It's easy to succumb to the nihilism in the face of fascism because it is an ideology that is unencumbered by truth or meaning. People like to think that if the

It's easy to succumb to the nihilism in the face of fascism because it is an ideology that is unencumbered by truth or meaning. People like to think that if they could just have a conversation with a fascist and reason with them that they could convince them otherwise. When all the reason in the world does not stem the tide of fascism, one becomes disillusioned with the ideals of the enlightenment. Fascism is the antithesis of the enlightenment: fascism is the full embrace of the stupidity of violence and domination. It is rooted in that fundamental basis of social order which few examine critically. We all would like to believe that our civilization has gone far beyond the point where it is brute violence that decides social truth, and when fascism rises it lifts with it the veil that allows us to entertain such fantasies. When all of the things we were taught are the basis of society seem to be completely worthless in the face of fascism's brutality, how could we but not feel helpless and passive? Here's an excerpt from Sartre's Anti-semite and Jew [1]. I think it's illuminating: The anti‐Semite has chosen hate because hate is a faith; at the outset he has chosen to devaluate words and reasons. How entirely at ease he feels as a result. How futile and frivolous discussions about the rights of the Jew appear to him. He has placed himself on other ground from the beginning. If out of courtesy he consents for a moment to defend his point of view, he lends himself but does not give himself. He tries simply to project his intuitive certainty onto the plane of discourse. I mentioned awhile back some remarks by anti‐Semites, all of them absurd: "I hate Jews because they make servants insubordinate, because a Jewish furrier robbed me, etc." Never believe that anti‐ Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti‐Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past. It is not that they are afraid of being convinced. They fear only to appear ridiculous or to prejudice by their embarrassment their hope of winning over some third person to their side. In order to resist fascism one has to have the conviction to fight for something that fascism seeks to destroy. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Semite-Jew-Exploration-Etiology-Hate/dp/0805210474 https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Semite-Jew-Exploration-Etiology-...