Wednesday 3 April 2013

What is a fascist?


The appointment of an Italian, self-confessed fascist football manager to a British club (which forced a senior British politician to reluctantly give up his lucrative non-executive directorship) recently, has raised the question, 'is it possible to be a fascist and not be a racist?'

The Italian has said that the two are not necessarily connected, but history would seem to suggest otherwise. He said that giving the fascist salute is common practice in Italy, but I've never seen anyone do it. I would like to see him try it in Germany without getting arrested and prosecuted.

Yesterday, a friend of mine said that he didn't really understand the philosophy behind fascism, and I said that he was looking too hard - there is no philosophy behind it.

The bundle of twigs wrapped around an axe (see the somewhat contradictory French version above!) sums it all up very simply. It is easy to break a single twig, but it is impossible to break a bundle of them over your knee, which have been wrapped together to form a strong faggot (there's another story...) - it is difficult to break a nation which is bonded by a strong, social glue.

So we are expected by fascists to sacrifice many personal freedoms for the sake of the common good, but what is good for the nation is usually open to interpretation. Because fascism is formalised mob-rule, it has been necessary to install a leader as a focal point in every fascist state which has ever called itself that - a Fuhrer. Bees - whether they know it or not - are the perfect example of a society which is run extremely efficiently along fascist principals.

These days, fascism amongst humans is usually practiced unknowingly and unthinkingly, which is why there are not areas set aside in bars for people to smoke tobacco, well away from non-smokers. I am sure you can think of other, recent examples.

Funnily enough, guess where smokers can puff away freely and legally in designated parts of bars, cafes and even restaurants? Germany. They know all about mob-rule sanctified by the state.


16 comments:

  1. Living in the area where this is headline news Tom I must say that I am sick of seeing the man on my television screen. I am not a football fan and sometimes I think football fans see it all as a matter of life and death (didn't somebody famously say it was more important than that?)
    However, anyone who remembers the second world war and the rule of France must surely find fascism abhorrent - but then I also find the behaviour of some of the footballers abhorrent too.
    It is all too much for me to contemplate so I shall go into a state of ignorance.

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  2. Extremism in all its forms is dangerous, whether it be from the left or the right. I was rather worried this morning to hear that the people of Pakistan have expressed a desire to be ruled by Sharia Law, rather than accept democracy. There's nowt so queer as folk!

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    1. Some people in Bradford have expressed a desire to be ruled by Sharia law too, but that's got fuck all to do with it, as far as I am concerned.

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  3. At what point does Democracy need to be protected from itself in order to survive and then is it still really a democracy? As much as I think this Italian is an idiot, he has a right to his own brand of idiocy. He is not a politician, not running for office -- he is a football manager. But then the fact that he has made fascist salutes means he is publicly stating his beliefs and as he is in the public eye he might possibly influence the mob? Thinking about all the ramifications are making me dizzy ...

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    1. Yes, we can all be idiots in a democracy, and defend other idiots too. Anti-social behaviour is also defined by the state, whether it is democratic or not. Sometimes, it does not go far enough, in my opinion, but that's democracy for you.

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  4. faggot (there's another story...)

    One imponderable and one in the wings. I did some independent research for you and conclude, with one columnist, words happen. Your take on a bundle twigs becoming a living person is anticipated.

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    1. You're are going to have to explain that to me. Maybe I am just stupid, but I don't understand your point.

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    2. Your short discussion of the illogical outbreak of fascism referenced its symbol the faggot and said the faggot itself is another story . I took your meaning to be a discussion of the word turning into a rude allulsion to a homosexual man. I think that was common American slang mid-century, and perhaps you were only musing on the British use of the word for a cigarette.

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    3. The 'other story' which I referred to was the very use of the word 'faggot' when used to describe an American homosexual. In the days of the Salem witch-hunts, many gays were burnt in the same way that many innocent old women were burnt because of a fascistic, small town morality - and the term 'faggot' was - and still is - insultingly used because of the self-same bundles of twigs which were placed beneath the stake to set them on fire.

      Most Americans have forgotten the origin of this term, and I see that you are one of them. Maybe the British slang word 'fag' for a cigarette has the same derivation, but I don't really know.

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    4. Actually, I think that to be 'fagged out' or when you 'cannot be fagged' to do something (over here in Olde England) is more to do with being out of breath, but I could be wrong.

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    5. In the Salem, MA witch "burnings", twenty people were killed. Nineteen by hanging and one by stoning. That still does not dismiss the faggot as a bundle of twigs used to ignite burning someone at a stake for being homosexual in some country. Getting to be an interesting word. Fagged out can easily mean out of breath, a smoker's complaint.

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    6. Yes, and a lot of those burnings/hangings were of young women, not all old ones. In this country in the 17th century, most of them were old.

      I am still trying hard to work out what you are trying to tell me, though. Any suggestions to help? I am really trying to understand your messages, but am having a bit of difficulty.

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    7. Look, I am going to bed now, but I look forward to any other responses in my morning, Joanne. I thought that I had already conceded 'fagged out' as a smoker's complaint, but never mind. If you want to defend fascism as a viable way for anyone to live their lives, then why don't you come right out and say it? Go on - it will do you good to come out of the closet.

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    8. With apologies for getting your Irish up, pax.

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    9. Pax indeed - especially as I have now found the photo of the dog as Moroccan woman which I assured you had been deleted! Apologies for that too! I will post it up now.

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