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"As a wise friend once quipped, “There are two kinds of people: those who feel that all parades are a little bit fascist, and fascists.”" What's with this kind

"As a wise friend once quipped, “There are two kinds of people: those who feel that all parades are a little bit fascist, and fascists.”" What's with this kind of all-or-nothing thinking about what's fascist and what isn't? Am I the only person who finds the irony in this?

JohnBooty 6y ago
Am I the only person who finds the irony in this? Fascism "exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition." In that spirit, jingoism and displays of national pride/allegiance such as parades are indeed slightly fascist. In reality of course, all things exist on a continuum. I have been in Independence Day parades myself here in the U.S. here in my small town! Was it a little bit fascist? Yes, very slightly, but obviously I judged it to be overwhelmingly on the harmless side of things. Still, it's instructive to look at parades in Nazi Germany and so forth. Lots of friendly, smiling faces waving flags, not so different from the ones I wave to each July 4th. Societies can go down dark roads much more easily than we'd like to think.
- watwut 6y ago
  > Lots of friendly, smiling faces waving flags, not so different from the ones I wave to each July 4th. Societies can go down dark roads much more easily than we'd like to think. The difference is in level of violence that went on openly on the streets at exact same time. That propagandist camera did not caught that does not change it. At the time people smoke and wave flags, considerable oppression is going on.
  - guiriduro 6y ago
    <cough> George Floyd <cough>
    - watwut 6y ago
      That is really not comparable to Germany back then.
      - JohnBooty 6y ago
        Right, but the point is not "are we brutalizing people on a scale comparable to Nazi Germany?" No, obviously not, by orders of magnitude! But we are doing it and that should be a warning to us. Also the consider that mass incarceration and poverty in America, which disproportionately affect minorities, are brutalization of a different sort. Again, this is not me or anybody claiming that America is bad, or directly comparable to Nazi Germany. But, it's our duty to rigorously analyze ourselves and think about which parts of America are good and which parts resemble fascist or otherwise evil regimes. I honestly cannot think of anything more fundamentally good and patriotic! Just as we hopefully think about ourselves as individuals and think about which parts of us are good and which parts are bad, or perhaps represent the seeds of something bad.

JohnBooty 6y ago

Am I the only person who finds the irony in this? Fascism "exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition." In that spirit, jingoism and displays of national pride/allegiance such as parades are indeed slightly fascist. In reality of course, all things exist on a continuum. I have been in Independence Day parades myself here in the U.S. here in my small town! Was it a little bit fascist? Yes, very slightly, but obviously I judged it to be overwhelmingly on the harmless side of things. Still, it's instructive to look at parades in Nazi Germany and so forth. Lots of friendly, smiling faces waving flags, not so different from the ones I wave to each July 4th. Societies can go down dark roads much more easily than we'd like to think.

watwut 6y ago
> Lots of friendly, smiling faces waving flags, not so different from the ones I wave to each July 4th. Societies can go down dark roads much more easily than we'd like to think. The difference is in level of violence that went on openly on the streets at exact same time. That propagandist camera did not caught that does not change it. At the time people smoke and wave flags, considerable oppression is going on.
- guiriduro 6y ago
  <cough> George Floyd <cough>
  - watwut 6y ago
    That is really not comparable to Germany back then.
    - JohnBooty 6y ago
      Right, but the point is not "are we brutalizing people on a scale comparable to Nazi Germany?" No, obviously not, by orders of magnitude! But we are doing it and that should be a warning to us. Also the consider that mass incarceration and poverty in America, which disproportionately affect minorities, are brutalization of a different sort. Again, this is not me or anybody claiming that America is bad, or directly comparable to Nazi Germany. But, it's our duty to rigorously analyze ourselves and think about which parts of America are good and which parts resemble fascist or otherwise evil regimes. I honestly cannot think of anything more fundamentally good and patriotic! Just as we hopefully think about ourselves as individuals and think about which parts of us are good and which parts are bad, or perhaps represent the seeds of something bad.