Fascism is a threat to all societies. No nation is immune to it. The demonstrations taking place on the streets of Western nations and in the universities, by members of the ‘red-green-black’ alliance of Muslims, environmentalists (outlandish) and the extreme Left aren’t just expressions of the denial of a Jewish right to independence in the Jewish homeland. They are the denial of Jewish legal rights (unless those rights are expressed through an anti-Zionist vehicle).
For example, anti-Zionism manifests as anti-Judaism when a ban on teaching Hebrew is suggested. Would anyone consider a similar proposal to ban either Latin or Arabic? It would be perceived as a demand to renounce Christianity or Islam, both as civilisations and as religions. It is a part of this Information War, a war that is viewed as equal to the military conflict but fought on the strategic level.
Many people claim that Zionism is an illegal, national ideology. Strange – because Islam is a colonialist (conquest based) faith. The Arab world conquered huge swathes of territory and there are many people who continue to encourage this conquest narrative as a religious obligation. Islamist terrorist groups across the globe act upon this worldview. Therefore, it is the selectivity of global protest that makes anti-Zionism, antisemitic. If someone stated that they believed no nation should exist within self-contained borders, and campaigned on this principle, then I could accept the premise that in that persons’ case, their anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.
The other factor making Israels’ position unique was the playing out on 10/7 of the Islamist theological right to punish “the enemies of the prophet.” That means anyone who opposes this domination. More about the nature of that punishment later. It relies on the dogma of Supersessionism (similar to Replacement theology). The new Chosen People must destroy the preceding Chosen People (which in this case implies all Christians and all Jews.) As missionary beliefs these concepts are fundamentally toxic. They would have to be universally renounced for all time.
The storming of the universities and their administrations’ subsequent knee-jerk acquiescence to being held hostage by the demonstrators isn’t an act of free expression either. It is a political act of religious, racial, and political intimidation and exclusion. Only the fascist denies equal, unimpaired accessibility to everyone NOT LIKE THEM.
I recently labelled a political rival a ‘fascist.’ His response was as immediate as it was visceral. He spat back at me: “It is not possible; I am a communist.” Our enemies rarely self-analyse what components make up their identity. They are ignorant of those characteristics that define them. Ignorance is their greatest strength. Communism and Nazism are simply extreme forms of fascism. They share core attributes.
It is assumed that passionate belief somehow absolves us of any responsibility for the truth. And we self-censor, we only read that which reinforces our prejudice. Most people refuse to listen to any counterargument that may bring into question their long-held beliefs. But it is embracing a system of intimidation, violent opposition and of selective cancel culture that creates the fascist present.
Society has been colonised by the proponents of this “one-truth” world and it has only exacerbated the intolerance and bigotry that in todays’ blighted social media universe creates the fertile conditions for entrenched ideological purity. Compromise becomes an unholy abomination in the semi-religious orthodoxy of the only acceptable reality. Truths are sanctioned, sanctified by the commissars of intellectual thought. We wonder why we are living in an increasingly polarised world where “one man’s, or one woman’s truth is his or her opponent’s ‘foolishly held’ adherence to mythology.”
Shared truths require both sides to genuinely compromise for the greater good. It involves understanding and empathy; something that is absent from both Islamist conquest theology and Left-wing political theory.
Hitler and Stalin did not create the idea that truths are absolute. They did create secular religion with its secular priesthood and its ministry of propaganda to oversee the truth. Before them, religious theology created religious absolutism. The inquisition existed in different countries and at various times throughout history, not just within Catholicism and not only in Christianity. It is why Sunni Muslims often regard Shi’ite Muslims as little better than ants to be crushed; why different religions and different secular orthodoxies have always persecuted (murdered) their opponents.
Truths are rarely either universal or shared. When they are the product of fascism, they must be imposed. That punishment to which I referred earlier; for some, murder is not murder but an act of religious devotion; rape, an act of resistance, domination, and proof of religious supremacy. Denialism becomes a tool for the elimination of any inconvenient truths. A recent survey in the UK found that 75% of Britain’s four plus million Muslims (6.5% of the UK population) either did not believe that 10/7 occurred or just didn’t care.
Societies are too easily colonised by absolute truths (where more than one narrative is intolerable), particularly today with the unrestrained and ‘zero-consequences’ world of social media. That social media universe is increasingly mimicked by the traditional media companies in order to compete with them. I say ‘with’ as opposed to ‘against’ because the latter implies independence of thinking while the former is one of conspiracy and collusion. Today’s radical Left, Islamists, and the new-Palestinians are part of a tradition that threatens Western survival.
When ideas become absolutes, fascism’s proponents lose the ability to accept dissent. They become incapable of sharing other narratives that do not complement theirs. They are powerless before the forces of hate and prejudice (either by design or by indifference) and are inevitably seduced by it. The logic continues that if an opponent (enemy) cannot see the validity of the thesis then the opponent (enemy) is irreversibly flawed. And in this argument’s logical extension, unworthy of life itself. The fascist cannot accept any responsibility for their own vices. It is why it becomes so easy to dehumanize their opponent. That aforementioned hatred and prejudice becomes a badge of honor and one that must be shared in an ongoing act of affirmation. This is the description that aligns with zealous missionary, political or religious faith.
Violence and intimidation are merely tools that energise a conquest. Because it is outside of most nations laws, social media has made control over the narrative of conquest by fascisms’ adherents much easier. Cleverness and universal morality are not meant to be mutually exclusive. They are products of the thoughtful understanding of complexity and of timeless oversight. But when nations (the Islamic Republics of Iran and neo-Ottoman Türkiye) and millions of individuals view kidnapping, rape, torture, dismemberment, and murder as justified tools of resistance and liberation then clearly, our world has lost its moral compass.
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