Fascism is a cult of the leader, who promises national restoration in the face of supposed humiliation by immigrants, leftists, liberals, minorities, homosexuals, women, in the face of what the fascist leader says is a takeover of the country’s media, cultural institutions, schools by these forces.
Fascist movements typically, though not invariably, rest on an urban/rural divide. The cities are where there’s decadence, where the elites congregate, where there’s immigrants, and where there’s criminality.
Each of these individuals alone is not in and of itself fascist, but you have to worry when they’re all grouped together, seeing the other as less than. Those moments are the times when societies need to worry about fascism.
Read the video transcript: https://bigthink.com/videos/what-is-f…
Loyalty to the dominant group means law-abidingness.06:00And the minority group is by its nature not law-abiding.06:06Law and order in fascist politics means the members06:10of a minority group who accept their subservient role,06:15they’re law-abiding,06:16and the members of the dominant group06:18by their very nature are law-abiding.06:20By definition, the leader can’t violate law and order.06:24So law and order doesn’t mean justice.06:27Law and order doesn’t mean equality.06:29Law and order structures who’s legitimate and who’s not.06:35Everywhere around the world,06:36no matter what the situation is,06:39in very different socioeconomic conditions,06:42the fascist leader comes and tells you,06:44“Your women and children are under threat.06:46You need a strong man to protect your families.”06:50They make conservatives hysterically afraid06:53of transgender rights or homosexuality,06:57other ways of living.06:58These are not people trying to live their own lives.07:02They’re trying to destroy your life,07:03and they’re coming after your children.07:05What the fascist politician does is they take conservatives07:09who aren’t fascist at all, and they say,07:11“Look, I know you might not like my ways.07:14You might think I’m a womanizer.07:16You might think I’m violent in my rhetoric.07:18But you need someone like me now.07:20You need someone like me ’cause homosexuality,07:23it isn’t just trying for equality.07:25It’s coming after your family.”07:29Fascist movements typically, though not invariably,07:33rest on an urban/rural divide.07:36The cities are where there’s decadence,07:38where the elites congregate, where there’s immigrants,07:42there’s criminality, there’s Sodom and Gomorrah.07:45In the city, there’s not real work.07:48The pure, hard-working, real members of the nation live07:53in the rural areas, where they work hard with their hands.07:57When our politicians talk about inner-city voters08:00or urban voters, we all know what they mean.08:05Arbeit macht frei, “Work shall make you free.”08:08This was written on the gates of Auschwitz.08:11The idea is that the minority group, they’re lazy,08:16and they need to be made to work.08:17Free labor.08:19The minority group and the leftists,08:21they’re lazy by their nature,08:23and it gives them a work ethic.08:25Labor unions are run by communists08:28who are trying to make things easier.08:30Hard work is a virtue.08:32In liberal democracy,08:34we don’t value people by how hard they work.08:37What would happen to disabled people who can’t work?08:40They would then have no value.08:41It’s why the Nazis had the T4 program to murder the disabled08:46because the disabled were Lebenunwertes Leben,08:50life unworthy of life,08:52because to be valued was to be capable of hard work.08:56Each of these individual elements is not08:58in and of itself fascist,09:00but you have to worry when they’re all grouped together,09:03when honest conservatives are lured into fascism09:06by people who tell them, “Look, it’s an existential fight.09:09I know you don’t accept everything we do.09:12You don’t accept every doctrine.09:14But your family is under threat.09:16Your family is at risk.09:17So without us, you’re in peril.”09:20Those moments are the times09:23when we need to worry about fascism.
Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge.
Judge Donna Scott Davenport oversees a juvenile justice system in Rutherford County, Tennessee, with a staggering history of jailing children. She said kids must face consequences, which rarely seem to apply to her or the other adults in charge.
14 Characteristics of Fascism-“Lite” in the US
Published: Nov 8, 2020
Lawrence Britt: 14 Characteristics
Transcript:
well howdy there internet people it’sbeau againso today we’re gonna talk about aquestion i got umbecause it kind of threw me through aloop pretty thought provokingactually when you really get down to itum it was about systems of governmentand it was trying to determineif there was a uha comparable system to social democracyon the other side and basicallythe idea of the question was iunderstand that socialdemocracy is kind of a blend ofsocialism and capitalism it’s socialismlightis there something on the other side isthere something in the right wingthat is a blendbetween normal capitalism normal westerngovernments as we know itand fascismleads to an interesting place sowe’ve got our list the one we’ve beenusing on this channel which isuh put out by lawrence britt i think ishis name 14 characteristicsof fascism to be clear i use this onebecauseit is it tends to speak to americansmoreit’s more practical there are otherliststhat break down the characteristicsthere’s one by umberto echobut this is more practical rather thanphilosophicalso it’s the one that i tend to use ifyou really want to get into the subjectyou might want to look at the others toookay so the first one is powerful andcontinuingnationalism now if you’re looking at alightversion you would just kind of lightenit up so maybe you don’t havethe marches and parades all the timebut you have like flags everywhereso much so that it kind of loses meaningbecomes more like a bumper sticker asports team logothan a display of the nationit’s something that everybody feels istheirsymbol disdain for the recognition ofhuman rightsso you want to lighten it up maybe it’snot overtyou know maybe it’s not legislated thatpeople don’t have human rightshowever if you know somebody that’saccused of a crime gets roughed up alittle bitnobody’s going to cry over it you knowin this case it’s going to be more defacto it’s going to be stuff thatjust happens rather than it beinginstitutionalizedidentification of enemies and scapegoatsis a unifying causenow when you’re talking about the overtversion of this it’stypically an internal enemythat they get scapegoated ifit’s a light version it would probablybe externalyou know well the ones of that groupthat are inside the countrythey’re different they’re okay but we’regonna all rally around the ideathat those on the other side of the lineon the map they’re badsupremacy of the military so in a lightversion you could imagine thatrather than it just basically havingcontrol of the entire governmentit uh itmaybe has a place of honor that isyou know really revered and probablygets the biggest share of the budgetrampant sexism again this would besomething that’s a de factoit’s a male-dominated society butthere’s not legislationthat backs up a whole lot of it it’sjustthe way it is because traditionis also a characteristic that uhgoes along with this system but thatgets into the philosophical listcontrolled mass media sorather than it being overt andthe government just basically tellingthe news organizations what to saymaybe it’s just more collusion maybeit’s more of the mediaparroting the government talking pointsso they can get accessand so everybody’s on the same pageagain it’s just de facto it’s just theway it is in practicerather than something that’sinstitutionalizedobsession with national securityin regimes like this i don’t think youwould findum a light version i think you wouldstill have a mazeof agencies that were devoted tonational security and anytime thegovernment needed something donethat’s the card they would pull becausethey would have thatthat reverence for the military alreadyestablishedso they’d be able to gain compliancefrom the population by kind of pullingthat cardwe need to do this so we don’t have tosend our troops over therewe just need you to comply and do whatwe ask it’s going to keep you safereligion and government are intertwinedagain they’re going to want to keep upthe facadeof some form of liberal democratdemocracyso it probably wouldn’t be legislationit wouldn’t be institutionalizedbut there would be like little ritualsto show that you were on the right teammaybe youswear in on a holy text when you takeofficeyou know there’d be little things thatyou would do to demonstrate thatyou were one of the good guys you werepart of the clubcorporate power is protected and that’sone of the ones on this list that ireally object toin the overt form it’s not protectedit’s blendedthe government has a lot of controldirect controlof corporate power in that systemif you’re just talking about corporatepower being protected it’s what you havein the united statesi mean that that’s what it is the thegovernment looks out for corporateinterest for the sake of the economyand that’s how it gets framed but it’salso for their own personal benefitlabor power is suppressed it probablywouldn’t be as brutalas you find in the over regimes it wouldbe morelegislation that just underminescollective bargainingmakes it harder to unionize and justundercuts the rights of the workerdisdain for intellectuals in the artsso it probably wouldn’t be openhostilityit would just besomething that they didn’t encouragemaybe they don’t fund artin school they don’t teach theappreciation of itand they don’t encourage the youth to beintellectual so it just goes by thewayside on itselfall all by itself there’s no reason forthe government topush against it too hard they’re justgoing to let it fade outobsession with crime and punishment soyou’d probably have a huge prisonpopulation in a regimeoperating under a blend like thisrampant cronyism and corruptionso what you’d have is like no bidcontractsyou’d have government officials giving[Music]jobs and construction contracts to theircousins and stuff like thatthat’s what you’d find again it wouldn’tbe overtthe last one is fraudulent elections youprobably wouldn’t see any of thisnot much because they’d want to keep upthe facadethat it isn’t one of those regimesso it would just be controlled in adifferent mannerperhaps the major partieswould keep everything in houseand really only give you a coupleoptionsbut they’d want to keep that one atleast the appearanceof legitimate electionssounds really familiar doesn’t ityeah if you want to know what fascismlight looks likelook out the window the united statesis the blendum that’s one of the reasons it’s soimportant that we watchfor the creep towards the overtreal thing because we’re already reallyclose to itwe’ve talked about it before on thischannel even ourleft wing party in the united statesis center right because the country isthat far right to begin withif you’re talking about a blend betweenfascismand the idea of western liberaldemocracyit’s the usthat that’s where we’re at already wewouldn’t need to go anywhereit already exists umagain i think it’s an interesting littlethought exercise and something i’d neverthought of beforenobody’s ever asked um that’s probablyone of the biggestdangers to the united states as a wholeis the creep that direction further andfurther rightto an authoritarian ruleespecially when it’s done slowlyand it’s this soft form of it that wedon’t even realize is there so much sothat we don’t even think about itbecause it’s justthe way it is it’s just tradition it’sde factoanyway it’s just a thought y’all have agood day
I’m a cop. If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t challenge me.
It’s not the police, but the people they stop, who can prevent a detention from turning into a tragedy.
Working the street, I can’t even count how many times I withstood curses, screaming tantrums, aggressive and menacing encroachments on my safety zone, and outright challenges to my authority. In the vast majority of such encounters, I was able to peacefully resolve the situation without using force. Cops deploy their training and their intuition creatively, and I wielded every trick in my arsenal, including verbal judo, humor, warnings and ostentatious displays of the lethal (and nonlethal) hardware resting in my duty belt. One time, for instance, my partner and I faced a belligerent man who had doused his car with gallons of gas and was about to create a firebomb at a busy mall filled with holiday shoppers. The potential for serious harm to the bystanders would have justified deadly force. Instead, I distracted him with a hook about his family and loved ones, and he disengaged without hurting anyone. Every day cops show similar restraint and resolve incidents that could easily end up in serious injuries or worse.
Sometimes, though, no amount of persuasion or warnings work on a belligerent person; that’s when cops have to use force, and the results can be tragic. We are still learning what transpired between Officer Darren Wilson and Brown, but in most cases it’s less ambiguous — and officers are rarely at fault. When they use force, they are defending their, or the public’s, safety.
Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you. Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t stop you, don’t say I’m a racist pig, don’t threaten that you’ll sue me and take away my badge. Don’t scream at me that you pay my salary, and don’t even think of aggressively walking towards me. Most field stops are complete in minutes. How difficult is it to cooperate for that long?
Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t stop you, don’t say I’m a racist pig, don’t threaten that you’ll sue me and take away my badge. Don’t scream at me that you pay my salary, and don’t even think of aggressively walking towards me.I know it is scary for people to be stopped by cops. I also understand the anger and frustration if people believe they have been stopped unjustly or without a reason. I am aware that corrupt and bully cops exist. When it comes to police misconduct, I side with the ACLU: Having worked as an internal affairs investigator, I know that some officers engage in unprofessional and arrogant behavior; sometimes they behave like criminals themselves. I also believe every cop should use a body camera to record interactions with the community at all times. Every police car should have a video recorder. (This will prevent a situation like Mike Brown’s shooting, about which conflicting and self-serving statements allow people to believe what they want.) And you don’t have to submit to an illegal stop or search. You can refuse consent to search your car or home if there’s no warrant (though a pat-down is still allowed if there is cause for suspicion). Always ask the officer whether you are under detention or are free to leave. Unless the officer has a legal basis to stop and search you, he or she must let you go. Finally, cops are legally prohibited from using excessive force: The moment a suspect submits and stops resisting, the officers must cease use of force.
But if you believe (or know) that the cop stopping you is violating your rights or is acting like a bully, I guarantee that the situation will not become easier if you show your anger and resentment. Worse, initiating a physical confrontation is a sure recipe for getting hurt. Police are legally permitted to use deadly force when they assess a serious threat to their or someone else’s life. Save your anger for later, and channel it appropriately. Do what the officer tells you to and it will end safely for both of you. We have a justice system in which you are presumed innocent; if a cop can do his or her job unmolested, that system can run its course. Later, you can ask for a supervisor, lodge a complaint or contact civil rights organizations if you believe your rights were violated. Feel free to sue the police! Just don’t challenge a cop during a stop.
An average person cannot comprehend the risks and has no true understanding of a cop’s job. Hollywood and television stereotypes of the police are cartoons in which fearless super cops singlehandedly defeat dozens of thugs, shooting guns out of their hands. Real life is different. An average cop is always concerned with his or her safety and tries to control every encounter. That is how we are trained. While most citizens are courteous and law abiding, the subset of people we generally interact with everyday are not the genteel types. You don’t know what is in my mind when I stop you. Did I just get a radio call of a shooting moments ago? Am I looking for a murderer or an armed fugitive? For you, this might be a “simple” traffic stop, for me each traffic stop is a potentially dangerous encounter. Show some empathy for an officer’s safety concerns. Don’t make our job more difficult than it already is.
Community members deserve courtesy, respect and professionalism from their officers. Every person stopped by a cop should feel safe instead of feeling that their wellbeing is in jeopardy. Shouldn’t the community members extend the same courtesy to their officers and project that the officer’s safety is not threatened by their actions?