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I also very much dislike casual accusations of Nazism or fascist tendencies…. Such accusations are so potent that they should be used only very rarely and very carefully and only when almost unavoidable. They are a kind of “nuclear option” that should not be lightly deployed. I resent their use to stigmatize my neighbors, the members of my ward, and the apparent majority of American Latter-day Saints who voted for Donald Trump.

I was saddened to see how ugly the controversy over a proposed temple in Cody, Wyoming, has become, at least in some circles. A few commenters on the Facebook page of a group that bills itself as “Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods” are calling for legal “war” with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and for a list of LDS-owned businesses to be boycotted. (Perhaps such businesses might be required to display, say, a yellow star, so that they will more easily identified?)

The cult of tradition. “One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements.”

The rejection of modernism. “The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense, Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.”

The cult of action for action’s sale. “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”

Disagreement is treason. “The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture, the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge.”

Fear of difference. “The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.”

Appeal to social frustration. “[…] one of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups.

The obsession with a plot. “The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia.”

The enemy is both weak and strong. “[…] the followers must be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”

Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. “For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.”

Contempt for the weak. “Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology.”

Everybody is educated to become a hero. “in Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death.”

Machismo and Weaponry. “This is the origin of machismo (which implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality). Since even sex is a difficult game to play, the Ur-Fascist hero tends to play with weapons—doing so becomes an ersatz phallic exercise.”

Selective Populism. “There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.

Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.”

Kish wrote:Here is Umberto Eco's list of characteristics of fascism:

Moksha wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 15, 2024 5:05 am

Did Dr. Peterson fail to note Trump's rants about how "those people" are polluting the "blood of America" and his frequent mention of executions toward the end of his campaign stops. If you couple that with the survey that found one-third, of the LDS also believe that "America's blood is being polluted".

He would be doing a greater service to his Church to talk the Saints out of this way of thinking, rather than defend it. Sometimes you need to stand up to pro-Trump donors for the greater good.

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2024/11 ... atter-day/

Now then in the kingdom of God on the earth, a man who has has the Affrican blood in him cannot hold one jot nor tittle of preisthood

But let me tell you further. Let my see mingle with the seed of Cain, that brings the curse upon me, and upon my generations, - - we will reap the same rewards with Cain.

In the preisthood I will tell you what it will do. Where the children of God to mingle there seed with the seed of Cain it would not only bring the curse of being deprived of the power of the preisthood upon themselves but the entail it upon their children after them, and they cannot get rid of it.

Gadianton wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 15, 2024 3:48 am

Kish wrote:Here is Umberto Eco's list of characteristics of fascism:

Great list.