Saturday, December 21, 2013
On Fascism
It originates in government, not business. It wasn't a business that perpetrated the Killing Fields. It wasn't a business that perpetrated the Final Solution. It wasn't a business that perpetrated the Armenian genocide. It wasn't a business that perpetrated the gulags in Soviet Russia. It wasn't a business that perpetrated the Rwandan genocide. It wasn't a business that perpetrated the killing of nuns in El Salvador. It wasn't a business that perpetrated the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Bosnia. It wasn't a business that perpetrated the gassing of the Kurds in northern Iraq. It wasn't a business that perpetrated a policy in the Congo which essentially turned it into one massive forced labor camp in which millions were killed. It wasn't a business that perpetrated the Chilean torture chambers in which thousands of innocent human beings basically just "disappeared". It wasn't a business that perpetrated the Great Leap Forward in China. It wasn't a business that killed, tortured, and imprisoned over 100,000 folks in Uganda during an 8-year bloody reign in the '70s. And it isn't a business now that is slaughtering people in Darfur, murdering homosexuals in Saudi Arabia, etc.. Business? Oo, I'm scared.
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7 comments:
There are indeed instances of business-related atrocities and deaths. Take Bhopal for example. But you are looking at the toll that is a tiny fraction of what is caused by governments.
And businesses pay a price when they screw up, a steep one at times.
The definition of fascism does not include who kills people.
But the people and institutions who do the killing are definitely fascists.
Jerry is actually right. I am very well informed on the definition of fascism and stick to it.
However, while the definition of fascism does not demand mass murder, the centralization of power that is part of it makes it so easy for the rulers to go overboard and kill for nonconformity.
There are a number of definitions of fascism, take your pick; but specifically it was an early 20th century phenomenon in response to
economic chaos, labor unions, communists, etc. More specifically, Germany, Italy and
Spain. IMO, a better choice and a broader brush would be simple
totalitarianism: total state control, be it communist, fascist,
Islamic..heck it goes back to the Romans.
Mussolini had it down pretty pat, in my opinion. Pinochet, too.
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