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1.
Exuberant nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to
make constant use of patriotic images, slogans and symbols.
National flags are seen everywhere
in public display. Territorial aggression is explained to be mere
destiny -- an unbidden greatness thrust upon the nation by history.
It is this burden of unique
responsibility that now raises the fascist state above all previous
constraint, no longer bound by international obligations, treaties
or law.
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9.
Rampant Sexism
Rampant sexism - Governments
of fascist states tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated.
Traditional gender roles are made even more rigid and exaggerated.
Condemnation of abortion
and a virulent homophobia are commonly built into broad policy.
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5.
Military Glorified
Supremacy of the military
- The military
establishment receives a disproportionate share of government
resources, even as pressing domestic needs are neglected. Individual
soldiers and military culture are glamorized and made constantly
visible.
This provides both an object
for public glorification, as well as sharp warning to possibly
restless citizens that the power of the state stands close at
hand, ready to use its great potential for violence.
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2.
Enemies Identified
This national cause is
identified as unity against enemies - The people are rallied
around a unifying patriotism directed against some common threat:
communists, liberals, a racial, ethnic or religious minority,
intellectuals, homosexuals, terrorists, etc.
The state's message is sometimes
couched in an easily recognized religious theme. Amazingly, this
language is used even when the full context of the teaching shows
the meaning to be diametrically opposed.
Dissent
is labeled "siding with the enemy", and therefor treasonous.
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10.
Intellectual Bullying
Disdain for intellectuals
- Fascist society
tends to create an environment of extreme hostility to critical
thought in general, and to academics in particular.
Ideologically driven "science"
is elevated and lavishly funded, while any expression not in line
with the state view is at first ignored, then ridiculed, then
challenged, and finally stamped out.
It is not uncommon for academics
to be pressured to attack the work of their insufficiently patriotic
peers. Writings are censored; teachers are fired and arrested.
Free artistic expression in new works is openly attacked, and
existing works deemed unpatriotic are often publicly destroyed.
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6.
Corporations Shielded
Corporate power is protected
- Typically, a
segment of the business elite plays a major role in bringing fascists
to national leadership, often from an unsavory obscurity. This
marriage of big money and raw violence is often considered by
historians to be the hallmark and backbone of fascism.
As these business-government-military
interests meld, the significant threat of organized labor is clearly
recognized. Labor unions and their support organizations are either
co-opted successfully or ruthlessly suppressed and eliminated
as soon as possible.
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3.
Rights Disappear
Disdain for human and
political rights - Fascist regimes foster an artificial climate
of fear by intentionally amplifying stress and anxiety. Citizens
naturally feel a strong need for security and are easily persuaded
to ignore abuses in the name of safety. The few still willing
to question are met with bullying and smear campaigns of intimidation.
Legislative bodies, if still
in existence at all, are cowed into rubber-stamp submission with
occasional ceremonial opposition. The judiciary tends to become
activist in support of state views. The public often looks away,
or even enthusiastically approves as rights are stripped away.
The concept of the individual
inevitably yields ground, exchanged for the promised safety of
the all-powerful state.
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11.
Militarized Police
Obsession with crime and
punishment - Fascist
society is often willing to overlook police abuses and forego
civil liberties in the name of patriotism. Long jail sentences
for clearly political offenses, torture and then assassination
are at first uncomfortably tolerated, and then start to pile up
to become the norm.
Often a national
police force is given virtually unlimited power to snoop through
the civilian population. Networks of surveillance and informers
are employed, both for actual intelligence gathering and also
as a means to keep neighbors and coworkers isolated and mistrustful
of each other.
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7.
Corruption Unchecked
Rampant cronyism and corruption
- Fascist states
maintain power through this relatively small group of associates,
mutually appointing each other to interlocking and rotating positions
in government, business and the military.
With this degree of control,
they make full use of both official secrecy and the ready threat
of state violence to insulate themselves from any meaningful criticism.
They are not accountable
and are shielded from scrutiny in a way unthinkable in a democratic
society.
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4.
Secrecy Demanded
Obsession with secrecy
and national security - The
workings of government become increasingly hidden. Questioning
of authority is discouraged at all levels of society.
From office talk at the water
cooler up through the entire apparatus of rule, guarded speech
and secrecy become ends in themselves.
Troubling questions are
muted and entire areas of scrutiny are placed out of bounds by
simply invoking "national security".
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12.
Elections Stolen
Fraudulent elections -
In the disordered
time as fascists are rising to power, the electoral arena becomes
increasingly confusing, corrupted, and manipulated.
There is rising public cynicism
and distrust over what are widely believed to be phony elections
manipulated by moneyed influence, obvious media bias, smear campaigns,
ballot tampering, judicial interference, intimidation, or outright
assassination of potential opposition.
Fascists in power have
been known to use this disorder as the rationale to delay elections
indefinitely.
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8.
Media Controlled
Controlled mass media
- Sometimes the
media are controlled directly by clumsy government functionaries.
At other times, sympathetic corporate media insiders shape the
themes indirectly, and therefor more skillfully. Image regularly
trumps content as the "news" is presented breathlessly
and with flashy stage effects.
A practiced formula of tenacious
repetition brings even the most absurd lie into acceptance over
time. By design, the very language itself and the coloration employed
will push alternate views "out of the mainstream".
The terms of any remaining
debate are narrowly defined to the state's advantage, making it
easy to marginalize a truly differing perspective. Censorship
and "self-censorship", especially in wartime, is common.
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