A post saying “Please don’t anthropomorphize fascists” just crossed my TL (not linking to avoid dunking), and…as much as I appreciate the snark, I can’t endorse that.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m 100% on board with “Don’t coddle fascists,”“Don’t infantilize fascists,” “Don’t be gentle with fascists.”
Punch fascists, yes please. “Be compassionate” is NOT where I’m going. Where I’m going is “never think it couldn’t be you, or me, or the person next to you.”
1/
If I take any bite-sized insight from Hannah Arendt’s “Eichmann in Jerusalem,” it’s that fascists •are• people: ordinary, boring, could-be-anyone human beings. “The banality of evil” means, among other things, “the human-ness of evil.”
The only things that keeps you or me or any human being from being fascist is vigilance against fascism.
2/
I suspect there’s a great comfort in the idea that fascists aren’t real humans. It means we’re off the hook, doesn’t it? “We’re truly human, so that could never be us! We’re different!”
It’s a comfortable idea.
Dangerously comfortable.
3/
But if I’ve avoided succumbing to fascism, it’s because I’ve had the privilege of wonderful parents, teachers, friends, peers, people all around me who’ve helped me spot patterns of oppression and cruelty in the world and •in myself•.
Privilege. Good fortune.
Not being a different species. Not — I am saying this slowly — genetic superiority.
4/
Paul Cantrell
standev
Dreaming of dad jazz.