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Geck's avatar

The longer I've been alive, the more I think people use the term as a shorthand for "a person or group of people with 'the worst ideology', so when people are acting like fascists to these people, they are doing 'absolutely despicable things'.

But writing your incendiary tweet like that isn't helpful. That's not useful language, you just want to vent that people are doing things you don't like.

Claire Khaw - Secular Koranist's avatar

Fascism just means a desire for national unity. It is entirely understandable that the global hegemon would want to stamp very hard on any country wanting to defy it and instead promote its own national interest and even its own people wondering how these endless imperial wars benefit the average US voter.

Holdon Stillprocessing's avatar

I’m sad at the missed opportunity to bring up Trump’s golden toilet because I really enjoy that factoid. Anyway, All aesthetic versions of fascism are quite hilarious. Like Karen is a fascist, and Andrew Tate, and Putin!

Deep Sharma | Fascism in India's avatar

The scariest part of fascism is how it turns ordinary people into active participants without their awareness. It doesn't succeed by force alone; it hooks people by filling an emotional vacuum and exploiting the deep-seated human desires.

I just published a deep dive mapping the psychological illusions used to build this compliance. Would love to know your thoughts on it: https://fascisminindia.substack.com/p/why-fascism-still-attracts-millions

Adm Vlll's avatar

You’re batting a thousand

Claire Khaw - Secular Koranist's avatar

Fascism is a name employed by leftists to discredit rightists.

Fascism is nothing worse than a desire for national unity, and this is why you can see the symbol of the fasces in US public buildings. Were the Founding Fathers "fascist"??

AI Overview

The fasces—a bundle of wooden rods bound together, often enclosing an axe—is prominently featured on numerous US public buildings, monuments, and official seals to symbolize gilded republican authority, civic order, and national unity.

Because the American Founders deeply admired the Roman Republic, they incorporated its classical visual vocabulary into the architecture and heraldry of the new nation starting in 1789. This long predates the 20th-century appropriation of the symbol by Benito Mussolini and the Italian Fascist Party, who derived the name of their ideology directly from the word fasces.

🏛️ Famous Examples in US Infrastructure

US Capitol House Chamber: Two large bronze fasces flank the U.S. House Speaker's Rostrum. Additionally, the official mace of the US House of Representatives is shaped like a fasces.

The Lincoln Memorial: The front-facing arms of Abraham Lincoln's marble chair are sculpted to resemble prominent, axe-less fasces. This design choices honors his legacy of preserving the Union.

The White House: A carved fasces sits directly above the doorway leading out of the Oval Office, installed during FDR's 1934 West Wing renovation.

US Supreme Court Building: A frieze on the facade features a Roman centurion holding a fasces to represent order, and the exterior bronze flagpoles also incorporate the design.

Federal Hall National Memorial: Located in New York City, the statue of George Washington at the site of his first inauguration features a fasces positioned to his rear right.

⚖️ The Two Meanings of the Symbol

The Bound Rods: Represents the core concept of American democracy (E Pluribus Unum). Individual wooden rods are easily broken, but bound together, they gain unbreakable strength. The US House variant uses 13 rods to signify the original 13 colonies.

The Axe: Represents the state's legal authority to enforce laws, maintain order, and execute justice.

Peter Coffin's avatar

You did not address this post in your AI overview.

Claire Khaw - Secular Koranist's avatar

Perhaps I have misunderstood the post. If you summed it up in a sentence, I will try to address the precise issue you raise. As far as I was concerned, I answered your question "What is Fascism?" by answering that it is a desire for national unity, which the Founding Fathers clearly believed in.

Peter Coffin's avatar

I titled an article “What is Fascism?” which is pretty different from asking people to define it. It implies the article itself contains some kind of description. Rather than engaging with that, you used it as a platform to say whatever you personally wanted to say.

Claire Khaw - Secular Koranist's avatar

So, answering your question is not answering your question? What sort of an answer were you looking for then?