How To Spot Fascism
Part I: Knowing What To Look For
The Canary in the Coal Mine
Let me start by saying that I’m not a historian. But I am a Jew. As a result of that, the sometimes painful history of the Jewish People has been drummed into me since the age of about six. The reason for this is both cultural and psychological: Jews are taught from an early age to never forget our history, lest the worst chapters of it repeat themselves. As these worst chapters include our being scapegoated, targeted, ghettoized, enslaved, expelled, and mass murdered… they’re worth remembering.
But something unexpected happened as I’ve grown older: I’ve come to understand that my Jewish history isn’t just for us Jews. The lessons of our history are also crucial for the rest of the world because…
Jews are the proverbial canary in the coal mine.
As we’ve been targeted and persecuted as a Race of People for over 2,000 years (yes, really), I think the Jews are in an excellent position to help the rest of the world understand what the rise of hatred in general — and the rise of Fascism in specific — looks like.
In this article, I’ll focus on how Fascism takes hold and begins to accomplish its primary goal. Although Fascism shares some similarities with Theocracies, Dictatorships, and Authoritarianism, it is also unique in certain ways. I’ll help illustrate why.
In my follow-up article, I’ll focus on how to non-violently prevent Fascism in its early and intermediate stages.
And, because this is now important to say: none of this article — not a word — was written by AI. I did, however, use my brain, my training as a writer, and some good, old-fashioned research.
The Goals and Methods of Fascism
Smarter people than I claim that Fascism is too hard to define. Maybe. But I think that discussion is a waste of time. I think it’s far more important (and efficient) to discuss the goals of Fascism and the methods it uses to achieve them. Learning the signs and signals makes Fascism much easier to spot and then confront when it emerges like the cancer that it is.
1. The Mainstream Free Press is Destroyed
Fascism seeks to control its populace. It does so by creating, promoting, and then ensuring its own ideals, narrative, and information. That kind of control is impossible with a free press. Therefore, fascist leaders first work to undermine or destroy the credibility of the press:
- Reporters are mocked
- Entire news organizations are called “fake”
- Reporters who resist are denigrated and insulted, or — in some cases — denied access to those in power
- The international press is banned
In weaker Democracies, these efforts work extremely well. In stronger Democracies, The Press — thankfully and stubbornly — continues to do its job. When this occurs, Fascist leaders make it dangerous or deadly to work in journalism:
- Reporters are intimidated or are arrested while doing their jobs
- Reporters are murdered in foreign countries and in the United States as well
- Fearing their own safety, the remaining mainstream press becomes compliant and complicit
- In modern times, access to the Internet is removed and reporters flee the country for fear of imprisonment or murder.
Once Fascism owns the press, it can spread whatever narrative it likes without fear of large-scale pushback. This includes the use of powerful lies.
2. Minorities are Scapegoated
Historically, Fascism takes root when times are hard, money is tight, and people are suffering. This presents an opportunity for Fascists. Rather than criticize the failed policies of those who helped to create the current problems, Fascism lies and blames marginalized groups for nationwide problems they did not create, especially Jews. Antisemitism is one of the hallmarks of any fascist movement:
- Citizens are taught that immigrants will replace them
- Jews are blamed, accused of orchestrating a global group of elites who seek — like “parasites” — to destroy sovereign nations
- Asylum seekers and immigrants are re-branded as “invaders” and those who’ve fled persecution or death in their home countries are denied entry into new countries
- The LGBTQIA+ community — and their leaders — are targeted with increased marginalization, restrictive laws, and a disproportionate level of hate crimes
- The same is true for the BIPOC community
In countries where the population is already diverse, faith and commonality can already exist between groups. This is why Fascist leaders destroy compassion between citizen groups by committing human rights abuses against minorities:
- Those who are not racially white are considered sub-human
- Groups of minorities are rounded up in times of war
- Children are abducted from their families and relocated to new families that support the Fascist leaders who abducted them
- Some minority groups are imprisoned, sterilized, or forced to abandon their religions
- Some minorities are placed in ghettos
- Some minorities are deported from ghettos inside cattle cars and transported to camps where they are mass murdered
As minorities are suppressed, excluded, targeted, abandoned, or murdered, the Fascist State prioritizes Whiteness and Christianity as the ideals.
“Fascism not only promotes violence but relishes it, viscerally so. It cherishes audacity, bravado and superbia, promotes charismatic leaders, demagogues and ‘strong men’, and seeks to flood or control the media.” — Jay Griffiths
3. Education is Remade
An educated population poses a danger to those who seek absolute power or control. Those with an education resist thought control because they have knowledge that opposes Fascism’s false narratives. This is why fascists work to undermine those who’ve received an education:
- The educated are renamed “elites” and cast as villains
- The educated are mocked when they exercise their rights
- The educated are marginalized simply for being educated
- Perceived problems in society are blamed on a too-permissive educational system
Only this isn’t enough. It is impossible, of course, to stop the flow of educated people if schools continue to educate students. This is why fascists dismantle and then remake the educational system:
- Books are banned, usually in increasing numbers
- Entire topics are banned and, to ensure this remains the case, some school districts require their teachers to have “all questionable lessons and materials pre-approved”
- Teachers who oppose or resist resign or are fired
- Fascist politicians call for the government to abandon its oversight of education
- “Teacher loyalty” bills are debated to prevent educators from teaching embarrassing chapters of national history.
4. Science is Attacked
Science, in some ways, is much like journalism: it seeks to discover and verify what is true and what is not. Scientists the world over use a process called “The Scientific Method” which some believe to be the most reliable method of obtaining the most accurate information available to humanity. It is, therefore, a threat to Fascism. The existence of factual science-based evidence cannot coexist peacefully with total control. This is why Fascism seeks to undermine or destroy science:
- Key scientific data is altered, even those that might impact public health
- Scientific data is delegitimized or censored
- Longstanding public records of scientific information are purged
- Disinformation & misinformation are deployed to overwhelm and confuse the public
Of course, these tactics are sometimes not enough. This is why Fascist leaders use fear or violence to silence those who oppose their narratives:
- Scientists are mocked, scapegoated, or targeted publically
- Scientists receive death threats for sharing the data they believe to be accurate with the public
- Some scientists commit suicide from the relentless pressure of resisting disinformation
5. Women Are Targeted
In any culture, only women can bear children. Because of that, Fascism aims to subjugate women, turning them into 2nd class citizens:
- Sexism becomes rampant and mainstreamed
- Women’s clothing options are replaced with only approved garments and styles
- Women’s bodily autonomy is seized, even if they’ve been raped, incested, or their health is in danger
- Bearing children is controlled by the State
- Women of color are denigrated disproportionately
6. Protestors Are Targeted
The final goal of Fascism is to silence any last types of organized dissent or protest. That presents a challenge in today’s interconnected world. Thanks to social media, some members of the public are just as powerful as the press. This is why Fascism works to quickly suppress or silence public dissent:
- Local and state governments make it harder or very expensive to protest
- Laws are passed to imprison even peaceful protestors
- Legal observers are targeted or jailed for witnessing protests to hold the police to account
- Protestors are mocked by those in power
- In some Nation States, citizens are tracked wherever they go biometrically in order to quickly squelch organizing or demonstrating
- Social media can be temporarily censored or, in extreme cases, constantly monitored creating a culture of fear
- Protestors are targeted or arrested for publically demonstrating
- A few are given a small taste of jail
- Some are jailed for a decade or more
- Finally, some protestors are poisoned or killed
7. Violence is Normalized as a Public Tool
According to Jay Griffiths, “Fascism not only promotes violence but relishes it, viscerally so. It cherishes audacity, bravado and superbia, promotes charismatic leaders, demagogues and ‘strong men’, and seeks to flood or control the media.” In all Fascist movements, its leaders promote violence.
- Fascist leaders claim popular support, even when promoting violence
- Demagogues preach violence toward those who resist, oppose, or protest against them
- The police are encouraged and empowered to be violent toward protestors
- The police are encouraged and empowered to be violent toward citizens, especially minority and marginalized populations
Once the public understands that targeting others violently is not only acceptable but also encouraged, then the public becomes “willing executioners”, aiding the Fascist State in its march to total dominance.
- Election officials are targeted: they are doxxed, harassed, or threatened with murder
- The homes of opposition political leaders are invaded and those inside are beaten or killed
- Far-right neo-nazis commit suicide by becoming mass shooters in hopes that they can kill for their political causes before being killed
- Suicide shooters target scapegoated minorities: Jews, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and more.
U.S. History
Fascism not only can happen here in the United States, it already has previously. In the run-up to World War II, Naziism was growing rapidly enough that, in 1939, Madison Square Garden was home to a gathering of 20,000 American Nazis.
It would have been nice if Americans had learned — after the Great War — that Fascism must never be tolerated, but they did not. The American Nazi party was founded in 1959 followed by The National Socialist Movement in 1974. White Nationalism wasn’t going anywhere. And it still has not.
As the Jews know all to well: history can and does repeat itself.
The Future
Now that we know what fascism looks like and how it operates, we can collectively begin to minimize or eliminate it. In Part II of this series, I will examine the various approaches to doing so in non-violent ways. These approaches are still possible, although I believe we are running out of time.
Thank you in advance for your patience in delivering Part II: I don’t like to leave my readers in a state of hopelessness, but it takes time and research to make these articles possible.
