Today, after my monthly psych appointment/checkup, I stopped in at the local book exchange to see if they still had a Special Edition copy of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, but sadly and unsurprisingly, some discerning browser had already taken it, presumably for a song. (The early bird catches the worm and all that jazz.) What I found instead may prove to be far more interesting: Steve Jobs' biography (I was also tempted to pick up biographies of John Cleese and Donald Trump, but didn't want to spend all my money) and a book titled Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America. I thought it was about the Trump administration, but it is actually about Ronald Reagan, the Reaganites and Reaganomics. (There are definite parallels, though, in the way the two ran their administrations, including the charismatic machismo, or charismacho, [B. Gross and K. Singh; The Age of Charismacho] of the men in power ...)
"The first [column of soldiers] is a motley array of fanatical freebooters. The so-called Moral Majority whips up militarism in an effort to stem anti-militarist tides among other evangelicals. The Ku Klux Klan and the American [neo-]Nazis stir up racism and anti-semitism. Well-financed frenetics lead frenzied campaigns on the so-called “social issues”, stirring up both sexism and heterosexism. The so-called “right to life” [or pro-life] opponents of abortion often condone the destruction of life through military adventurism and the restoration of the death penalty. Political hucksters capitalise on the fear of “crime in the streets” by promoting the quick fixes of more electrocution and imprisonment, despite clear evidence that these are no more capable than the phlebotomy — blood-letting — used in the Middle Ages was capable of curing disease. [B. Gross; Reagan's Criminal Anti-Crime Fix; 1982]
Together, these groups focus attention on the many scapegoats — Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Feminists, lesbians, gays, anti-war people and low-income “criminals” [(migrant workers portrayed as illegal immigrants?)] — leading what Piven and Cloward call “a new class war against the unemployed, the unemployable, and the working poor”. [Francis F. Piven & Richard A. Cloward; The New Class War; 1982]"
— Bertram Gross; Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America (1980/5; Reprinted with a new preface in 2017); "Preface"; ISBN-13: 978-0-920057-23-0
Gross goes on to identify the other columns: A "suicide squadron" of warmongers and fearmongers whom overemphasize the "need" for disproportionate "defense" (military) spending "in case the West is attacked", chanting such lovely slogans as "Kill, kill, hate, hate! Murder, murder, mutilate!" and "Spread our missiles far and wide; defend ourselves by suicide!"; Big money getting far more than a free lunch with its tax breaks, giveaways and "trickle-down economics"; underminers of the Bill of Rights and, perhaps most pernicious of all, the lies and propaganda about a Capitalist oligarchy masquerading as democracy and its benefits, lodged in our heads and which we believe.
It didn't start with Hitler, Carter or Reagan and it won't end with Trump (whom, incidentally, was a Reagan supporter). They merely concentrated, crystalised and took advantage of tendencies already present in human nature and expressed more strongly in some than in others. Everyone else (id est, western countries) stood by idly until it seemed too late to intervene, some because it benefited them in the short term to watch their enemies bleed each other white, but most because they were afraid to take the risk of doing what was right (engaging in armed conflict to contain the threat posed by fascism), but eventually they did (because Nazi Germany's thirst for expansion could not be contained and threatened them directly). As Eddie Izzard said, "Hitler killed people next door, the stupid man. After a few years, we won't stand for that".
"Only one thing could have broken our movement: if the adversary had understood its principle and from the first day had smashed with extreme brutality the nucleus of our new movement."
— Adolf Hitler, as quoted by Bertram Gross; Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America; "The Rise and Fall of Classic Fascism (Anti-Fascist Failures)
"Ronald Reagan must be the nicest president who ever destroyed a union, tried to cut school lunch milk rations from six to four ounces and compelled families in need of public help to first dispose of household goods in excess of $1000 ... If there is an authoritarian regime in the American future, Ronald Reagan is tailored to the image of a friendly fascist ..."
— Robert Lekachman (Economist); Greed is Not Enough (1982); Pp pg 3; as quoted by Gross
I've not yet read much of it (only the preface so far), but the impression I get is that the book has strong potential to be a timeless analysis of how global authoritarian capitalist fascism (Big Business going hand-in-hand with Big Government to rob the poor and give to the rich, which Gross terms "friendly fascism" since it appears to be benevolent, moral and have everybody's best interests at heart) operates in the USA and other countries, regardless of whom is the current figurehead sitting in the White House, just as relevant now, post-Trump, post-truth and post-constitution (and likely in future should another fascist president take office) as it was when first published in the early 1980s (over forty years ago).
I'm sure it will make for interesting reading, since it's not just a book of pessimistic doom and gloom or a polemic on how "The Right are the Bad People"; the Left is also criticised for how it stood back and allowed this to happen (largely through apathy, ignorance and fear) instead of fighting it effectively, rounded off with ideas and strategies for how to prevent it from happening again (oops; we dropped the ball on that one), since history tends to repeat itself ("first as a farce, then as a tragedy", according to Bernard Shaw). It's all too easy to moan abstractly and pessimistically, sprout simple lies and run from the truth instead of tell it or take action. From what I can tell, Bertram Gross has set out to examine the complex political situation and system with a critical eye, hold all guilty parties to account (regardless of political affiliation or stance) and formulate a plan of what can be done in the face of it (including by every American, regardless of where they rank in the "over-all corporate-government complex" or how much power it supposedly accords them).
If nothing else, it will hopefully offer some insight into a period of American political history and thought that was (and continues to be) not at all beneficial to the everyday middle-/working-class and unemployed men, women and non-binary gendered people of America. I'm certainly eager to read more of it, but sitting idly reading a book isn't going to earn me money; there are other things that demand my attention if I'm not going to end up broke this month. It's certainly highly quotable (the preface alone is rich in paragraphs I've marked for that) and will hopefully be useful should I again make the mistake of being more active on social media and clashing with Americans. I can't really escape it either, since, as Rammstein observed "we all live in America".
Coca Cola, sometimes war.
I know I really shouldn't care about the politics of a far-away country, the dynamics and state of which I cannot change, but Human Rights and civil liberties are not issues to which I'll turn a blind eye, regardless of where they are being encroached upon or outright violated. By the same token, it was that very attitude of not caring that let the fascist Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) get away with their atrocities for so long; only when directly threatened did America, Britain and France intervene to stop the German invasion of Russia and Japanese invasion of Indochina and the rest of Asia. We should not make the same mistakes as they did. We should not be afraid of the risks and costs of standing up for what is right. A threat to one of us (no matter how geographically distant or how powerless we are to make a difference) is a threat to all of us.
#WeAreNotFascists
"Friendly Fascism [is different from] the patently vicious corporatism of classic fascism in the past of Germany, Italy and Japan. It also contrasts with the unfriendly [...] dependent fascisms propped up by the U.S. government in El Salvador, Haiti, Argentina, Chile, South Korea, the Philippines and elsewhere [(circa 1980)].
[...] Mind management and sophisticated repression become more attractive to would-be oligarchs when too many people try to convert democratic promises into reality.
[...] Finally, many people allow such dirty words as fascism (or even capitalism and exploitation) to cloud their perception of the evils among us. Because “fascism” is often a violent epithet hurled at any user of brute force, they are taken in by the simplistic linkage of fascism with brutality alone. Because some think of fascism only in the classic forms they observed (or suffered from) between World Wars I and II, they reject the term's use in referring to the significantly different corporatist tendencies in countries of highly industrialised (or “post-industrial”) Capitalism.
[...] The tyranny of emotion-laden terms [(such as fascism)] is to be fought not by avoidance, but by clarifying the meanings one gives to them. The fault, dear reader, is not in the stars or the symbols, but in ourselves and how we fail to clarify our usage."
— Bertram Gross; Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America; "Preface" (Evils Among Us)
They can't see beyond the mask of the charming, charismatic "nice guy" buffoon persona — the velvet glove — to the personality that lies beneath — the iron fist (if there even is a separate identity distinct from the mask). Alternately, they won't openly admit to being fascists or neo-Nazis, because that makes them Very Bad People and (almost) nobody considers themselves an embodiment of pure evil.
Natalie Wynn to the rescue: How to Recognise a Fascist
You can call it whatever you want, but if it goose-steps like a fascist, spits hate speech and slogans like a fascist, gesticulates like a fascist and is intolerant like a fascist, I'll call it a fascist.
Regarding my mental health, I've been put on new meds (Prozac, FFS!), since the shortage of what I was on has now become a complete lack of it. I need to wean myself off what I'm currently on while I accumulate a baseline of the new stuff (another SSRI, which is basically no more use than a placebo and leaves me to fight my demons by myself again), over the course of the next week. Hopefully, that will also stop my digestive issues, but I'm sure there will be some side effect that presents an obstacle to my mental/physical health (such as having no effect whatsoever). Ah, the fun of playing around with prescription drugs (or jugs, as Sleepy Joe calls them) ...
Thumbnail image: Donald the Greatest Wall-Builder, an AI-generated image of Donald Trump as Ronald Reagan as Bob the Builder (inspired by a sticker available from either Fleabay or Etsy; I forget which).
