Fascists typically believe in strongman leadership, but you don’t have to swear allegiance to a specific strongman to be a fascist.
Eco-fascists, in particular, want a Pol Pot-style dictator, someone who will ignore laws, human rights, and common decency, in order to drastically reduce the human population and force the survivors into low-tech subsistence farming. Last I checked, no one like that is anywhere near power anywhere in the world, but that doesn’t make eco-fascists any less fascist for it.
I think eco-fascism in particular is fascinating, because elements of it can take root in otherwise very progressive individuals. And then they go on to spread to crypto-fascism without even knowing it–like the “humans are the virus” thing, which you might chalk up to everyday cynicism.
I mean this is true of all fascisms. I hesitate to call it a natural human disease of the mind or anything like that, but it certainly is a tendency, especially when times are tough.
Sure. Fascism, at its core, is just a fancy 20th century version of the age-old human instinct to respond to problems with violence. And we all have to watch out for that instinct. Progressives are human too.
I guess I’m just slowly realizing that–that it isn’t something that can ever be “solved” for good, just combated and mitigated. Not to say it isn’t a worthwhile struggle. Perhaps even the most worthwhile struggle we have.
Fascists typically believe in strongman leadership, but you don’t have to swear allegiance to a specific strongman to be a fascist.
Eco-fascists, in particular, want a Pol Pot-style dictator, someone who will ignore laws, human rights, and common decency, in order to drastically reduce the human population and force the survivors into low-tech subsistence farming. Last I checked, no one like that is anywhere near power anywhere in the world, but that doesn’t make eco-fascists any less fascist for it.
I think eco-fascism in particular is fascinating, because elements of it can take root in otherwise very progressive individuals. And then they go on to spread to crypto-fascism without even knowing it–like the “humans are the virus” thing, which you might chalk up to everyday cynicism.
I mean this is true of all fascisms. I hesitate to call it a natural human disease of the mind or anything like that, but it certainly is a tendency, especially when times are tough.
Sure. Fascism, at its core, is just a fancy 20th century version of the age-old human instinct to respond to problems with violence. And we all have to watch out for that instinct. Progressives are human too.
I guess I’m just slowly realizing that–that it isn’t something that can ever be “solved” for good, just combated and mitigated. Not to say it isn’t a worthwhile struggle. Perhaps even the most worthwhile struggle we have.