You Really Don’t Want to Be a Fascist

The French author Emil Zola took down the Dreyfus Affair, a criminal case that divided France, with his infamous screed, “J’Accuse.”

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The far-right wing, with its fascist ideology, becomes increasingly strident, and this is a bad idea for everyone, including the fascists. But because so many people don’t bother paying attention to history or the real problems that are hidden by media and corporations, fascists can’t imagine that they’re really shooting themselves in the foot by accepting fascist demagoguery. There are a few things to consider before casting one’s lot with historic losers.

Fascism is about fear and control. Fascists like to just be surrounded by people just like them, with the same white skin and values, which is why they hate immigrants, and try to foist all society’s problems on them. But they never consider that without immigrants, the cushy lifestyle we enjoy would fall apart. Who do they think grows the food we eat and cooks it for us in restaurants, or takes care of our old people in nursing homes, or keeps our public spaces clean and tidy? Fascists fear everything they don’t understand and the people they subjugate, who they think hate them for doing it. Perhaps if fascists were nicer to the people willing to do their dirty work to be in America, they might be less  afraid. Instead, they build walls and point fingers, without a clue to how pissed off they’d be when suddenly there were no immigrants taking care of them.

Less than a century ago, we saw the perfect example of why it’s a bad idea to be a fascist. After the losses of WW1 and the economic collapse in 1929, Germany was very poor. People were starving, and fear was rampant. Desperate for a better life, they listened to Hitler, who said it was all because of the Jews and others, like the Rom. They followed his orders and murdered millions of people. And then the rest of the world fought WWII, to wipe those monsters off the face of the earth, and Germany has spent 80 years atoning for their sins. Fascists disappeared in South America or lived out their lives in quiet, guilty depression. Nobody likes fascists except fascists.

Fascists claim to be Christians, but it’s hard to imagine how they could possibly live with the hypocrisy. If they believe that God created everything, do they really think that the smallest percentage of God’s human creations—white people—are the only good ones, and the rest of humanity was a bunch of godly mistakes? If they get to the pearly gates and St. Peter examines their resumes, are they going to be rewarded for doing the opposite of what Jesus instructed them to do? As Proust wrote, “No one really believes in heaven,” but just in case they do, fascists shouldn’t expect to get in.

Fascism pops up when people are unhappy and power-mad con artists channel that discontent to make us hate each other, while they take advantage of the discord to rip us off. And because it’s easier to take impassioned rhetoric at face value—especially if it meets our own prejudices—than to question the truth in what we’re told, some lazy people are driven into beliefs and behaviors that most decent humans find unacceptable. The Golden Rule and the Bill of Rights be damned.

It would be a better world if everyone behaved with more compassion and followed the theoretical tenets of the American dream. People who want to hold all the power and judge the rest of us are tiresome and obnoxious, which is why people found killing fascists worth fighting a world war.  If you find yourself attracted to the fascist mentality, perhaps you have more to gain from therapy than a political philosophy that only really benefits corporations and top-level politicians. Why would anyone want to be so mad and full of hate, and so in need of a Daddy to tell you what to do? The beneficiaries of fascism are the actual enemy that is using you. Everyone would be happier in a family of man, including the fascists, but they’re too psychologically damaged to see it. Control demands curtailing freedoms. When you are in bed with fascists, you can never disagree, or you might find yourself in a gas chamber. It’s the antithesis of the land of the free.

In Lawrence Britt’s analysis of the 14 characteristics of fascism, he outlines the qualities that make fascists world war worthy, like disregard for human rights, sexism, cronyism, and corruption. But of all the things Britt cites, the most disturbing is disdain for intellectuals and the arts. Fascists sneer at intellectuals, people who have devoted their entire lives to learning, and give decision-making power to people who know nothing; we get justices deciding health matters, business people making environmental decisions, and idiots designing education. Is it smart to put incompetents in charge of the government, to make decisions that affect the quality of life? A fascist at retirement age might think twice about their politics when they find there’s no more Social Security or Medicare.

Naturally, fascists want to suppress the arts. An image is worth far more than a thousand words, and a powerful writer can turn the tide of public opinion dramatically. When Proust was a young man, the Dreyfus Affair ripped French society to shreds in much the same way that MAGA and anti-Trumpism have destroyed families and friendships in recent years; the writer Emil Zola’s passionate work, J’Accuse, changed public opinion and saved Alfred Dreyfus from a life of unjust captivity.

The arts, of course, are what give us pleasure, and fascists are so psychologically unhealthy that they hate pleasure. They’re trying to make recreational sex illegal, and the arts boring. They’re religious hypocrites that the whole world tried to eliminate, who will run a dysfunctional government for the benefit of their corporate pals, so they can pay no taxes and have no regulations, which will kill the planet, but they’ll die richer than anyone. If for no other reasons, you really, really don’t want to be a fascist.