Small-minded individuals are attracted to fascism and it isn’t just about the shiny buttons. Although, those smart uniforms are great to hide behind. Certain right wing folks are hell bent on forcing other people to live lives just like them. It seems, that we are at a crossroads, with Trumpism in America empowering some really nasty people to jump up and down about stuff like diversity and social inclusion. They are inveterate liars denying inconvenient truths left, right and centre, but mainly left. The world is at a tipping point, where you have hard line Trumpists’ aligned with the autocratic Putin regime in Russia. Senator Joe McCarthy would roll over in his grave at the links between Trump and Putin. What they have in common is a desire to rule via authoritarian means and to stamp on the rights of freedom and democracy. Russia has long been like this but the US has historically avoided despots and the brutality associated with them. Fascism is on the rise in Europe, America, and we have seen signs of it at the edges here in Australia during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Authoritarian Regime’s Stamping on Diversity & Social Inclusion
What does attract people to regimes that enforce their will over the people – forcing them to conform to narrow conceptions of acceptable behaviour? Often, it is fear and insecurity, perceived threats of social unrest, which have, in the past, been contrived at by the Nazi regime in 1930’s Germany and more recently in Pinochet’s Chile at the end of the twentieth century.
Trump tried the same during his term as president, as the Black Lives Matter protests erupted in America in 2020. The Proud Boys and other right wing groups were actively encouraged by Trump during his presidency. The January 6th insurrection did not just happen it was fomented by Republican party agency and the Trump presidency.
Fox News and other ideologically driven media outlets are continually running a narrative about the break down of traditional values and the threat to America or Australia or wherever. The message is that chaos is just around the corner and that anarchy is about to be unleashed without the strong arm tactics of conservative governments and the forces of law and order. Older people in their homes watching these networks and listening to right wing shock jocks on the radio buy into this fear inspired narrative. It is like things that go bump in the night and the crazy witch trials in Salem from yesteryear- people get immersed in irrational fears when there is really nothing to be afraid of. Human beings are very susceptible to feeling based stuff. This is why they prefer to ingest opinion based material in the press rather than dry facts about issues.
Lies are pedalled by personalities like Alex Jones, outrageous lies and fabrications about things like the tragic Sandy Hook massacre being a conspiracy enacted by the government. Many people would rather feed on gossip and hearsay than acknowledge the truth.
Right wing politicians are manipulating this for their own benefit in getting elected. It is a disgraceful state of affairs which can only end badly for America.
Fascism in Europe in Response to Putin’s Threat
In Europe, the fear of Putin and nuclear bombs are helping the right get elected to power. It is an ironic situation that might attracts more might and compounds the problems. However, who can blame those denizens of nations abutting Russia, as they watch the missiles rain down on the Ukrainians. Despots, dictators, and demons dressed up in suits and uniforms parading all that is worst within Homo sapiens.
After two years of a global pandemic, where 5 million people died from the virus, we are treated to a war. We can watch masses of military hardware go bang, bang and billions of dollars are wasted on munitions going up in violent smoke. Innocent people are murdered in their homes and on the streets of Ukrainian cities and towns. The foolishness and stupidity of people like Putin make me sick to my stomach in disgust.
Meanwhile, western corporations inflate the cost of everything they can to reap record profits after the pandemic. Investors and CEOs see the current economic climate as one in which they can enjoy at the expense of ordinary citizens struggling to make ends meet. There is no social responsibility admitted by these multinationals, as they continue to avoid paying their share of taxation by shifting profits to tax free zones around the globe.
This is the world we live in, where there is limited moral responsibility evinced by these corporate entities and national governments have their revenue streams gutted by armies of accountants employed by the multinationals.
Who will pay for the public health professionals like doctors and nurses? Not Microsoft or Google, as they pay so little tax in Australia on the large revenue generated here through creative accounting, which is, of course, entirely within the law.
Tough times will provoke anxiety, fear, anger, and violence. This will feed the fascist fear mongering even more. The right wing narratives will loudly proclaim that the breakdown of the social fabric is caused by those deviants on the left, all those LGBTQI+ folk who refuse to toe the line and fit in with the norm. They rang the warning bells about all those non-binary trannie athletes invading women’s sport. Then, it was the masses of kiddies being coerced into changing gender. Of course, who can forget the rights of religious bigots to persecute and discriminate against these same deviants. The fact that leaders of these bigoted religious organisations wanted to freely lead prominent sporting organisations that were declared to be socially inclusive and committed to respecting diversity within the community and were outraged if they couldn’t. yes, the signs were clearly present in Australia. Fascism is on the rise and we all will have to be vigilant to meet the challenge ahead.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump
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