The Apologists for Fascism Lexicon
December 22, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a reader:
from RefuseFascism.org:
Donald Trump, the President-elect, is assembling a regime of grave danger. Millions of people in the U.S. and around the world are filled with deep anxiety, fear, and disgust. Our anguish is right and just. Our anger must now become massive resistance – before Donald Trump is inaugurated and has the full reins of power in his hands.
Should we fail to rise with determination and daring in our millions now to stop this, the consequences for humanity will be disastrous. We, the undersigned, know in the depths of our beings, the catastrophe that will befall the people of the world should the Trump/Pence regime assume full power.
We therefore CALL FOR A MONTH OF RESISTANCE beginning on December 19th, reaching a crescendo by the January 20th, 2017 Inauguration.
Read more at RefuseFascism.org.
The euphemism “white nationalism” is at least as odiferous as “alt-right.” You see it all over the place. A December 10 New York Times article, “An Alt-Right Makeover Shrouds the Swastikas,” has this:
But the alt-right movement is hardly monolithic, despite a well-publicized gathering last month in Washington—one that might have been mistaken for just another corporate conference were it not for the white-nationalist sentiments and the Nazi salutes. The factions within its ranks can differ on any number of subjects: white supremacy versus white nationalism, for example, or the vexing “J.Q.”—the “Jewish Question.”
“White supremacy versus white nationalism”—that’s a distinction without a difference. There is entirely too much of the press using “white nationalism” when “white supremacy” would do just fine.
At one point I was making some notes on an imperialist lexicon—you know, “collateral damage” means murdering innocent civilians; “enemy killed in action” means drone collateral damage; “fear for my life” means license to kill Black and Brown civilians; “externality” means consequences of an action (like producing/using fossil fuels) that are external to making profit and therefore don’t matter.
Keeping track of the euphemisms used by the fascists and their apologists would keep a lexicographer employed full time. Here’s some more:
“Americans alienated by the forces of globalization and multiculturalism and deeply frustrated with the inability of Washington to address their needs,” Washington Post, November 9. That means white people who’ve bought into Trump’s white-supremacist, misogynist, America über alles shit.
“A largely overlooked coalition of mostly blue-collar white and working-class voters who felt that the promise of the United States had slipped their grasp amid decades of globalization and multiculturalism,” New York Times, November 9. That means those white people too.
We gotta stop this. I don’t mean the euphemisms, and I don’t mean just the apologies for fascism. I mean fascism itself. NO!
Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution
If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.