2 ms·

OK. I thought they compared them to parasites... Kind of the opposite of predator. incompatible metaphors if you ask me, but I guess population didn't care.

croon 1mo ago
Feature #8 in Umberto Eco's essay Ur-Fascism: > The followers must feel humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies. When I was a boy I was taught to think of Englishmen as the five-meal people. They ate more frequently than the poor but sober Italians. Jews are rich and help each other through a secret web of mutual assistance. However, the followers must be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak. Fascist governments are condemned to lose wars because they are constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of the enemy. The incompatibility is a feature of the propaganda.
- ShinyLeftPad 1mo ago
  This sounds similar to Russian or PRC propaganda about West and Western propaganda about PRC.
Hikikomori 1mo ago
They did both actually. Could call it broad spectrum rhetoric, as some rhetoric works on some people and not others, and people riled up on emotions don't stop and consider if they're being internally consistent in their rhetoric. Even popular today in right winger rhetoric about globalism or the deep state. They're both controlling and running the world but are also completely incompetent and inept at stopping their "enemies" from gaining power.
- ShinyLeftPad 1mo ago
  Well obviously they did both, I already knew the did the parasite thing just didn't know about the other one. I hear stuff about global corporations running the world from the left too by the way...
  - Hikikomori 1mo ago
    Ok? I just mentioned it as a recent example, but many populists tend to do it. Its also a core feature of fascism.

croon 1mo ago

Feature #8 in Umberto Eco's essay Ur-Fascism: > The followers must feel humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies. When I was a boy I was taught to think of Englishmen as the five-meal people. They ate more frequently than the poor but sober Italians. Jews are rich and help each other through a secret web of mutual assistance. However, the followers must be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak. Fascist governments are condemned to lose wars because they are constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of the enemy. The incompatibility is a feature of the propaganda.

ShinyLeftPad 1mo ago
This sounds similar to Russian or PRC propaganda about West and Western propaganda about PRC.

Hikikomori 1mo ago

They did both actually. Could call it broad spectrum rhetoric, as some rhetoric works on some people and not others, and people riled up on emotions don't stop and consider if they're being internally consistent in their rhetoric. Even popular today in right winger rhetoric about globalism or the deep state. They're both controlling and running the world but are also completely incompetent and inept at stopping their "enemies" from gaining power.

ShinyLeftPad 1mo ago
Well obviously they did both, I already knew the did the parasite thing just didn't know about the other one. I hear stuff about global corporations running the world from the left too by the way...
- Hikikomori 1mo ago
  Ok? I just mentioned it as a recent example, but many populists tend to do it. Its also a core feature of fascism.