The fear of Fascism

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The fear of Fascism

(this text is a first draft. comments and suggestions are welcome via email.)

Fascism. Short definition: our own come first. Consequence: horror. Examples: Hitler and Mussolini. In recent times all kinds of people have been telling us that fascism is back, or that fascism is on the rise again. Politicians, reporters, activists, etc. As examples they use the so called right wing movements in Hungary, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, Russia, etc. They mention leaders like Wilders, Trump and Le Penn.

You the reader might ask the following questions.

Is this true?

What typifies a fascist movement?

What environmental circumstances are needed for fascism to rise?

Or if we dig a little deeper:

What actually is fascism?

How do humans come to this behavior?

How do they behave normally?

And in conclusion:

Is todays world indeed going to hell in a hand basket?

The easy questions

The word fascism comes from the Latin fasces (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism), which translates to bundle of rods. It means together we are stronger. There are many definitions of what the word means today. I choose to define it via the main ideas of the recent historic examples which the vast majority of historians classify as typical of fascism.

Fascism: our own groups needs come before those of any other group because our group is superior. We have the right to take what we need, and we will do so united.

Typically (historically) a fascist movement consists of those that believe they are superior to others. The group is always led by a great leader. A single person who embodies the movement. There is only one truth, the worldview of the movement.

The circumstances in which the movement rises are those of political, social and economic chaos. When there is suffering without a direct known cause with a whole host of possible culprits. The great leader clears up the confusion by providing a worldview, identifying the enemies and setting a goal. Uncertainty is replaced by one clear 'reality'. Usually a high degree of the content that makes up the new reality is false, made up, intentionally or not.

The hard questions: human behavior

In fascism there seems to always be an enemy. Let's list a few mechanics behind human behavior and see how they work out in several adversarial scenarios. Pehaps we can gain some insight into fascism. Do note these are just short summaries taken from other texts.

The mechanics of discrimination

People discriminate in order to make sense of the world. Discrimination means the ability to tell one object apart from another. Objects differ by the features that stand out, to us as human beings, invidually or collectively. Another word for standing out is salience. The salience of the features an object has is not only based upon (initial) experience, but also on teaching and our imagination. Via the features we perceive as salient we create concepts of each object we encounter, whether it is a person or a piece of material.
A concept is an internal virtual representation of what something is. An orange is orange, round, slightly sour and edible. These concepts allow us to act quickly in future encounters. Reacting via stored data is much faster than gathering new data. Concepts also serve as tools for discrimination themselves. They bring order to our world, arranging it into understandable and related bits. Concepts are also not the end result of the discrimination proces, but rather it is a continuous feedback loop. Initial discrimation allows us to form concepts which then in turn guide further discrimination as new data comes in, not only of the inital subject (the orange) but also other subjects (fruit). This new data can alter or reinforce our concepts.

Concepts, opinions and beliefs

The data we use for our concepts mostly comes from incidental exposure to sources. Most concepts are formed subconsciously and without intent. If you never had an orange, and you happen to catch a conversation discussing their deliciousness, your choice in the supermarket two months later will be influenced even if you don't remember the conversation. You had formed an intial concept only containing delicious. If you have only ever seen a picture of an orange, you would still have unconciously formed a concept of round and orange even though you had no actual physical experience. If someone then offered you processed orange juice your concept would expand to include that taste, even though fresh orange juice tastes very different. If you made the concious decision to go to the local supermarket and carefully examine all it's produce for their shape, taste, smell, feel and weight, then your exposure would be deliberate and your concepts largely the results of intent. Color exposure still would be incidental.
An opinion is a judgement, viewpoint or statement concerning a certain topic or object. They are formed and maintened much in the sameway as our concepts are, and in fact rely heavily on the data our concepts provide. Similar to concepts, opinions can get reinforced or altered via experience, teaching and imagination.

A belief usually consists of a complex mix of opinions that had much more reinforcement over a greater span of time.

Our concepts, opinions and beliefs can change over time, fed by new information from experience, teaching and imagination. However there is a build in resistance to change, especially for opinions and beliefs. Our opinions and beliefs become part of our identity over time. Of who we are and how we act. We tend to defend them.

Complete realities

People like their realities to be as complete as possible in order to predict what might happen. They like to create a closed concept when it comes to anything. A concept that covers any and all possible outcomes from A to Z. If there is not enough information from sources like experience and teaching, we make up the rest with our imagination. This is a natural survival instinct. If you can predict a situation, you can act effectively. The unknown makes us fearfull, we lack control. Hence religion, doctrine and dogma. Any missing data in our concepts, opions and beliefs is automatically and eventually completed by our imagination.

The sufficient self

Healthy individuals can not accept another as completely superior to themselves. Even when the evidence is clear. It's a defense mechanism. Motivation for any action (for instance self preservation) becomes troublesome if you think of yourself as less. You think of yourself, when all things are considered, as equal or better. Even if you admire a certain quality in someone else. Imagination can play a big part when it comes to forming concepts to support this notion.

Group mechanics

People have an instinct to group. In order to do so we use discrimination (which can be fed by our imagination). We build up concepts of the people around us. If possible, we seek out similar individuals like ourselves in any situation.

Via interaction we determine what the commonly held beliefs and behaviors are. We adhere to these in order to belong and to be able to work together. We sacrifice some of our individual notions that might differ. These beliefs and behaviors become our group identity. They way we perceive the world, our own place in it, and the way we want to behave.

This group identity becomes part of our own individual identity. It gives us a home. We defend it at all costs. Most individual are part of several of these group identities (family, village, tribe, nation, but also football club, work department, political party, etc.).

Since the group identities are part of our own individual identity, it is very hard to accept a superior group identity above our own. All groups think of themselves as 'better'.

Usually during the formation of our identity leaders arise. Via the mechanics of discrimination we determine which individuals are the most powerful in our group. We seek safety and position by supporting them. This also gives them a bigger influence in shaping our group identity and determining subsequent behavior.

Once formed groups establish relationships with other groups based on a number of factors like relative power, wealth, familiarity, similarity, the compatibility of goals and leadership. We again use the mechanics of discrimination to guide us in this process by building concepts of the other groups. Do note that when there is insufficient data from other sources, we use our imagination to fill in the blanks.

Conflict

The relations between groups can be hostile. When facing a perceived or real threat a group will attempt to defend itself using one or various methods, depending on such factors as relative power, technology, beliefs, and familiarity with the enemy.

The same will happen when we find ourselves in competition with another group. As individuals can be selfish, for groups it's the default stance. Our own come first. It comes from our need, we need the object of the competition, and the intrinsic belief that all groups posses: 'we are superior'. Thus we have the right to take what we need.

When we perceive our physical power to be greater, and all other factors have neutral values, we usually choose to take. If the enemy is more or equally as powerful, we might negotiate.

However, for our own psychology it's usually healthier to first demonize the competition into an enemy. Most groups think very highly of themselves as moral beings. Simply attacking another group in order to gain material wealth is incompatible with our self image. There needs to be clear 'evidence' that the other group is in fact inferior and up to no good. So then we might create images like the Axis of Evil, the Eternal Jew, the Red Menace, the Decadent West, etc.

Variables of the enemy

Every enemy operates via a certain mechanism to produce a certain negative effect in order to serve a certain goal. The enemy can be known or unknown. This also goes for the mechanism. As for the effect, there will always be a perceived effect. The actual effect again can be known or unknown. The same goes for the goal. Goal and effect can be the same.

For instance, we the poor could be facing increased taxation by the rich lords. The effect is a decrease of our wealth. The perceived goals is an increase in theirs. We rebel. The lords come with an army and expel us from our lands. The actual goal they were after was to repurpose the land, not to gain coin. The rebellion gave them an excuse to come in.

There can be many or few enemies, mechanisms, effects and goals.

Scenarios

We listed some of the mechanics of how humans relate to the world and each other. We listed some of the variables when it comes to an opponent. Now we can draw several scenarios and attempt to ascertain what might happen. This of course might be more an exercise in speculation than science, without hard data.

Scenario 1

There is 1 known enemy who operates via 1 known mechanism which produces 1 known actual effect & goal. We are in the Middle East around 1992. Saddam used his army to occupy Kuwait, our dear dear friends, in order to get richer. Reality is complete. There is no uncertainty, no need to use our imagination. The only job of our leadership is to organize us to fight. We as a group rally around any leader who will say: 'i will fight this enemy come follow me'. Then we do so.

Scenario 2

There is 1 known enemy who operates with an unknown mechanism which produces 1 perceived effect in order to serve 1 known goal. We are in America around the year 1750. Our enemy is the native American. The native Americans have been known to raid our villages and kill cattle. They want us gone. For sometime our farmers have found dead cattle in the fields. A bacteria is the cause. However we lack the science to understand this. Reality is incomplete. The job for our leaders is to determine how the cattle is killed, and put a stop to it. Our leaders will have to resort to imagination in order to produce a complete reality.

We as a group rally around any leader who will say: 'the native Americans are poisoning our cattle in order to drive us out. I will fight this enemy come follow me'. Then we do so.

Do note, dead cattle was a perceived effect from enemy action. There was no actual effect from enemy action since there was no enemy action.

Scenario 3

There is an unknown enemy who operates via a known mechanism which produces a known effect with a unknown goal. We are in ancient pagan Rome around 100 AD. Christians, barbarians and slaves are inferior beings. Our houses have been set on fire in the middle of the night. We did not see who did it. Vague figures in the night, running around with torches. The fire produced homelessness but who did it and why? Reality is incomplete.

The job of our leader is to find out who the enemy is, what their goals is and fight them. Creative imagination is used. Slaves are powerless and in our homes, we would know if they were absent. Barbarians do not live in Rome. However Christians live among us. They are a strange people, worshiping 1 God instead of many. Perhaps they want us dead. Religion is a known cause of conflict.

We as a group rally around any leader who will say: 'the Christians are burning down our houses because they want to purify the land. I will fight this enemy come follow me'. Then we do so.

This leader might be a landlord, who himself set fire to his own neighborhood in order to clear out the poor and make room for development.

As you can see, we can draw up many many scenarios and speculate about how people might react. However for the purposes of this text one scenario is particularly interesting. Do note that in any case we humans seek out a complete reality. This can lead to dangerous consequences as we saw in the previous scenarios where 1 or 2 factors were unknown. What if everything is unknown? Including the numbers?

Scenario 4

There are an unknown enemies who operate via an unknown mechanisms which produce unknown effects in order to achieve unknown goals. We are in Germany in the year 1930. We are suddenly poor after the crash of 1929. A lot of us lost our jobs in the span of just a few months after. There is violence and mayhem all around. We do not know who caused this situation and why. We feel helpless.

There are many countries who opposed us or our friends in the past. England, France, Russia, Serbia, America. There are many groups and ways of thinking in our country. Communists, capitalists, liberals, democrats, hooligans, etc. There are many races we have been told. Jews, Slavs, Asians, Negroes, etc. All of these might have certain goals. All of these might have various methods. All we have is two perceived effects. Our poverty and mayhem in the streets. Reality is not only incomplete, it is highly confusing. We need closed uniform concepts in order to make sense of the world and make us into a coherent group.

The first job of the leader is to determine who we are, and who we are not. The second job of the leader is to find out who our enemies are, what their goals are, and how they produced our current predicament. Usually the existing leadership gets replaced. They were in charge when the world was still a place of certainty. Often their support dwindles because they can neither explain the new uncertainty nor were able to prevent it.

We as a group rally around any leader who will say: 'we are the Aryan race, the one and true noble Germanic race deserving of world domination. The Jews are the main evil doers behind communism and capitalism which in turn seek to destroy the Aryan race in order to rule the world. Their lies make us fight each other. I will unite us and bring order. I will fight these enemies come follow me'. And then we do so.

Supporting texts: the mechanics of discrimination and the high horse effect. 

A hypothesis of fascism

Fascism is a natural behavior for any group to engage in. It's simply putting the needs of our own group above that of others, supported by the belief that our own group identity is superior to that of another.

We do it all the time everywhere. We put our own family above those of others. We put our own decent neighborhoods needs above that of the adjacent crappy one. Jocks are better than Nerds. Yankee fans are superior to Red Sox fans. True red blooded Americans are more deserving of the worlds resources than Muslims. Islam is the only true faith and all heretics deserve to perish. Etc.

A fascist movement is a movement that is led by a great leadership in which a single closed world view provided by the movement replaces any and all preexisting other notions and questions about the world. In this world view the home group is deemed superior to all other groups and under threat by a multitude of foes.

Drawing on the previous descriptions of the mechanics behind human behavior we will assume this hypothesis of fascism and the definition of a fascist movement both as correct and proven going forward. This is OK for a purely philosophical text to do. It's simply so we can progress with the story. If you want to base policy on this text, actual research is needed.

Todays world and fascism

Now that we have claimed fascism as a natural behavior, we can once more return to the concerns of all those politicians and activists that keep warning us about the increase in fascism.

Fascism is natural everyday behavior. So what are they so worried about?

Well, they refer to fascism that is organized along similar lines of the historic examples. A fascism that is dominating the other types of human behavior, such as cooperation and compassion, trade and exchange. They fear the known consequences of these types of movements. Holocausts, mass arrests, deportations, racism, etc.

Are they right?

Well we need to examine if the circumstances are present that created the historic examples and if the current movements bear important similarities to the old ones.

Let's look at America. Generally middle class and poor people perceive themselves as suffering. They think they are worse off than before. Jobs are going overseas. Immigrants flood the country. Neighborhoods change. Cooperations seem to hold all the power. Sea levels are supposedly rising. There are worse storms more frequently. Everything is connected via the Internet. Globalization has done away with the old system of the West vs the rest (and with the winning). There is a media that feed their need for ratings by making every little occurrence terrifying breaking news.

In many European, Latin and Asian countries similar circumstances are present. Great leaders have arisen to give us a closed belief system of reality. They provide a means to make sense of the world again, and identify enemies, the cause of our misery.

In the Philippines a great leader is killing anyone perceive to be related to drugs. Not poverty is the cause of suffering, and thus drug use, but drug use itself is the cause of poverty. In America there is a great leader who claims the established politicians are the cause, along with Muslims and immigrants. He promises a wall along the border with a poorer nation, a registration for Jews Muslims and an end to the influence of 'the leftist cronies'. In the Netherlands a great leader claims that Muslim immigrants are destroying the country, along with the European Union and the establishment. He proposes to halt the progress of immigrants, reverse some of the influence of the Union and defeat the establishment. In Syria a great movement has sprung up that will clear out all the unbelievers and their corrosive behavior, in order to establish the one true Islamic state.

Many of these leaders and their movements are quite recent. Post 1990 factors like globalization first became significant in peoples lives and the old world view of the west vs the rest broke down, leaving a lot of uncertainty.

As far as this author can determine, the people that warn us about an increase in fascism seem to have a point. We could devolve again in a world that is typified by conflict between self obsessed groups, ending the post World War 2 era of international cooperation and exchange (many countries do work together well currently and things like scientific ideas flow freely).

Do note, in this text we only look at fascism and the behavioral mechanics behind it. We do not examine the motivations of those that ring the alarm bells. Fascism can take many forms and outward appearances. Many well intended movements can devolve into this behavior. The fascist left has killed as many people in the world war 2 era as the fascist right.

Conclusions

Fascism is a natural behavior. Fascism can become dangerous when it overtakes our other behaviors. Fascist movements can cause wars and limit human development via the sole focus on one group. The world has become more uncertain since the end of the cold war, the rise of globalization and global pollution. A breeding ground for great leaders that will show us the one and only truth.
However, the world has not gone to hell in a hand basket just yet. There are many entities such as the European and African Unions, India, the United States, the scientific community etc. who promote cooperation and learning as opposed to self obsession.

Like anything else, all human behavior is fine, we just have to watch out for excesses and deal with them.