March 12, 2007

A Word on "Fascism"

It would seem that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox hunting, bullfighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else.

- George Orwell, "What is Fascism?"

Sadly, the state of language has not improved in the 60-odd years since Orwell's essay. Many of the reviews of "300" reminded me a whole lot of the reviews of "Fight Club" when it came out. As you know, "300" is about a small group of bare-chested men who fight against Persians to defend Greece from foreign invasion, and thereby protect their freedom and the way of life they know. As you may recall, "Fight Club" was about a small group of bare-chested men who fight with each other and work around-the-clock to subversively destroy their nation, their culture, capitalism, and pretty much everything they know. These movies have in common a lot of violence and bare male chests.

"Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers" were also about small groups of men fighting together for a common cause. Both portrayed massive violence and complete self-sacrifice, but as far as I know, neither has been denounced as a "fascist" production. It bears noting that the soldiers in these shows wore shirts.

Given the above, we could deduce the following rules as regards the proper use of the word "fascist":

Group of men, sharing a common ideology, fighting together : not necessarily fascist

Group of men, sharing a common ideology, fighting together, shirtless : unquestionably fascist

On the other hand, leftists apparently think of "Braveheart" as fascist, even though Wallace and his men clearly wore shirts.

So much for my theory. Your thoughts?

By Ragnar Danneskjold, Typical Bitter Gun-Clinger at 10:25 AM | |