The Fatal Attraction of Techno-Fascism

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[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (18 children)

I am not part of the we in this quote in terms of denial, yet I am feeling a bit disconnection. "The currency that we use to pay for the electronic spectacle is our attention, and in such hyper-mediated times as these, the charges mount up exponentially, until we find ourselves saddled with soul-crushing denial and disconnection."

Wilhelm Reich wrote about how any government on the planet has the potential to become a fascist government, yet propaganda is a tool to create/support fascism and/or any other government, while the proletariat stay deceived as to the end product of said culture/societal change. There is a mysticism to the mind set of a populous that falls under the spell of fascism. In the second quote below I bold the word undeceive because this one word creates the meaning of Mr. Reich's message.

“Hitler repeatedly stressed that one could not get at the masses with arguments, proofs and knowledge, but only with feelings and beliefs. In the language of National Socialism, in that of Keyserling, Driesch, Rosenberg, Stapel, etc., the nebulous and the mystical are so conspicuous that an analysis of this peculiarity will certainly prove profitable. What was it in the mysticism of fascism that so fascinated the masses?” -Wilhelm Reich The Mass Psychology of Fascism

“If it were revolutionary propaganda’s cardinal task ‘to undeceive the proletariat’, this could not have been done solely by appealing to their ‘class consciousness’, nor solely by constantly impressing upon them the objective economic and political situation, and certainly not by constantly exposing the frauds that had been practiced on them. The first and foremost task of revolutionary propaganda should have been to give the contradictions in the workers the most sympathetic consideration, to grasp the fact that it was not a clear revolutionary will that was concealed or befogged, but that the revolutionary impulse in the psychic structure of the proletariat was partially undeveloped and partially interfused with contrary reactionary structural elements. The distillation of the revolutionary sentiments of the broad masses is undoubtedly the basic task in the process of awakening their social responsibility.” -Wilhelm Reich The Mass Psychology of Fascism

I don't see a movement today that is about undeceiving the populous. We talk about how some people voting agains their own interests. How this happens may be explained by these two quotes. What is it in the mysticism of fascism that so fascinates the masses?

<Once you step back far enough though to experience the sheer SCALE of this ongoing and unlimited propaganda WAR on us, it grows a bit easier to see why so few are able to escape the media’s influence. Oh, for a while perhaps, you can rise above it… but eventually, you will get pulled back down into the muck. Even if you kill your TV, unplug yourself from your media feeds, and turn off the Wi-Fi, each of us, at some point, will relapse and fall off the wagon.>. Wow...very defeatist.

Oh, no he is going down hill now, <I wish there was one simple way to break propaganda’s voodoo spell. There isn’t. I’m not even sure how to do that for myself, or how I can avoid falling prey to it again, just as I and most of us have done for the great majority of our lives.>.

Now he goes total dystopian <Our DNA will be carefully crafted by brilliant doctors and scientists to enhance only the “preferred” qualities in their human subjects, and under their wise direction, we will gladly do as we are told. For so great a future, we will willingly offer our support and so grow accustomed to our new life, lest we become like those poor unfortunate souls, so lost in their unreason, that they cannot fully appreciate the wisdom that derives from enthusiastically embracing PROGRESS.>

Great points made in the article, but I am very disappointed in his dystopian ending with no solutions, no good thoughts on how to change only statements of defeat and this is what the author wants the audience to take home? I like the information presented, but really we are to just to sit and watch this happen before our eyes, because this author cannot see a solution? How pessimistic can we all get?

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (17 children)

I agree with everything you've said. I'm glad you've given this in-depth response. Nihilism and defeatism is rampant these days.

[–][deleted]  (16 children)

[deleted]

    [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (15 children)

    ....create a great day, my friend.... I can only say that I know that absolute reality is a eucatastrophe, not a tragedy. Realizing and understanding this has freed me from many earthly, temporal chains. I hope that you come to realize this too, because it is not a false hope. The villains who are trying to rule the entire planet have generational time-frames...they think in decades and centuries rather than in weeks and months. Change your time-frame, and take hope in the fact that even if we fail, life will prevail in the end. The villains are fighting a war they will lose....but they have won many battles, and will surely win many more. There is only one side I choose to stand on, and it is difficult to stand here, since I am currently an imperfect man. I stand on the side of Life, of Absolute Reality. I don't yet know how to act in this regard, but I am learning. Others are learning as well, and others have already figured it out. You are not alone. It sucks being born into madness, but we aren't the first to have done so, and we surely won't be the last (I am positive there are planets out there in the endless cosmos which are filled with much more misery than this Earth) Edit: the word eucatastrophe has some christian connotations, but the reality of this mechanism is evident in Nature. Things die only to give life to new things. THAT is eucatastrophe, good-destruction...like the mushrooms...

    [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (14 children)

    Oh, I am into the idea of the spiral of life, or circle...I prefer the three dimensional spiral. Yes, the idea of death and life are a circle or if you include time a spiraling event processing. Even though I don't pick a side I am not of no hope for life on earth. My sadness is so profound and is why you don't feel much hope in my writings above. You wrote, "I don't yet know how to act in this regard, but I am learning." I love this honest truth you give. We as Earthly culture have not known anything but this system we speak of today. It has been over 5,500 years of Authoritative Patriarchal hierarchy (APH runs every single county on the planet today) and the proletariat (for lack of a better word), the more modern 99% have no idea what a "truly" free mind/life feels like any more. We today have all been born into a box reality based in 5,500 years of APH system control. There have been wars all over the would for centuries...so does that mean the majority of our male ancestors had PTSD? I mean how does one asses cultural sanity? https://historicalunderbelly.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/erich-fromm-the-sane-society.pdf

    So, to not know how to act in this regard, and I am learning is fanfuckingtastic...keep up the good work. I have been thinking how to teach critical thinking, how to describe the edges of the box we are born into and then how to know thoughts are outside or inside the boxed reality. One must be able discern the edges of the box before out of the box can be obtained. This is paying attention to Einstein's quote of shifting the mid set outside the mindset that created the problems to solve...LOL

    ...create a great day...

    [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (13 children)

    Well, I know that some cultures didn't operate with this APH, as you say. There were cultures in the past where women had rights, they could be leaders, priestesses, musicians, healers, warriors. Mothers were seen as the pin that holds the society together, and THAT was a more accurate hierarchy in my opinion. They were even worshipped in some of these places, which honestly makes SOME sense to me as a crazy ape. Some proto-gaelic tribes are a great example of this, although they eventually turned away from their animist beliefs and joined modernity (face-palm). However, these cultures were destroyed by other cultures with an outright APH, and we now have no clear knowledge on these other cultures. They were literally destroyed and scattered. Now, I am not trying to defend APH... the fact of the matter is, I do not think men are the best leaders at all times, nor do I think they should be held above women as being superior. I simply think that there existed cultures in the past where both man and woman were allowed to rule only when their inherent skills and traits were required. It's like the whole "don't use a hammer on a screw" or "to a hammer, everything is a nail".

    That last bit about changing our mindset to something other than the one that created the problem, gosh. That can be a daunting task, LOL, especially because so many disagree on what mindset caused what problem. I do think the human way of viewing hierarchy needs to change, and pretty radically.

    I've read that sane-society pdf before! I have been sent it many-a-times.

    [–][deleted]  (12 children)

    [deleted]

      [–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

      I really appreciate that Buckminster Fuller quote. Another user said something similar to me recently, and it has been lingering on my mind for sometime. I DO appreciate your words, and I agree with you. Oftentimes, my words on the internet feel cold to me. In person, we would not have this problem, I assure you. My looks and my demeanor really help putting people at ease, especially during two-way conversations. If it is a one-way conversation, as in I am talking to a brick wall.... well, my tongue can be sharp, and my words cold. I certainly do not want to turn those on you, someone who has offered me good words and reasoned opinions. This was a two-way conversation.... we are both willing to learn from each other.

      I agree with your sentiments, and I will enjoy meeting with you in other threads. edit: your comment about the spiral of life made me think of the Music of the Spheres. It is a really interesting concept to me, and I wonder if there is reality to it.

      [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

      I appreciate your thoughts and yes we are testing each other as equals before we start looking for things to fight about or pick a fucking side so we can fight about the middle and be conquered. For myself this is one of the first times on saidit that this has happened. This conversation is a breath of fresh air from most of the commenting I have done back and forth. Please list the subs you like and I will check them out. I don't really look for stuff on saidit. I usually wake up with coffee and read stuff on the NEW page and then my day starts. This is a new avatar name ephemeral, but I have been on saidit since the beginning a few years ago. I wanted to be part of this to see a brand new social media platform grow from scratch. It has been enlightening to see the changes it has gone through.

      I'm tell'n ya...Bucky is my hero and love most everything I have read about him. Bucky wrote "Your Private Sky the art of design" and a complementary book (cannot find the complementary book online: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Private-Sky-Buckminster-Science/dp/3037785241). In this book is a copy of a hand written letter Mr. Fuller wrote to Einstein. It is difficult to read not because his hand writing is too bad, but the phrasing and words used are hard to get your mind around. The best part is his secretary was a magician and would rewrite his letters. On the opposite page is her rewrite of the letter. This personal view of Bucky's mind and how he uses word/language is unique and powerful. To push my point and risk you getting bored with my Bucky fest I give you two more quotes from him. Both are about writing and one is specific to poets, which he professes he is not a poet. The first quote is about the act of repetition and is his explanation why repetition is necessary for the development of new cognitive information. I added (thinkers).

      “It is the writer's (thinkers) experience that new degrees of comprehension are always and only consequent to ever-renewed review of the spontaneously rearranged inventory of significant factors (words/phrasing). This awareness of the processes leading to new degrees of comprehension spontaneously motivates the writer to describe over and over again what-to the careless listener or reader-might seem to be tiresome repetition, but to the successful explorer is known to be essential mustering of operational strategies from which alone new thrusts of comprehension can be successfully accomplished (editing thought patterns).

      To the careless reader seeking only entertainment the repetition will bring about swift disconnect. Those experienced with the writer and motivated by personal experience with mental discoveries-co-experiencing comprehensive breakthroughs with the writer-are not dismayed by the seeming necessity to start all over again inventorying the now seemingly most lucidly relevant (do you know thy self, enough to put it into words?). Universe factors intuitively integrating to attain new perspective and effectively demonstrated logic of new degrees of comprehension that's the point. I have not forgotten that I have talked about these things before. It is part of the personal discipline, no matter how formidable the re-inventorying may seem, to commit myself to that task when inspired by intuitive glimpses of important new relationships-inspired overpoweringly because of the realized human potential of progressive escape from ignorance.”

      Advice to Poets

      A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feelings through words. This may sound easy. It isn’t. A lot of people think or believe or know they feel---but that’s thinking or believing or knowing; not feeling. Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you’re a lot of other people: But the moment you feel, you’re nobody-but-yourself. To be nobody-but-yourself---in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else---means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. As for expressing nobody-but-yourself in words, that means working just a little harder than anybody who isn’t a poet can possibly imagine. Why? Because nothing is quite as easy as using words like somebody else. We all of us do exactly this nearly all of the time---and whenever we do it, we are not poets. If, at the end of your first ten or fifteen years of fighting and working and feeling, you find you’ve written one line of one poem, you’ll be very lucky indeed. And so my advice to all young people who wish to become poets is: do something easy, like learning how to blow up the world---unless you’re not only willing, but glad, to feel and work and fight till you die.

      I hope that was not too much, yet felt these quotes go along with why we both enjoy our repartee. I love the ending of advice to poets...go do something easy...LOL.

      [–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

      As a writer and a poet who rarely studies the works of others, I find that Fuller quote to be incredibly accurate and helpful. "...unless you’re not only willing, but glad, to feel and work and fight till you die." I was just having a friendly sparring match with a material-reductionist about life and experience, and I constantly found myself glad that I have been so willing to feel and learn and change. There are so many I know who lament over their life and their gifts, and their response seems to be follow-the-leader. He kept saying "Oh, that idea sounds like this writer, or this philosopher." And I just wanted to explain that most of my ideas come from sitting in a quiet room by myself and just experiencing. That I only use logic and reason AFTER I experience whatever it is my senses are trying to get me to experience. When I live my life this way, poetry and writing comes so easy. When I use logic and reason first and foremost, I tend to become discontent, and I write stuff that I just KNOW I'll have to rewrite. Buckminster Fuller. He is on my mind a lot today.

      I started my saidit account because I got kicked off of other internet forums for calling out people for being defeatists. There is something sinister happening in that regard, and I don't like it one bit. I think it's System of a Down who said "can't afford to be neutral on a moving train."

      I appreciate you, person from elsewhere. Keep your spirits up, and I'm sure you'll meet someone like me IRL.

      Edit: I have no favorite subs as of yet. I haven't been here for very long.