Quote:
Originally Posted by PBzeer
Thus, fascism is applied to the right, not because it applies, but because of it's pejorative connotation.
|
Yes it is pejorative, but it applies, and that's the problem.
Strictly speaking, fascism isn’t “conservative” and certainly not “leftist.” As a “theory” it is neither, but that’s not the reason fascists are always labelled “right wing.”
The reason is found in (a) an overlap in the groups that hold fascist and right wing ideas, and (b) a whole range of apparently incidental but in fact integral elements of fascist propaganda.
Here is a list of “themes” that we tend to use to distinguish “right” and “left.” I am not even arguing that they are a “true” part of e.g. conservative values (they are not), but for each question you could ask in the negative: “Is is at all probable that a leftist would embrace this?” You know for a fact, on the other hand, that the fascists and nazis use them:
Anti-Jew, Black, Moslem, immigrant
Anti homosexuality
Anti-union
Anti-communist
Nationalist
Crusader against “loose morals” in all forms
Belief in an earlier Golden Age
Pro guns
Pro citizen’s militias
Critical of police, weak judges
Anti-government, belief that all is corrupt
An emphasis on some individuals being stronger than others – tougher, more moral, or in some other dimension, but in any case this feature gives them special rights to rule.
General appeals for government to be “tough” on all sorts of deviance: crime, immigration, foreign nations, terrorists, subversives (among them, most other ideologies)
Attraction to uniforms, idealising of soldiers who “defend our country”, so on.
A general belief that government messes up the lives of ordinary people.
Finally, a difference that isn’t so straightforward, but here is the gist of it: Fascists and right wingers alike speak very rarely of governing through “consensus,” of politicians negotiating and mediating between legitimate interests, of people arriving at agreement. Instead, society is run by innate instincts such as “greed”, “enlightened self-interest”, natural leaders, superior races or ideologies, survival of the fittest – in short, a whole range of more or less Darwinistic forces and outcomes of individualistic action – anything other than democratic process.
Fascism isn’t so easy to define, but you sure know when you meet one. And doesn't it ring a good many right wing bells?