Tuesday, August 29, 2017

In Three Minutes: Fascism (As opposed to conservative/conservatism)

Hoodie City, Wales

Via British philosophy texts, I provide academic definitions for fascism.

To be clear, I am a moderate conservative, Reformed, biblical Christian. I do not intellectually hold to or support any forms of fascism or communism. I never have and never will.

Fascism

Blackburn explains that from the Latin, this is fasces the bundle of rods carried before the Roman consuls as an insignia of authority. (136). This served as loose inspiration for the early 20th century political, military and government movements of Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Nazi Germany. (136).

Elements of fascism include nationalism, hostility to ideals of equality, hatred of minorities and hatred of degenerates, deviants, elitism, liberalism and freedom of expression. (136).

Fascism focuses on a cult-like leader and the destiny of race. It embraces political symbolism, uniforms, emblems. (136). Fascism is idealized that it must take place through political energy and struggle. (136).

Cambridge explains that in National Socialism, this form of fascism featured anti-antisemitism and was militarist. (629).

STERBA, JAMES P (1996) 'Political Philosophy" in Robert Audi, (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

BLACKBURN, SIMON (1996) Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

In Three Minutes (A little over)

This audio/video took several takes, how much worse it would be if I had to be concerned with how I looked! However, yes, I can acknowledge there are many American conservatives, and American Christian conservatives that are opposed to aspects of illegal immigration and legal immigration. Many of these favour a southern wall. But, I do not reason that being opposed to legal immigration is a distinct conservative premise that can be connected to fascism. Remember there are many conservatives and conservative Christians that also live in Canada, Europe and elsewhere that hold to more moderate views and many American conservatives and American Christian conservatives do as well. Hatred of immigrants and minorities, for the most part, is not a conservative premise.