Weltschmerz à GogoMar 13, 2024

A quick primer on a certain facet of fascist ideology:

One thing worth keeping in mind about fascists is that they often are very invested in a cyclical understanding of history. That's not just some kind of superficial, aesthetic tic or something. It checks a lot of boxes for them.

#chronopolitics #fcknzs

Show threadWeltschmerz à GogoMar 13, 2024
1. It allows them to point backward to a mythologized, idealized, heroic past when everything was just right. Men were brave warriors, women were submissive and supportive, races were neatly separated, nothing was complicated, everyone knew their place, etc., etc., etc.
Show threadWeltschmerz à GogoMar 13, 2024
2. It gives a kind of structure to their sense of aggrievement about the corrupt present: they've been deprived of this idealized past by every Other who wanted rights, land, autonomy, etc., always at cost to these poor, injured Supermen. And the unfair manipulation by these undeserving Others is the real reason why the Supermen can't get laid, aren't praised as much as they feel they should be, have to make their own fucking sandwich, etc.
Show threadWeltschmerz à GogoMar 13, 2024
3. It envisions an apocalyptic future in which the present social order is destroyed/cleansed, leading to a kind of reset. After this fiery cataclysm, everything will return to the idealized state they believe they've lost: men will be brave warriors again, women will be submissive and supportive, everyone will know their place (which is subordinate to the Supermen, obv), and those who don't fit into that order will simply perish.
Show threadWeltschmerz à GogoMar 13, 2024
This kind of thinking makes, for instance, accelerationism seem like a good idea: do anything you can to cause chaos/break down the social order/undermine infrastructure, etc., because doing so will hasten the collapse, after which the Supermen will take over again, bend everyone to their will, and reestablish the proper social hierarchy, with themselves at the top.
Show threadWeltschmerz à GogoMar 13, 2024

At this point, you may be thinking "Sure, Weltschmerz guy, but not every reactionary stooge is a committed accelerationist, and they don't all have a conscious, fleshed out understanding of this cyclical model of history." You would be correct.

Nonetheless, many of them still point to an idealized past (which could be the 1980s, the 1950s, 1776, 1492, prehistory, or any other past time), gripe about the corrupt present, and indulge in eliminationist fantasies about destroying (or at least subordinating) their enemies so that they can reclaim their rightful place at the top of the social order. So the model still applies.

Show threadWeltschmerz à GogoMar 13, 2024

This framework can help answer some fairly basic questions that come up a lot these days:

Q: Why are so many reactionaries just a little too giddy when they talk about their anticipated US Civil War II?
A: It's that cleansing fire that they imagine will restore their lost prestige.

Q: Why do reactionaries gripe about "modernity" when they spend so much time online, promoting crypto, etc.?
A: Their problem with "modernity" isn't technological advancement, it's the kind of social change that challenges their presumed proper place at the top of the social ladder.

Q: Why are so many reactionaries so indifferent to the climate crisis?
A: Many of them simply cannot imagine a bad outcome for themselves in the course of a cataclysmic crisis. On the contrary, they often see it as resolving a lot of their problems.

Show threadWeltschmerz à Gogo
As I said, this is kind of a primer and it sort of glosses over a lot of stuff rather quickly. There's a lot more to dig out and elaborate on. But in short, yeah, fascist chronopolitics -- it's a thing. It sounds like a schmancy academic concept, but it's honestly rather helpful for understanding how these people think.
Mar 13, 2024 at 4:41amWeb
Show threadNoah GibbsMar 13, 2024

@ThatWeltschmerz That also summarises nicely something I'd been having trouble with: why do they get along so well with apocalyptic Christians?

A uniting belief that "bring it all down, bring the fire" is a good thing and they benefit from it.

The big difference is just between "my heirs will inherit a better world" and "my soul will go to Heaven", which is a pretty small difference when talking tactics.

The apocalyptic view isn't cyclic, but it shakes out about the same.

Show threadJob DestroyerMar 13, 2024

@codefolio @ThatWeltschmerz

Great thread, I want to elaborate a bit on the heterogeneous nature of fascism as a movement, the right is full of various tendencies that are apparrently totally different or even outright opposed to each other -- Randian Capitalists, Christian Dominionists, Neo Pagan stuff, transhumanism etc. etc. And they may in fact disagree with numerous details but the reason all these groups ally comes down to *values* and *interests*, they are aligned with the Powerful, that is the ruling class and the "traditional" hierarchies, whether white supremacy or patriarchy or, they may even sincerely claim to be not racist, or oppose religious dogma or condemn the elites or whatever, but on some level they understand where their future lies: they all want a future where the white properties christian man is on top, and once they get there they can "sort out the details" I.e. start purging each other in an endless pursuit of purity.