I don’t remember anyone ever telling me anything about fascism that’s has not been in a negative light, my whole life, until recently. What’s the draw? Do they not understand the consequences?
What consequences?
They expect to be on the “dealing out consequences” side of fascism.
The opportunity to enact vengeance upon your enemies.
It’s one of the most powerful forces on earth.
Oh, nobody wants fascism, heaven forbid! Everyone knows that fascism is evil! They just want a strong leader to solve all of the country’s problems, by getting rid of Those People who are causing all of the problems, to restore the nation to its former glory, like it had in Those Times, you know when, even if nobody can put a date on it, when this country used to be great. And of course there’s nothing wrong with that!
Possibly Freedom? I’m sure there are many, depending on the person. If you support. I mean, even if you’re in the IN crowd, you wouldn’t fear for your life or lifestyle in the future?
Strongmen (or women) to admire instead of weak-kneed yappy legislators, silencing or elimination of Detrimental Societal Elements, shutdown of news media with their constantly nagging “facts”, conquest of new lands for lebensraum, snappy uniforms…what’s not to like?
Nobody enjoys fascism. Becoming a fascist is like getting into a fight. You do it because you’re too angry for reason to work, or you think you’re forced to do it. But in a fight, everyone is hurt. Even if they don’t or can’t punch back you hurt your hands.
Those who are targets of fascists will of course suffer, because that’s the point, but even if you’re on the fascists’ side, now you have to be paranoid about appearing disloyal or losing faith or having regrets. If you’re not perfect enough, you’re the next target, because once the fascists exact revenge on who they are aiming at, they’re not done. They’ll never be done. They need new victims to get the ball rolling and you’re conveniently there for them.
But you’re the one on top, you’re the big leader, so you’re safe? No you’re not. Everyone is out to get you or at least you have to assume they are. They all see your position as the safe one, the only way to be secure, so they’re looking for their chance. And as you see signs of disloyalty, and you will whether they are there or not, and you act on them, that just makes everyone around less confident about their place and more eager to replace you. The top of the mountain is very pointy and it’s easy to lose your balance. You’re trapped in the paradox of needing to appear strong but also potentially alienating and scaring your supporters.
It’s a poison but it’s a seductive one. We see it all the time in other places. Surely it can’t happen here. But it can. I think there are enough obstacles to make it hard to implement swiftly but it can happen eventually.
Those that support the fascists do not employ the mental acuity required to even consider such a thing as this possible, let alone applying to them.
Fascism usually comes at a time when people are frustrated and struggling and angry. It promises quick, simple, vengeful solutions.
Don’t be stupid there aren’t going to be any consequences for me, only for all those conniving scumbags who don’t look like me, and they are the cause of all my problems so had it coming.
Nope, I’m sure it always comes as a shock.
“But I’m one of you! We fought together!”
“That was last week.”
People who grew up under unstable governments often would rather prefer to have a stable government instead. A dictatorship is one quick way to have a stable government…for a little while, that is.
It wasn’t called ‘The Night of . . . where the fuck is Ernst Röhm?’.
Pro-fascists typically believe that there is no traditional middle ground left to preserve; the other side is all radical leftists and their dupes.
Left-wing movements have tended to be unisex, and asexual in their imagery. Right-wing movements, however puritanical and repressive the realities they usher in, have an erotic surface. Certainly Nazism is “sexier” than communism.
— Susan Sontag
Leopards, faces, etc.
Fascism lets you use the N word; you can beat a gay guy to death and take his house, you can rape your wife, and you can be a sub-mediocre white man and be in charge. You never have to take lip about how your ideas are stupide, even though they are. If you’re on top, fascism is great,
But, seriously, it’s true, the bulk of the man-in-the-street sympathizer masses are in fact not thinking of it as bringing “fascism”(*). They are listening to a proposal about a way to get things done and problems solved and their life to be unsuckingized all in an expeditious manner without getting bogged down in fancy language, processes and rules set up by the effete eggheads who don’t know about Hard Work™ .
(* This, setting aside that in many of the cases those taking over may not even be proper fascists but merely “people who want to be the ones in charge and teach others a lesson” with no real ideological construct behind them other than “those who have money get more of it”)
I feel like it’s a way for certain people to enact some form of legislation or law making that doesn’t involve a central government, or a federal government, by/for the people. But that may be authoritarianism.