The 14 Characteristics of Fascism - by Lawrence Britt

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Fascism Anyone?

Laurence W. Britt
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The following article is from Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 23, Number 2.
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...

For the purpose of this perspective, I will consider the following regimes: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal, Papadopoulos’s Greece, Pinochet’s Chile, and Suharto’s Indonesia. To be sure, they constitute a mixed bag of national identities, cultures, developmental levels, and history. But they all followed the fascist or protofascist model in obtaining, expanding, and maintaining power. Further, all these regimes have been overthrown, so a more or less complete picture of their basic characteristics and abuses is possible.

Analysis of these seven regimes reveals fourteen common threads that link them in recognizable patterns of national behavior and abuse of power. These basic characteristics are more prevalent and intense in some regimes than in others, but they all share at least some level of similarity.

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism. From the prominent displays of flags and bunting to the ubiquitous lapel pins, the fervor to show patriotic nationalism, both on the part of the regime itself and of citizens caught up in its frenzy, was always obvious. Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common themes in expressing this nationalism. It was usually coupled with a suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia.

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights. The regimes themselves viewed human rights as of little value and a hindrance to realizing the objectives of the ruling elite. Through clever use of propaganda, the population was brought to accept these human rights abuses by marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted. When abuse was egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation.

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice—relentless propaganda and disinformation—were usually effective. Often the regimes would incite “spontaneous” acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and“terrorists.” Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly.

4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism. Ruling elites always identified closely with the military and the industrial infrastructure that supported it. A disproportionate share of national resources was allocated to the military, even when domestic needs were acute. The military was seen as an expression of nationalism, and was used whenever possible to assert national goals, intimidate other nations, and increase the power and prestige of the ruling elite.

5. Rampant sexism. Beyond the simple fact that the political elite and the national culture were male-dominated, these regimes inevitably viewed women as second-class citizens. They were adamantly anti-abortion and also homophobic. These attitudes were usually codified in Draconian laws that enjoyed strong support by the orthodox religion of the country, thus lending the regime cover for its abuses.

6. A controlled mass media. Under some of the regimes, the mass media were under strict direct control and could be relied upon never to stray from the party line. Other regimes exercised more subtle power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite. The result was usually success in keeping the general public unaware of the regimes’ excesses.

7. Obsession with national security. Inevitably, a national security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite. It was usually an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints. Its actions were justified under the rubric of protecting “national security,” and questioning its activities was portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together. Unlike communist regimes, the fascist and protofascist regimes were never proclaimed as godless by their opponents. In fact, most of the regimes attached themselves to the predominant religion of the country and chose to portray themselves as militant defenders of that religion. The fact that the ruling elite’s behavior was incompatible with the precepts of the religion was generally swept under the rug. Propaganda kept up the illusion that the ruling elites were defenders of the faith and opponents of the “godless.” A perception was manufactured that opposing the power elite was tantamount to an attack on religion.

9. Power of corporations protected. Although the personal life of ordinary citizens was under strict control, the ability of large corporations to operate in relative freedom was not compromised. The ruling elite saw the corporate structure as a way to not only ensure military production (in developed states), but also as an additional means of social control. Members of the economic elite were often pampered by the political elite to ensure a continued mutuality of interests, especially in the repressionof “have-not” citizens.

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated. Since organized labor was seen as the one power center that could challenge the political hegemony of the ruling elite and its corporate allies, it was inevitably crushed or made powerless. The poor formed an underclass, viewed with suspicion or outright contempt. Under some regimes, being poor was considered akin to a vice.

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts. Intellectuals and the inherent freedom of ideas and expression associated with them were anathema to these regimes. Intellectual and academic freedom were considered subversive to national security and the patriotic ideal. Universities were tightly controlled; politically unreliable faculty harassed or eliminated. Unorthodox ideas or expressions of dissent were strongly attacked, silenced, or crushed. To these regimes, art and literature should serve the national interest or they had no right to exist.

12. Obsession with crime and punishment. Most of these regimes maintained Draconian systems of criminal justice with huge prison populations. The police were often glorified and had almost unchecked power, leading to rampant abuse. “Normal” and political crime were often merged into trumped-up criminal charges and sometimes used against political opponents of the regime. Fear, and hatred, of criminals or “traitors” was often promoted among the population as an excuse for more police power.

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption. Those in business circles and close to the power elite often used their position to enrich themselves. This corruption worked both ways; the power elite would receive financial gifts and property from the economic elite, who in turn would gain the benefit of government favoritism. Members of the power elite were in a position to obtain vast wealth from other sources as well: for example, by stealing national resources. With the national security apparatus under control and the media muzzled, this corruption was largely unconstrained and not well understood by the general population.

14. Fraudulent elections. Elections in the form of plebiscites or public opinion polls were usually bogus. When actual elections with candidates were held, they would usually be perverted by the power elite to get the desired result. Common methods included maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating and disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and, as a last resort, turning to a judiciary beholden to the power elite.


Link: http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/britt_23_2.htm
 
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hangin' about
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Chances that some on this board won't even read the article and knee-jerk me with some 'lunatic leftist' commentary -350

Chances that this will lead to an intelligent, productive discussion +390.
 

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Ok I'll be the first to lay the -350.

This guy sounds like the a fortune teller with a lot of generalisations and veiled implications.I particulary like # 14, and the one about the press.I'd like to know what country old #14 had happned.If this injustice happend I have not seen any arrest or indictments (just generalisations and implications)...When is he going to have a column on socialism and communism?

Hiya X :howdy: don't you think this guy cute? My shoulder is sore from waving back.

I wish you could have heard Tom Freidman on the Imus program this am.He was outstanding.
 
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I'm still here Mo-fo's
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Patriot said:
I'd like to know what country old #14 had happned.
Ummm lets see......What is the U.S.? Florida ring any bells?:ughhh:
 

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Thats the *CENSOR**CENSOR**CENSOR**CENSOR* you have been fed by the left wing...WHERE ARE THE ARREST??

WHO WAS INDICTED???

answer:No one was.It was another fraud perptrated by the Michael Moore-ons of the world.
 

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Patriot said:
Ok I'll be the first to lay the -350.

This guy sounds like the a fortune teller with a lot of generalisations and veiled implications.I particulary like # 14, and the one about the press.I'd like to know what country old #14 had happned.If this injustice happend I have not seen any arrest or indictments (just generalisations and implications)...When is he going to have a column on socialism and communism?

Well, this article isn't specifically mentioning any one country, but using the fascist regimes of several as his point of comparison. You seem to be drawing a conclusion about it, though, which I think makes my point.

As for the generalisations -- he's talking about a political ideology, so it's not necessary that he use 'specifics' unless you'd rather read the book version. You could be asked to describe the 'characteristics' of conservatism and you would say something general like: "favours small government" as opposed to: "against universal health care and affirmative action." See what I mean?

Hiya X :howdy: don't you think this guy cute? My shoulder is sore from waving back.

Hi, Pat.

I wish you could have heard Tom Freidman on the Imus program this am.He was outstanding.

I have mixed opinions about Freidman. Basically, he's a neo-liberal, and I don't generally support them. On domestic issues he isn't too controversial, but his view on globalisation don't sit well with me. He favours the strong-armed, interventionist, coercive stuff like the IMF and such. Have you read The Lexus and the Olive Tree? You would likely enjoy it.
 

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Back in the 70's when Carter was President and the liberals owned the congress, they funded this huge study to prove that conservatives were exocentric.

The study was a big failure and a waste of government money, but the liberal mind still believes down to it's roots that conservatives have to be exocentric.

Now here's this schmuck trying to point out that conservative values are fascist.

These cro-magnon intellectuals are so stuck in their mental rut that they can't concieve of a way of thopught that might be superior to thiers.

I'll be glad when they finally die out - like the dinosaurs and communists.
 
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I'm still here Mo-fo's
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bblight said:
I'll be glad when they finally die out - like the dinosaurs and communists.
Dude better give us your address so we can send you a box of aloe-coated tissues.....
Barney is still alive and well....:finger::party:
 

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Mr. Patriot


Wow! If your grammar, syntax, and spelling in your last two posts are a reflection of your IQ I have no problem understanding your political
views.
 

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stacilu said:
Mr. Patriot


Wow! If your grammar, syntax, and spelling in your last two posts are a reflection of your IQ I have no problem understanding your political
views.
Hey stac,let me tell ya somthin. The above problem may lie with the fact that I went to those fine public schools that the tax payers are always gouged to throw more money at.

As far as my political views go I grew up in a home where a picture of John F. Kennedy was on one wall and a picture of the Pope was on the other.I also am presently a registered democrat.
My present political views stem from the fact I SMARTENED up and stop drinking the koolaid from the lying fraudulent liberal democrats.
The one thing that made my IQ rise,was the fact that what,smarmy,condesending,left wing elitist do when they are challenged on their views is make personal attacks because they can't challenge you on the substance.I already pointed out one lie from an earlier post that the liberals roboted you in to perpetrate....So try to do some fact checking other than spell checking and maybe you too can have some post of substance,and Have a nice day.
 

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Another issue in which you are 100% incorrect. Those "fine public
schools" you down grade are the best in the world. That is right
my friend the best in the world. If you compare the highest
10% in our country with any other country we are always at the
top or in the top three. In math and science--do yourself a favor
and research the graduates that get by far the most Nobel
prizes they are US educated. Don't believe me, look it up. This
nonsense that we are behind just isn't true. We must test
everybody which tends to bring the mean down. But our best,
are the best. I should know it has been my field for over
thirty years. No, the problem wasn't the school Mr. Patriiot
the problem was probably you. Maybe, you are lazy or maybe
you have a learning problem. Don't look for an easy way out
or somebody else to blame for your failures. Look in the mirror.

Issues, you R's are the name callers and issue avoiders. What is
Bush talking about--only how bad Kerry is. The war is a disaster,
the economy is hurting, unemployment is horrendous and this is
the time he decides to open the border to allow cheap labor which
in turn creates a bigger loss of jobs. Issues?, please give us a break.
 

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Why are "educators" like you are afraid of vouchers? i mean your pro choice except when it comes to education....afraid of competition?

Why aren't the students #1 in the world? We outspend everybody by miles on education.

Unemployment is at 5.6% which is as low as when your hero the impeached serial rapist was in office.
The economy grew at a rate faster than anytime in the last 20 years in the first half of this year.
So give ME an F'n break!
Also the Faux Hero Kerry and the Impeached serial rapist all voted for NAFTA and free trade agreements with Mehico.

Maybe the war has been a disaster.The story hasn't been fully written yet.But it also has been inevetible.The clash of civilisations will and has happned and is now happening on our terms not theirs.
As Tom Freidman Of the NY Times said yesterday.The mideast has 280 million people which has produced a total of 270 patents in the last 20 years.Compared with So. Koreas 16000 + and compared with Hulett Packards 11 a day on avg.
I know you haven't recived the text books yet,but progress will eventually cause a war with the head choppers.Its just too bad we have to bomb them up to the stone age.

Maybe your the slow learner.

Public school.me=lazy...Unlike a good portion of democrats.I do take responsibility for my short comings.
 

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Patriot

Now we run to vouchers. Isn't that nice, why don't we give money and aid
to the elite so they can pay less to send their children to private and
religious schools. Isn't that a neat trick, just another way to keep the
poor-poor and uneducated. Geez.

Jobs? This is the only administration in the last 100 years or so that has
not created any new jobs. Enough said.

"Maybe the war is a disaster", maybe Mr. Patriot, please inform us what
part of it is going even just OK. Were we greeted with open arms? Why
can't you people get it into your head that at this point in time these
people don't want democracy? So we should just shove it down their
throats. Sounds democratic to me. Of course, democracy is the answer and
of course capitalism is the way but not by force. It takes time and parts
of the world may not evolve for centuries to come. How can you force
a people that somehow believe we are trying to destroy their religion
(wrong or right) to be our friends. Can't be done Mr. Patriot, not yet.
This is just so easy to see, what my friend are you missing? This war is
more undefendable then Viet Nam. We can't force our will on the world
anymore. Time for you and many to learn this lesson.
 

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Hey saticilu - the public school system is very good - for the teachers union and for the hack administrators.
It's not that good for the students.

I yanked my kids out of Jr High and sent thm to Parochial School when I finally figured out that they were being indoctrinated in theliberalagenda - but couldnt spell or add. It took about 6 months, but the higher expectations set for them by the nuns did the trick.

Stacilu - how many of that top 10% in the nation are from ther parochial school system amd how many from the public school system?

The public school system will never be any good until expectations and discipline is re-introduced to the students.

I'll never accuse teachers in of failing - the poor education is a rewsult of por standards.

By the way, my daughter was a high school teacher until she figured out that trying to teach in a system where there are no expectations will never work.
 
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BBlight

I don't know what distircit your daughter taught in. But, I do know that
districts throughout the US are in trouble. No so much because of bad
teachers but because of poor administration, lack of supplies and lack
of discipline and in many cases lack of money. Please before you tell me about private schools and Catholic
schools doing a better job get all the facts. Parochial and private schools
only admit the best students and throw out the failures and malcontents.
Of course, their overall record will look better but the facts simply don't
bare that out. In my state and I believe in most states teachers must
be certified in their area, not only that but they must pass tests to prove
that certification, They are highly trained in both their discipline and in
teaching. That is not the case in most private schools. I have spent
a life time teaching and observing education. It is a fallacy that private
schools are better, it simply isn't true. And for your question about how many
of the 10% are public educated, almost all of them. Again, check it out
don't take my word for it. Maybe you can start from 1990 and check out
every Noble prize winner for the next 12 or so years. Check their background
and you will find US educated men and women lead the rest of the world in
these awards, especially in math, science and medicine. A myth perpetuatd
by a group of individuals intent on destroying our school systems is that our schools are inferior.

You should be proud of your teachers. They work with inadequate guidance,
inadequate supplies, almost impossible conditions and in some states
for very little money. These people are your friends and neighbors and
a very high percentage of them are hard working and diligent. Of course,
we have some bad, doesn't every profession?

This much I will give you, discipline in most public schools is bad. Very little
learning can happen if the class is out of order. This must change and only
teachers and parents can make that change. Don't depend on administrtors
or law makers. Out local Catholic High School has the same discipline problems that the public schools have. Don't let anybody tell you differently.
Again don't believe me, take a day off work and visit the schools you will
find in most cases a lack of discipline. (both private and public) This problem
was created not by teachers, but by laws and administrators that took away
every conceivable measure teachers could use to create a disciplined
school enviornment. Too easy to blame the teachers. Check it out for yourself.

Now you must excuse me I must watch my Nittany Lions get killed.
 
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Hey stac why didn't the dems fix the problem of the schools when they had the house, senate and presidency for about 50 years?

Same dead ass mantra I have been listening to for the last 30 years.

You "progressives" been using the same shake down method for 50 years.
How about some new ones.

Your wrong again Penn state will cover the 3.They are behind as I write and mispell now 7-0.
 
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There's always next year, like in 75, 90-93, 99 &
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As wrong as he usually is, Blight actually has a good point regarding discipline in the schools.

It is sorely lacking, and is symbolic of what's wrong with people in general -- lack of responsibility, which happens when you have lack of discipline.
 

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stacilu said:
Patriot

"Maybe the war is a disaster", maybe Mr. Patriot, please inform us what
part of it is going even just OK. Were we greeted with open arms? Why
can't you people get it into your head that at this point in time these
people don't want democracy? So we should just shove it down their
throats. Sounds democratic to me. Of course, democracy is the answer and
of course capitalism is the way but not by force. It takes time and parts
of the world may not evolve for centuries to come. How can you force
a people that somehow believe we are trying to destroy their religion
(wrong or right) to be our friends. Can't be done Mr. Patriot, not yet.
This is just so easy to see, what my friend are you missing? This war is
more undefendable then Viet Nam. We can't force our will on the world
anymore. Time for you and many to learn this lesson.
Maybe you should do a bit more research on Iraq rather than worrying about Patriot's use of proper English or just reading the headlines of the New York Times. Iraq isn't going great, but change takes time. The leader of Iraq was just over here explaining his view of the situation; it wasn't all rosy but certainly isn't the civil war that the left seems to want so desperately.

Your theory on "forcing our will" is quite silly and naive. Any man, or nation, can do that. Hitler did it in Europe, only to be beaten by the Allies. The North did it to the South in the Civil War. The US did it to Japan after WW2. England and the US did it to West Germany likewise. The Soviets forced their will on Eastern Europe. It is simple history; ignorance of that is one major reason why students get out in the real world after graduating and constantly wonder, "Why wasn't I taught that?"
 

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yeah stac, the ACLU and the pablum puking left wing are the ones to thanks for all the mamby pamby rules.Its funny I found myself not as lazy when one of the football coaches I had for teachers lifted me off my feet by my throat once in a while..
 

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This is from http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/


I didn’t want to comment on Bush and Allawi’s speech in the congress because I don’t like to praise politicians generally and I thought from what I read that most people liked the speech just as I did, but when I read stuff like this I just can’t remain silent.

Bush was telling the exact truth about the electricity, while what Allawi said about security cannot be proved or contradicted that easily. Still there’s a lot of truth in his statement, and I mean when was the last time you heard in the news about Duhok, Samawa, Diwanyia, Kerbela, Irbil, Ammarah, Kut, Hilla and generally governerates out of the so-called Sunni triangle? Even in that area it’s not as gloomy as it’s portrayed by the MSM, as there are of course few towns that suffer terrible security situation, but even in governerates like Anbar, have you heard the words Rawa, Haditha, Ana, Rutba or Heet lately? Well these are all large cities in Anbar that seem to be not having any serious problems regarding security otherwise we’d hear them mentioned at least once a week as the MSM is not missing to report even ordinary crimes that have no political meaning what so ever! Still Allawi wasn’t painting a rosy picture, as he made it clear that the task is a very difficult one and Iraq need all the help she can get to succeed in it.

Allawi’s speech was articulate, impressive and honest and most Iraqis I talked to lately share the same opinion with me, but much more impressive was the reaction of all members of the congress who were there. That was the American people there, the whole American nation not just republicans, standing and cheering not Allawi but what he stood for; IRAQ. They were showing support and friendship to Iraq not Allawi and that was a rare moment in history where the two nations Iraq and America stood as equal friends, no actually it was more like family as one American friend described. Insulting Allawi and Bush and the whole speech, speaking so harshly of that unique moment is an insult not to Bush or Allawi but to both the Iraqi and American nations, and yes that goes for everyone did that.
 
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