundation upon which they live, but it might take quite a while.
= new reply since forum marked as read
His "doctor" moniker doesn't seem to make him a professor of anything. Can't find him anywhere on the Internet except for this repeated post, which appears, not surprisingly, on the conspiracy site rense.com; in another place he (Laurence with a "U"
has written a novel.
Why are we even discussing this?
So why not tell us what you find controversial about his 14 points?
And here is a quote by Mr. Anesi:
“Fascism is a form of political and social behavior that arises when the middle class, finding its hopes frustrated by economic instability coupled with political polarization and deadlock, abandons traditional ideologies and turns, with the approbation of police and military forces, to a poorly-defined but emotionally appealing soteriology of national unity, immediate and direct resolution of problems, and intolerance for dissent.” (Chuck Anesi, 2008)
As for the word itself, it was used by Mussolini to represent unity at all costs, using the symbol of "fasces" a roman emblem with an axe bound in a bundle of rods. The French had a similar emblem during the "reign" of Marechal Petain, the hero of the First World War...So it became a symbol not of authoritarian rule (though it can include it as well as in the case of Mussolini or Franco) but of what Mr. Anesi is saying above.
I don't know who said that there as a good guy and a bad guy in Russia vs. Germany, but it certainly wasn't me. Stalin, one of the most violent dictators in history certainly applied the principles of fascism, except that in a communist regime, it is party cronyism and not multinational corporations that dictate policy (since the means of production are not private but "belong to the people"
.
The French Revolution was a bloody massacre, that ended up crowning an Emperor whose military hunger got most of the young men in France killed, as he pretended to conquer the World for France. The Russian Revolution gave them Stalin, the Man of Steel, a merciless despot and torturer...so where here is the value of violent Revolution? How does it differ from the ills of Monarchy?
Funny though, is that your best point of leverage here? If so, that's very sad.
Because it either means you really are trying for false parity, or that you actually believe 'both sides' are equally as bad.
So which is it?
And BTW, Welcome to DU. Try to be less transparent.
How about being an adult and responding in-thread?
You want to know what my question was? It was 'what about my point did you miss?'. If the way I phrased it was confusing to you, I'll simplify: "Republicans/Conservatives can be found to engage in, pursue, or otherwise exemplify every single point on that list while Liberals cannot be accused of more than three of them."
Do you disagree?
(That's another one of those 'question' thingies, but this time I made it a nice simple 'yes or no' one. I'm kind like that.
)
There has been a definite erosion of our rights as citizens, and an ongoing attack on women's rights. And maybe you think the Supreme Court selecting Bush as President is all fun and games Democracy too. And corporations are people? No, nothing fishy about that is there?
As for being obsessed with National Security, well it's all in the eye of the beholder isn't it?
I could go on but since it isn't a fait accompli then you can continue to rationalize how it just isn't happening.
