[FRIAM] anthropological observations

[Jochen Fromm]

America under Trump moves clearly towards an authoritarian system. When she was a graduate student in Anthropology, Sarah Kendzior studied authoritarianism in Uzbekistan. As she describes in her book "Hiding in plain sight", what she saw when Trump emerged was oddly familiar with the things she saw in the states of the former Soviet Union - nepotism, corruption, etc. In my opinion fascism is always about merging different evolutionary systems, a move backwards towards a lesser degree of differentiation. The deeper we go back, the worse it becomes, from authoritarianism to communism and totalitarianism. It is a fascinating topic. I describe it in detail in my book which I published last year in German. I use the free time to translate it to English now.-J.
-------- Original message --------From: Marcus Daniels <marcus at snoutfarm.com> Date: 4/13/20  19:37  (GMT+01:00) To: FriAM <friam at redfish.com> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] anthropological observations 

Glen writes:




< Multi-objective optimization would (then) be less fascist because the objectives compete. >




When Trump is out in the rose garden with Wal Mart and Target, CVS, etc. to address COVID-19 that's fascism in America.  Sure there are different agents with different objectives, and they compete to
 some extent, but it is still a common belief system that views harnessing people as good, and harnessing them more as better.   Harnessing like a horse.   Rarely does anyone ask if it is the kind of personality that would do that to people is the real problem. 
 It's usually called leadership and not just an indication of being a psychopath.





Marcus



From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> on behalf of uǝlƃ ☣ <gepropella at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2020 11:24 AM
To: FriAM <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] anthropological observations
 


That's a good point. I suppose there are a number of Eco's bullets that ride alongside shared purpose: (3-5), (7), (9), (10), (12), & (14). But shared purpose is only dangerous, I think, if it's *unified* or reduced to a single dimension.
 Multi-objective optimization would (then) be less fascist because the objectives compete. So, if "purpose" is reduced to "short-term for-profit" -- reduction in time and space, then it would be more fascist than "long-term for-profit" -- reduction in space
 but not time -- or "short-term socially-responsible" -- reduction in time but not space.

I've been trying to support B corporations lately: 
https://bcorporation.net/
But it's not clear to me if it's like astroturf ... a simulation of good intent.

Number (7) was interesting because it talks about deprivation of _social_ identity and appeals to the least common denominator, which is what I worry about the "anyone but Trump" perspective:

"7. To people who feel deprived of a clear social identity, Ur-Fascism says that their only
privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country. This is the origin of
nationalism. Besides, the only ones who can provide an identity to the nation are its
enemies. Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot,
possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve
the plot is the appeal to xenophobia. But the plot must also come from the inside: Jews
are usually the best target because they have the advantage of being at the same time
inside and outside. In the U.S., a prominent instance of the plot obsession is to be found
in Pat Robertson's The New World Order, but, as we have recently seen, there are many
others."

On 4/13/20 10:06 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
> Any sort of drive toward engineering a group shared purpose is a drive toward fascism.  Some apparently benign community organizers are undeveloped fascists.  As soon as there is a group identity, run.

> On 4/13/20 8:56 AM, uǝlƃ ☣ wrote:
>> 
>> 1) traditionalism
>> 2) rejection of modernism/irrationalism
>> 3) action for action's sake
>> 4) dissent is treason
>> 5) xenophobia
>> 6) appeal to frustrated middle class
>> 7) conspiracy theories
>> 8) the (elite) enemy is both too strong and too weak
>> 9) permanent warfare
>> 10) exceptionalism 
>> 11) hero worship
>> 12) machismo and fixed gender roles
>> 13) delegitimizing elections
>> 14) minimized vocabulary and Newspeak

-- 
☣ uǝlƃ

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