from Hacker News

Eternal Fascism (1995)

by pje on 7/17/19, 1:09 AM with 28 comments

• by YeGoblynQueenne on 7/17/19, 1:51 AM

  It is worth reading this article. There are few as authoritative treatises of fascism. The author is Umberto Eco, an Italian semiotician who lived in Moussolini's Italy as a young boy. He is also a renowned author, particularly well known for The name of the rose and Foucault's Pendulum.

  But regardless of who it was who wrote this essay- it is an essay that is really, really worth reading if one is interested in the least in understanding the rise of fascism in Europe, historically and in modern times.

• by corey_moncure on 7/17/19, 2:39 AM

  To the final point of the essay, "Newspeak", I find it extremely discomforting at the many words in recent public discourse which surface frequently and whose meanings have been stretched beyond all recognition. Words such as "racism/racist" on the one side, or "anti-semitism" on the other, have taken on new meanings so thoroughly divorced from their textbook denotation and common sense that it's become impossible to have any dialogue around related topics that doesn't end in indignation and frustration. (For more examples of hot newspeak, look to Twitter.)

  The effect is, of course, that the national conversation is split into two groups that now fail to have meaningful communication with one another. Whether you attribute this to the intentions of any particular group is up to you, but make no mistake, great resources and coordinated effort have been expended to bring us to where we are.

  Perhaps the most disappointing part of all of it is that for all the ideologues (of all persuasions) trumpeting on social media, not one seems to ever address essential definitions. Day in and day out, the words are mis-used and no one asks what is meant by the words, each of us feeling that our individual conception is the intended one.

• by pje on 7/17/19, 2:21 AM

  Flagged? Sorry?

• by beaner on 7/17/19, 1:28 AM

  Having only read the subtitles for each section, it is interesting to me to see how this could easily be understood by either political party to vilify their opponents and find things that they do that fall under each. Some categories seem to apply more to the current-day left, others the current-day right. Maybe it means they're both screwed up and we're on the path to disaster. Maybe it means neither is really all that fascist and we're kind of okay for now.

• by inflatableDodo on 7/17/19, 1:57 AM

  Umberto Eco is generally considered to be one of the best analysts regarding the politics of fascism. For those who find this essay to be discomforting reading in light of our contemporary political movements, perhaps it is not the words of Umberto that are in need of critique.

• by fitzroy on 7/17/19, 2:14 AM

  The full Umberto Eco essay: https://www.pegc.us/archive/Articles/eco_ur-fascism.pdf

  Another 14 point list by Dr. Lawrence Britt that is also relevant: https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html

  A Scholar of Fascism Sees a Lot That’s Familiar with Trump https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-scholar-of-...