Quote:
Originally Posted by nik-
It's not like fascists invented these tactics. There's roots in human psychology that make them effective.
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They actually very literally did invent much of it. The early fascists are in some ways, IMO at least, underappreciated as political analysts who formed groundbreaking theories on how a modern democracy functions, and they created some very deliberate and effective strategies based on those theories.
Modern fascists in many places still take directions literally out of 30's Nazi writings for the purpose of manipulating the popular opinion and gaining power while protecting themselves from repercussions.
The other group that had a playbook on gaining power was communists, but their playbook is mostly quite different.
(In large part the differences come from where the left and the right see the legitimacy of their power comes from.
In socialist/communist theory the legitimacy of power must come from the masses. Their ideas depend largely on gaining mass popularity for their ideas. This is why left wing radicalists are generally extremely open (and loud) about their goals.
Fascist thinking on the other hand is based on an idea of the righteous moral and strong ruling class reigning over / protecting the weak (and kind of hopelessly stupid) masses. This is why right wing radicals consider it perfectly okay to lie about their actual political leanings and hide many of their true goals.
The other reason for the difference in their playbooks comes from the fact that when fascists try to seize power, they usually start working in a democracy, so undermining democracy is a prime part of their strategy. Also, see the part where fascists don't the general populace can be expected to rule themselves, thus democracy is their enemy.
A socialist revolutionary project on the other hand presumes a society which is already authoritarian or "democracy in name only", so to them democracy as such isn't an enemy as such. Election democracy is often just disbanded because well "they're too vulnerable to the influence of money" or what ever.)