For obvious reasons, fascism is understandably negatively viewed in our society. After all, the worlds most famous fascists are also some of historys worst people. However, I dont believe this is just cause to relegate fascism to the history books.The greatest arguments against fascism, quite fairly, stem from the atrocities committed by its past advocates. However, this is a flaw in humanitys selective memory. I wont dwell on how communism is equally responsible for mass murder yet is still accepted because that would be a fallacy. Instead the first part of my argument is to explain why fascism isnt inherently evil. Firstly, I think it is worth looking at some other examples of fascism throughout history. It could be argued that the Roman Empire was one of the first fascist states. After all, Italian fascism was based on an attempt to emulate Roman glory. Now the Roman Empire isnt often seen as a shining example of Western civilisation but I would argue that it should be. After all it was more equal than todays America and, despite the prevalence of the class system, had a level of social mobility that would not be matched for years. For example, a rather short ruling Emperor was the son of a free slave. A similar comparison would be the son of an illegal immigrant becoming President, something I doubt would happen now. In addition, Rome managed to balance patriotism and multiculturalism, something I believe few states manage today. Roman identity was crucial but anyone could become Roman and join this revered group. This is before considering Romes advances in science and the arts (although in fairness, they did pinch some of it from the Greeks).Further to this, fascism is in itself not inherently evil. While the Nazis committed horrific crimes against humanity, the Italian fascists initially displayed none of the same anti-antisemitism as their German counterparts, until pressure from Hitler caused Mussolini to introduce antisemitic policies in Italy. Even then, persecution of Jews was not as extreme as in Germany. Other factors linked to fascism such as indoctrination and cults of personality are clearly not singularly fascist features and, as I said above, I dont believe it will lead to racism or persecution anymore than our current forms of government could. I would also argue that fascism doesnt even have to be undemocratic. While traditionally, fascism involves a single undisputed leader, there is no reason that future forms of fascism couldnt have elected or appointed bodies, similar to the Roman Senate, who would act in the role of the leader while still representing the people. Alternatively, there could be an elected dictatorship with checks on their power, e.g. having to seek approval before going to war.The second part of my argument is why it should exist today. Fascism, to me anyway, seems to value both the individual and the group which no other system does. Communism places the good of society above all and often to the detriment of the individual (N.B. just to clarify, for this argument when I refer to communism I mean communism as it has been implemented rather than the ideal of it). Capitalism, for lack of better way to describe western democracies, goes too far to the reverse. People care too much about their own self gain and if that comes at a cost to everyone else, most people seem willing to pay it. Fascism seems to be the best compromise, valuing the individual for what they bring to society.I also believe it could rectify some problems that have been experienced with democracy. For example, bi-partisanship and government slowdowns would simply not exist. A strong leader would act in the manner the citizens wanted and people could concentrate on fixing the issues instead of scoring points against the opposition. Dont get me wrong, despite my evangelising for fascism, Im not saying its objectively the best form of government but simply that it is at least worth considering as an alternative.TL;DR I believe fascism has some potentially good attributes and we shouldnt necessarily right it off because of its historical proponents. CMV.Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. Wed just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to read through our rules. If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which, downvotes dont change views! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our popular topics wiki first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to message us. Happy CMVing!
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 18:08:03 +0000
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