Notes on Fascism and the Future 1

I have a pet theory. The way to disown a pet theory, if it is in fact false, is to intentionally look for places it doesn't fit. Here are some of my failures to find such a place.

Here, via.

" Why, then, is “fascist” the buzzword of choice to this day for anybody who wants to denounce a political system? "

It does have a meaning. It means apostate sophist.

" More to the point, why do most Americans say “fascist,” mean “Nazi,” "

Hitler is Satan because he repented of sophistry, just as Satan repented of grace. He was democratic - got elected and all that - and then interrupted the sophist-power feedback loop.

" Since Mussolini was a former socialist who had abandoned Marx in the course of his rise to power "

Apostate abandons sophist saint.

" Some of the nastier details of postwar politics unfolded from that shared interest, and so did certain lasting impacts on political and economic thought. "

The layhuman is too gullible to have any worthwhile thought. If they're not fooled on purpose as they are in this case, they'll only be fooled by accident. This is not a recoverable error, except in breaking the habit of looking for wisdom in fools.

" Afterwards, on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the existence of alternatives to representative-democracy-plus-capitalism, on the one hand, and bureaucratic state socialism on the other, became a taboo subject, and remains so in America to this day. "

It seems Greer agrees with me - do not refer to parties as 'left' or 'right.' It's a rhetorical trap, crafted intentionally. Don't go looking for a spectrum at all.

" Standing apart from the socialist parties were communist parties, which (after 1919) spouted whatever Moscow’s party line happened to be that week "

One of the problems with AIACC is that many have absorbed this layhuman definition of communist, and now wish to shrilly insist that it's the true definition. And indeed by that definition, AIACC is false.

" The tendency of most of these parties to further the interests of a single class became a matter of concern by the end of the 19th century, and one result was the emergence of parties that pursued, or claimed to pursue, policies of benefit to the entire nation.   "

The reason this is sophistry can be summed up by: Hayek. Even if you wanted to support a fair national interest, you couldn't. Not enough information. The rest can be summed up by hypocrisy. Nobody actually wants to. It's absurd and beyond absurd. Yet it was swallowed, hook line and sinker. This is not a recoverable error.

" National socialist parties argued that business firms should be made subject to government regulation and coordination in order to keep them from acting against the interests of society as a whole, and that the working classes ought to receive a range of government benefits paid for by taxes on corporate income and the well-to-do. "

You may notice that by this definition America is indeed socialist, even though Greer calls socialism a sneer word further up. He is correct.

It's not socialist, it's sophist. This lie, as opposed to mutually exclusive lies, will reliably be bought, so it reliably wins liar championships.

" salonfähig "

Is a great word. Sadly I'll likely forget it.

" It didn’t lose that status until the Second World War and the Cold War reshaped the political landscape of the western world  "

'That' status? Greer would benefit by realizing it's all about social status.

Also, passive tense. The wars were not inevitable, nor were their particular consequences. While history is a chaotic system, some people - actual individuals with personalities and ideologies - got what they wanted by dint of effort. And they are to blame for the effects of those things.