FASCISM'S BAD? WHY?

Bohemian Peasant

“Robert Paxton, in ‘Anatomy of Fascism’, offers this pragmatic definition of fascism: “a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence …”
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#Fascism

Bohemian Peasant

@wdlindsy

Robert Paxton, in Anatomy of Fascism, offers this pragmatic definition of fascism:

(continued) “ … and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.”

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#fascism

William Lindsey :toad:

@BohemianPeasant Thank you for these insighful excerpts from Robert Paxton's book. They offer good slants for the current discussion of the term.

William Lindsey :toad:

@j2bryson @salixsericea We're never given a clear picture of his constantly shifting wealth, are we?

William Lindsey :toad:

@ponyponypony Thank you — yes, one of the best books on the topic to be published in recent years. I gave it as a kind of primer to people when it first came out, as Christmas presents.

William Lindsey :toad:

@lolonurse Well-stated.

William Lindsey :toad:

@lolonurse You're right, for sure. And as I read what you wrote, I think of something I read recently — can't remember who said this — which pointed out that more people in New York City voted for Trump in 2020 than in the entire state of West Virginia. Who are those New Yorkers? And what on earth are they thinking?

William Lindsey :toad:

@Okanogen I fear you are right about that.

William Lindsey :toad:

@CatHerder Yes, but as some commentators are noting, not even at his worst did Wallace go the whole-hog fascist route Trump-Vance have taken.

William Lindsey :toad:

@BlueWaver22 I agree.

lolonurse

@wdlindsy
NY City changed quite a bit after 9/11 (imo). The rock solid blue of all the unions began to change as people became suspicious & xenophobic (crazy in NYC, where everyone comes from somewhere). Staten Island, bastion of firefighters, turned bright red. Queens and Long Island went red. And all the smarmy MBAs on Wall St. Anyway... it's sad & stupid.

William Lindsey :toad:

@lolonurse Yes, I've heard interesting conversations at the house of my niece in Connecticut, who moved out of the city during the pandemic (with husband and children), but still has her business there and goes there daily. And at the apartment of my brother in Brooklyn…. My niece describes herself as a "strong Democrat," and my brother would no doubt say the same. But they interact with New Yorkers who, while leaning Democratic, often have surprisingly xenophobic ideas and express them freely.

lolonurse

@wdlindsy
Plus I think that New York has been the repository for the most diverse people, for hundreds of years. They've all had to get used to, and accept, the accents, looks, clothing, foods & smells, religions, holidays and customs of all the people living around them. And being New Yorkers, anything is fair game for a joke or snark. That used to be tolerated, part of the "flavor" of NYC...but now we have come to be more sensitive- & yet, a LOT less tolerant.

William Lindsey :toad:

@lolonurse Yes, that captures the New York I see, and which you know from the inside. It's good to be invited — or forced by proximity and shared space — to rub shoulders with those different from ourselves frequently. This, I think, is the big challenge for too many of us in the heartland: we can't imagine a bigger world because we seldom encounter anyone very different from ourselves culturally, religiously, in terms of thought patterns and background.

lolonurse

@wdlindsy
We were doubly lucky bc my dad was involved with the designing and/or renovation of so many NYC landmarks, from the UN building to the Guggenheim to Lincoln Center to the Museum of Natural History/Haydn Planetarium. His folks were engineers, architects & designers from all over the world, so we were totally used to being surrounded by folks from literally everywhere. I like it that way. Where I am now, the primary diversity is lgbtqia++ against a sea of Falun Gong & MAGA.

William Lindsey :toad:

@lolonurse As ever, when you tell me about your family background and upbringing, I have to say how very fortunate you were.

lolonurse

@wdlindsy
As with anything and anybody, there are aspects about which I could definitely argue... but overall, I have to agree. And I'm especially thankful that I grew up in the 50's/60's, before any sort of electronic distractions (& when TV was not on 24 hours a day, & kids were allowed 1/2 hour or 1 hour per day, IF they did their homework & chores, read a required amount, and practiced piano (or whatever). Oh, and "got some fresh air."

William Lindsey :toad:

@lolonurse I, too, remember the pre-t.v. days. I remember when my family first got a t.v. around the mid-1950s. Not much about it interested me, and so I developed early on the habit of reading instead of turning to the t.v. screen to amuse me. With my youngest brother, I noticed how much television engrossed him because he was that much younger and grew up taking its presence for granted.

lolonurse

@wdlindsy
My dad got a kit in 1952, and built our first tv. You probably remember how tiny the screens were. But there were a couple of shows I loved. One, Winky Dink, must have been local, because almost no-one else remembers it. A cartoon star - and you got a plastic sheet to put on the screen, & a special crayon, and drew along with him, on the tv. 🤩

William Lindsey :toad:

@lolonurse Winky Dink is new to me. I think you're right, must have been local. My earliest memories of seeing t.v. were watching some Shakespeare play — possibly Midsummer Night's Dream — performed in black and white. It was incomprehensible. Then there was the Mickey Mouse Club, where Annette Funicello enchanted me. I also loved watching Kate Smith belt out "God Bless America," while my brother was fascinated by Tennessee Ernie Ford singing "Sixteen Tons" in that gravelly deep smoker's voice.