The main reason I recommend everybody study at least a little history is that it really brings home that the past was just completely fucking awful
In seriousness, I think this is actually an underappreciated element of anti-fascism.
A core element of fascist ideology is the idea that there was once a perfect, ideal past, that we through our degeneracy let slip away. The fascist promises to bring us back to it by being a stern ruler who will punish us for our sins.
So it's important to help people understand that there was NEVER a perfect, ideal past. There was just people and their various screw-ups. And people now are fundamentally the same as people then. The clothes change, the rituals change, but people are people.
@jalefkowit Great point. The "good old days" narrative being fascist-adjacent is one of the reasons I have a real problem with a lot of (mainstream, US-radio-played) country music.
I don't think that the musicians are necessarily consciously promoting fascism, but the uncritical romanticization of a past that never really existed seems to feed directly into it.
The last time the US was majority-rural by population, women couldn't legally vote.
@jalefkowit @kadin so, do all facists long for the good ol days?
i... actually havent ever heard one who didn't preach that
@ketmorco @jalefkowit Off the top of my head, it seems like a nearly universal part of #fascism.
There are probably exceptions, though. I've run into some "accelerationists" who are uncomfortably, uh, fascist-adjacent. Some seem to have a good enough grasp of history to not fall into the "good ol' days" narrative, but still think a Dear Leader-run ethno-state is a good way forward.
@kadin @ketmorco @jalefkowit accelerationists are either hopeless optimists who haven't studied enough history, or false flag fascists keeping the hope alive for the first group.
@ketmorco @jalefkowit @kadin It's a core tenet of fascism, yeah.
"Reject modernity, embrace tradition" is just fascist propaganda.
A few weeks ago, I went on a kick researching the Italian futurists. They were, in many ways, the exact opposite of several of the core principles of fascist ideology, rejecting the past in favor of the future. Embracing technology, etc.
But they were also key to the propaganda of the Italian fascist movement, and I've been trying to figure out how that happened.
(a misapplication of Nietzsche, plus a general shared desire to forge a new world in blood and pain mostly.)
@ajroach42 @ketmorco @jalefkowit @kadin [flicks eyes toward elon musk]
@ajroach42 @ketmorco @jalefkowit @kadin One doesn't expect consistency in a beehive of contradictions https://www.pegc.us/archive/Articles/eco_ur-fascism.pdf
@kadin @jalefkowit Yeah, while I appreciate some country tunes, its beginnings and rise to popularity were quite problematic. https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/662845.html
https://qz.com/1153516/americas-wholesome-square-dancing-tradition-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/
@kadin Yeah. You don't HAVE to be a fascist to long for the Good Old Days.
But, you know. It helps