How Fascism Works by BH

Author:BH
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BH
Published: 2018-07-17T00:00:00+00:00

Introducing the Author

J

ason Stanley teaches philosophy at Yale University. He authored the book Know How; Languages in Context; Knowledge and Practical Interests, which is a winner of the American Philosophical Association book prize. His other book, How Propaganda Works, is the winner of the PROSE Award for Philosophy awarded by the Association of American Publishers.

He thinks that many leaders around the globe use fascist techniques, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. They “all seek to keep the trappings of democratic institutions, but their goal is to reorient them around their own cult of personality,” he says. He sees Trump using fascist techniques as well to undermine liberal democratic institutions, and this troubles him. He partly blames the Republican Party because they do not check him. The party has chosen loyalty to the president instead of putting their loyalty to the rule of law.

In his book, he cites how America’s fascist inclinations influenced Adolf Hitler. He says the Ku Klux Klan had a deep effect on Hitler and he praised America’s 1924 Immigration Act, which prevented many immigrants from entering the US, as a model he could use in Germany. Stanley wrote that fascism was very much alive in the US during the 1920s and 1930s. There was much resentment against blacks and other groups. Family values were very patriarchal. America also has a history of genocide that eradicated populations of native Americans. He adds that American exceptionalism had also been a predominant idea, “which manifests as a kind of mythological history and encourages Americans to think of their own country as a unique force for good.” He says that America had also been exceptional in many good ways too, citing the American “devotion to liberty and equality, as embodied in our struggle for civil rights and our fight against fascism in World War II.”

When asked what people can do about the rise of fascism, Stanley points to the poem written on the side of the Holocaust Memorial Museum: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not Jewish. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.” He says simple acts of courage in the present will save people from having to do the impossible acts of courage later.

As a writer, Stanley shuns social media. He believes it is a "hunting ground for far right media outlets." He uses Twitter however but is very careful about it. He often contributes articles to The Washington Post, The Boston Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. He also writes for the New York Times philosophy blog, “The Stone.” His book, How Propaganda Works, evolved from the essays he wrote for “The Stone.”

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