Education Time

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”—Charles Baudelaire

Fascism seems to be a popular topic these days. Antifa is one of the favorite bogeymen for the right. They seem to have things going on a regular rotation to keep their base up in arms over something. If it isn’t Antifa then it’s Black Lives Matter. If it isn’t one of those two then it will be a random caravan of immigrants and refugees coming to squat in your lake house in Minnesota.

One of the favorite tactics of the right is the heavy use of the label. If we can label you one of those then all the better, but often times they use really dangerous sounding terms like socialism to get you running scared from progressive changes that will make the world a better place. The ultimate irony is when they attach fascism to the liberal cause.

I usually find it better to define our own terms. When we do that we can see if it describes anyone we know. Fascism is usually defined as “a set of ideologies and practices that seeks to place the nation, defined in exclusive biological, cultural, and/or historical terms, above all other sources of loyalty, and to create a mobilized national community.” So, in other words you pledge your loyalty to the party or individual as preferred representative of the state. All business and legal activity serve the party or the individual. The party, individual, and state does no wrong. Anyone that criticizes it is therefore a traitor.

It’s usually when we start including the biological and cultural component that we start to see the problem. Obviously, some people are preferred over others. They tend to have whiter skin. They tend to have specific religious affiliations. They tend to have similar cultural markers. When people are missing any of those they tend to be looked down upon. So, the irony is that in labeling people as BLM or Antifa they are simply giving their endorsement to the very thing they say they oppose.

Fascism and multiculturalism do not mix. If we look at Germany before World War II we see a good blueprint for this. First, the idea was to reunite all of the German people under one state. That didn’t seem so bad and Neville Chamberlain seemed to be on board for allowing that to happen. Reuniting the Germans then turned into getting rid of everyone that wasn’t deemed to be German enough. At first, they were just segregated and then they were eliminated.

We are at the first stage. No one is being segregated officially. However, we are seeing attempts at ostracization. We are seeing attempts at shaming and name-calling. All of this is being wrapped up into a façade of patriotism. If you don’t love America then you can get out. If you speak ill of America or point out America’s past then you don’t love America. Therefore, we should not teach our children the past mistakes Americans have made. America is the greatest country there ever was and there ever will be.

Therefore, the civil war was fought over states’ rights or (even better) the war was the fault of the northerners for being too aggressive. The government didn’t force native Americans off of their land as was the case when the Cherokee moved from Georgia to Oklahoma. It wasn’t a trail of tears. They simply “migrated on their own to seek other opportunities.”

Slavery did occur, but that’s a distant memory. Out of the goodness of their hearts, the white people decided to end it and therefore African Americans and other ethnic minorities immediately became equal. We certainly didn’t pass oppressive laws or utilize zoning or any other nefarious methods to keep minorities down. If they can’t succeed on their own it’s their own damn fault.

Any of this sounding familiar? Is any of this ringing a bell? All of this is set up on purpose and perpetuated on purpose. All of this is set up as a way to make a certain kind of person preferable. So, when they label opposition as Antifa and make that seem like people who are in favor of anarchy then we are sewing the seeds of fascism. Once we are there there’s really never going back. We’re pretty damn close now.