People tend to use this word as a synonym to "everything bad", but it's not its actual meaning. Fascism is a one of totalitarian ideologies, that has racism in its core. We'll have a separate post for racism, but its idea revolves around the natural superiority of one race over all "others," leading to the belief that all "others" should either be eliminated or enslaved.
Natural superiority means it comes from nature, so once being born you can do abolutely nothing to change it.
Paradoxically, fascism did not originate from uneducated savages, but rather from respectable and intelligent professors.
-mussolini
I was actually curious about the actual definition the other day and did a little dive, and was really surprised by the amount of actual thought that went into some of the thinking. I can't find the quote but it's about starting ww2 in the name of progress "for God, and for nothing". I was taken aback by the amount of self awareness in the quote.
Mussolini was into Nietzsche iirc. They were definitely intellectual types...mussolini was a Marxist, I believe, at some point before fascism too. I'm not a historian, but it's worth the read, and quite frightening how one can go from one to the other fairly quickly given the right circumstances.
Simplisticly, they believe in extreme tribalism, they think it's a natural state of man, to group up and to fight. Which tbh, is fair enough, but once you start letting that be your reality and not seeking out a better path forward is where it gets crazy, besides all the obvious stuff like imposing your will unquestioning, and all that shit about the state.
You're spot on. Fascism and communism are at their core extremely similar ideologies. It all comes down to how you define your "tribe". In fascism this is defined by race, ethnicity, and religion, whereas for communism this is defined by class. Both ideologies favor populism, in that the good of the "tribe" is more important than the good of the individual, and if you're not in the "tribe" then you can get fucked. And both ideologies view the tribe as infallible in so far as that anything wrong in society must be the result of outside influence. I'd recommend looking into the work of Yuval Noah Harari, he's written a lot of very insightful books on these topics.
fascism and communism are not similar ideologies.
i don't have time or the energy for this discussion. Just keep this in your mind as a grain, a little crack in your certitude.
Whoa! Thank you so much for the recc. I have just lately dived into Marxism, and the adjacent history surrounding and leading to our modern time, and while lurking certain communities trying to learn, I had that same thought as your comment. So I'm really glad you have given me a personal recommendation that fits in with what I'm currently cramming my head with. Making up for lost time I guess. Appreciate it alot.