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Primal Roots of Fascism, Media Bias and Why We Need a Large Activist Movement in 2024 [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-09-17
Slavish submission to authority, racial insecurity, reactionary nationalism and the adoption of ruling class culture is behind much of Trump's popularity.
In the 20th and 21st Centuries, fascism usually takes the form of cult-like submission of many in the working classes (usually white) in industrial countries to the dominant culture and will of their rulers through a fuhrer-like authoritarian leader.
Educated to Submit
Trump’s base was long ago groomed for their place on the stage. Schools and most major religions emphasize obedience to patriarchal authority and a badly distorted version of American history and politics, both past and present. And don’t teach us to understand how life or politics really works, why there are wars and racism, or much useful information about our emotions and sexuality. Or teach critical thinking. That is reserved for some private schools of the upper classes.
Bob Dylan penned a song called “With God on our Side” which sums up his thoughts about the lies an American child growing up is taught.” Many still face and never overcome them today. There lies the potential base for fascism and the consequences of those lies and distortions.
With God on our Side A very young Bob Dylan Oh, my name, it ain't nothin', my age, it means less
The country I come from is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there, the laws to abide
And that the land that I live in has God on its side Oh, the history books tell it, they tell it so well
The cavalries charged, the Indians fell
The cavalries charged, the Indians died
Oh, the country was young with God on its side The Spanish-American War had its day
And the Civil War too was soon laid away
The names of the heroes I was made to memorize
With guns in their hands and God on their side The First World War, boys, it came and it went
The reason for fightin' I never did get
But I learned to accept it, accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead when God's on your side The Second World War came to an end
We forgave the Germans, and then we were friends
Though they murdered six million, in the ovens they fried
The Germans now too have God on their side I learned to hate the Russians all through my whole life
If another war comes, it's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them, to run and to hide And accept it all bravely with God on my side But now we've got weapons of chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to, then fire them we must
One push of the button and they shot the world wide
And you never ask questions when God's on your side 1 — 2
Dismantling Truth
Scene from the January 6th Coup.
As we at KOS all know, the fascist Republicans today are busy organizing their base of supporters in America by any means they can think of. Backwards movements like MAGA are new in name only, the potential for one waxes and wanes, but always exists.
Sadly, they are viewed by many individuals as “truth tellers.” In part because politicians on both sides of the aisle have accumulated historic reputations as liars or promise breakers. Thus the task of the fascist leader is to convince people that they are different, speak the truth and are “truth tellers” and that rational, honest politicians are the liars. This was Trump’s most successful accomplishment, popularizing actual truth as fake news, always a goal for the fascists.
Of course, this is nonsense and they are invariably even worse liars, but if they sound convincing and pander enough to long held biases, they may be followed.
Racism, Toms and Trumpers
Trump Rally
In Black culture it is referred to as being an Uncle Tom. As epitomized by the submissive proverbial house servant during slavery that Malcom X loved to rake over the coals that lived in the master’s house and met all the needs of the master before their own. But submissive types also exist in white culture. Some refer to them today as Trumpers. This of course differs from the white perspective on Uncle Toms, where many view it as a positive even desirable behavior.
Many whites, both poor and those with an average or above average standard of living have adopted their ruling class bosses cultural values and politics. Sadly they have submitted to their authority without even knowing that they’ve done so. Probably thinking that they are being rebellious. The “master’s culture” and values have become their own.
Fascism: The Mortal Enemy of Democracy
Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Rarely is fascism represented by a numerical or voting majority, which is why it always seeks the destruction of democracy and makes that an overwhelming priority over almost anything else. In America, pandering to racism and white supremacy are also historically a key organizing expression of reactionaries and fascists.
So is penetrating the educational system, as Gov. DeSantis of Florida and other Republican governors have been doing in attempts to limit any moral, anti racist or anti-bias elements in the curriculum.
President Lyndon B. Johnson "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." Lyndon B. Johnson.
The Main Difference Between the 60s-80s and Today
60s demo against the Vietnam War.
While there are, of course, many differences, perhaps the single most important one was the mass rebelliousness against both authority and the dominant culture. While never a numerical majority, young activist groups, non-aligned hippies, women, gays, draftees and civil rights advocates were challenging the many wrongs and injustices in society. Thus began what many describe as the culture wars.
Some forget that 2020 was another year where rebellious progressive forces had the momentum with thousands of anti-Trump and Black Lives Matter demonstrations all over the country. It placed the reactionaries on the defensive. It also created a positive climate for Biden’s 7 million vote massacre of Trump in the fall of that year.
Under Attack: Both New Deal Gains and 60s - 80s Progress
January 6th attack on the Capital as part of Trump’s coup attempt.
Today we have the polar opposite, with progressives seemingly on the defensive against a rightist tide of reaction. A time of cynicism threatening to overwhelm idealism and hope.
One which has seen the development of a popular movement resting on submission to a single authority figure as part of a reactionary fascist cultural movement. Headed by an American fuhrer named Donald Trump. The social and political opposite of what was happening from the 60s through 80s.
The fascists have taken back the initiative lost in 2020 even though their opposition Democrats appear to control much of the federal government. This is because of aggressive state’s rights and anti-federal government efforts alongside the complicity of a biased corporate media, which dominates information the masses get and has exerted a maximum effort to kept Trumpism alive.
Can we turn out a mass response like we did in 2020?
Media Blackout
While the Republican Party has dedicated itself 24/7 to destroying what’s left of democracy, media bias helps limit reporting on the larger voices of progressives, which gets tossed out the window and barely mentioned or ignored by an objectively treasonous corporate controlled media.
Whether deliberate support or not for fascism, corporate media failure to confront fascism amounts to the same thing.
Why We Need the Mass Movement
The only way ultimately to stop the fascist movement is to engage them much more openly in order to better expose and deter them. The many women’s demonstrations over destroying Roe V. Wade, because they took to the streets, managed at times to break the media black outs.
Times Square demo against Trump.
Without pressure, the corporate media will not do us any favors. Most report from a “both sides” perspective, cowardly refusing to take a position as fascism destroys America.
Progressives must retake the national stage in 2024 if we are going to help prevent a Republican takeover and the undermining of the election process itself next Fall.
Not a Sure Thing in 2024
It is far from certain that Biden is a sure thing in 2024 or that he fully appreciates the cumulative downsides of his non-confrontational strategies in relation to the daily parade of Republican lies and misinformation. Which have been largely neutralized by biased and Trump oriented reporting
President Joe Biden.
While Biden has had his moments, many of the Republican attacks on the federal government have been unopposed.
Pervasive Republican sabotage will render the question moot as to who wins this struggle without progressive forces returning to the streets and disrupting the media images being falsely presented to voters.
It must be assumed that the Republicans are busy today planning election sabotage, if not another coup, in states that they control and elsewhere.
1 — the two last verses of Dylan’s song were left out because of space considerations
2 — link to Dylan singing the full song
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