Fascism’s Use and Abuse of Postmodernism

These words kill fascists, I shall turn the gun of postmodernism they’ve been using and weaponize it upon them. These words kill fascists, “The one in front of the gun lives forever” (Lamar). As you fascists have played with life and reality so shall I to end your ends. At once, postmodernism is the birth of fascism and I shall make it the death of fascism.

Fascism is a sophist in the halls of philosophy. Fascism holds no consistent beliefs, no consistent narratives, but only one belief and so one grand narrative “Fascism cannot be reduced to a single and basic process” (Schuller). The beliefs of a fascist are inconsistent because they are beliefs of convenience. This is shown by fascism’s adoption of national symbology no matter what nation it finds itself in, “When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jack-boots. It will be Nike sneakers and Smiley shirts” (Carlin). The American symbols of fascism include a thin blue line, the Confederate Flag, and a snake that refuses to be stepped upon.

While nationalism is a horrid late-modern phenomenon and fascism is nationalistic, fascism is not a late-modern phenomenon. Fascism extends the late-modern into postmodernism in part due to the fact that fascism can adapt to and belong to any nation. Fascism uses and abuses postmodernism for its own nationalistic ends. Fascism is the political tipping point between late-modern and postmodern politics.

Fascism prescribes an end of history, an end definition of a nation historically and for all of time moving forward. The end of history for fascists is the end of a nation’s history and can be expressed as American, German, Spanish, Italian, or Cuban (under Batista). By even having an end of history fascism retains a late-modern element, holding onto the grand narrative. Yet, fascism holds onto a grand narrative without narratives, making fascism more so postmodern. In addition, the tactics of fascism are postmodern toward a late-modern grand narrative of hyper-nationalism.

Fascists will use and abuse any and all information to have their white America, their third reich, their Neo-Roman Empire, their national catholicism, or their island playground, “The Italian strain of fascism looked more to Machiavelli and the idealism of Hegel, while the Germanic version took more of a cue from Nietzsche and the German romanticists” (Crouse). Fascists define the nation in limited terms against prior and future national evolutions while acting as if narratives do not exist in order to push a grand narrative. Fascism operates in the realm of clear contradiction making, having the ability to muddy the informational water in order to intellectually divide while having a clear end goal in and of itself.

Fascism confuses the masses so it can sweep in with its nationalistic solutions to solve the confusions it has created. Postmodernism is a bludgeon for fascists, picking narrative after narrative out of opportunism, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me” (Niemöller). Fascism not only divides and conquers, but conjoins groups against a common enemy only to conjoin a new group against a new enemy until only the fascist’s desired group remains.

Yet, there is no end or death to history and or reality, “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’/Into the future” (Steve Miller Band). But fascism looks at a mythic past to move the future toward a grand narrative that never previously existed. “Fascism presents itself as a creative form of conservatism,” (Chapman) but the fascist pushes a new narrative, conserving nothing as a result. The fascist is a force of destruction, murdering people for a mythic vision stemming from a historical power fantasy. The fascist seeks power over others and not the power to return to a past, because the fascist does not draw from history but asserts new notions such as America being great or Germans being purely Indo-Aryan “History does not travel backwards” (Mussolini). So, “Fascism’s claim to simultaneously return to ‘ethno-cultural origins’ and transcend modernism” (Milano) fails because it does not look at the actuality of history and historiography.

The past is hermeneutically pacifistic, this does not mean there are no facts of the past but the past can be endlessly interpreted. But fascism selects interpretations (often false or baseless interpretations) of the past in an attempt to end history which would include the end of new historical interpretation, “Fascism is syncretic, it takes ideas and concepts from multiple sources and tries to synthesize them into a broad, sweeping set of principles that they can apply backwards in time” (Thought Slime). If we cannot reconsider the past we are ever bound to that narrative of the past.

The fascist seeks to define the future by territorializing the past. “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength,” (Orwell) as long as the citizenry defines the nation under the fascist’s vision. The fascist is essentially unaware of their own contradictions because they are sheerly focused on their end, their grand narrative of hyper-nationalism at all costs “For Fascism the State is absolute, individuals and groups relative. Individuals and groups are admissible in so far as they come within the State” (Mussolini). Postmodernism is a means to an end but not a true belief for fascists. Any means to any fascist ends is valid for the fascist. Postmodernism just so happens to be the best tactic for fascists historically and currently.

What is the tactic of postmodernism? Postmodernism as a tactic is the eraser of grand narratives, those ideas which unite groups especially societies. The modern period held many grand narratives, most importantly for fascists the grand narrative that nations exist and therefore there is a national history. Yet, the nation is a modern invention, as demonstrated by postmodernism which tears down all the grand narratives formulated during the modern and pre-modern period. The idea of pre-modern, modern, and postmodern period itself is an invention by culture, “They are inventing our modern world” (Latour). Since, we cannot point to when modernism or postmodernism occurred we must resign postmodernism to an intellectual tactic where, “The intellectual culture which we live [in] does not know how to categorize” (Latour). The postmodernist is on a mission to eliminate consistency in grand societal thought, “the postmoderns obliterate [categories] entirely,” (Latour) until society does not know where it stands on any position concerning wider society. This is also why a fascist will never accept any truth unless it aligns with their hyper-nationalism, “fascism begins, regardless of the political clothing it wears, whether its manifestation is political or whether it is visible in our private affairs, lifestyles and relationships. Fascism is, as Klaus Theweleit has always stressed, not an ideology, but a way of producing reality, a reality that knows no internal conflicts” (Ette) but will make others try to prove their viewpoint incessantly while shifting the goal post of proof, “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being…Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing” (Morrison). The fascist is not a genuine actor, “They will die on every hill. They will argue about every little point of minutiae, forever. They will deny anything you, no matter how absurd it seems to do” (Thought Slime).

The postmodernism of fascists can be countered with a genuine postmodernism, “For the postmodernist, all positions are moral and political equivalents, no matter how contradictory” (Crowder). Postmodernism does not have to make byways for fascism but could clear the way for social democracy which is arguably more attuned toward the postmodern. By and large, social democracy presents no grand narrative, it is an incrementalism on structures in the face of grand uncertainty. Social democracy has no grand end, but seeks to improve lives while the nation and or the species figures things out. While this is agreeable or disagreeable, this social democratic vantage shows that postmodernism’s destiny is not fascism, “Postmodernism does not entail a thoroughgoing dedication to fascism” (Crowder).

How do we then use postmodernism to convince people away from fascism sympathies (as a fascist is unlikely to be convinced away from fascism)? There should be no illusions that postmodernism will not be pulled from the hands of fascists. Instead, postmodernism can and should be used to battle against fascism, fascists should never be allowed to have postmodernism all to themselves. Fascist with sole possession of postmodernism as a tool will use it as a bludgeon, when fascists do not take sole ownership of postmodernism then postmodernism can be used as a telescope. But in order to understand how postmodernism can be used against fascism it must be understood how fascists use postmodernism.

The Nazis branded themselves as socialists without any real intent to enact socialist policies, these ‘national socialists’ did not really want any socialism, they were nationalists that used socialism to gain support for their nationalism. Donald Trump during the United States Presidential election of 2024 touted himself as anti-war but upon entry into office saber rattled at Canada, Greenland, and Panama. Yet, the supporters of the Nazis or Trump did not and did not jump ship when policies changed/change, because their supporters knew/know the true endgame. Postmodernism is not a matter of lying, “Where does the defining postmodernist hostility towards truth come from? Hatred of the Enlightenment and the modern world is its remote source” (Crowder). A hostility toward the truth is not a dismal of the existence of truth, to lie is to have a narrative. Instead, postmodernism is a skepticism, yes, there are facts but how can we dare to rank facts and state there is one direction we should all be going with these facts. In this sense postmodernism is, “Philosophically committed to individual and cultural relativism; that is highly skeptical of all universalist and/or essentialist theories in general” (Chapman). So the fascist in being pro-socialist then anti-socialist or anti-war then pro-war takes advantage of directionlessness, skepticism, non-essentialist thinking, unranking thought, and truth hostility as a slight of hand toward an end unlike a true postmodernist that simply wishes to question all structures, including the structures of fascism.

Fascism seeks the death of the self in favor of the nation, “The State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with those of the State”(Mussolini). Fascism is a borderline mystical ideology whose followers participate in a death cult fueled by a false salvific nationalism “Man is man only by virtue of the spiritual process to which he contributes as a member of the family, the social group, the nation” (Mussolini). This is because fascism is a wolf in sheep’s clothing that uses pre-modernity and postmodernity to disguise its late modern goal. Fascism acts in a premodern sense when it draws upon pagan and Hindu symbology in the case of the Nazis or valorizes the Roman Empire in the case of Trumpism. Fascists hide their true hyper-nationalist intentions, in the hopes of gaining followers and not drawing too much attention from detractors. This death cult will say or do anything toward their higher purpose and they have laid claim to an enemy of this higher purpose, the left “Fighting was going on in the towns and villages. There were discussions but ... there was something more sacred and more important.... death.... Fascists knew how to die” (Mussolini). It is an “Error conceiving of Fascism as irrational rightism in opposition to rational leftism, rather than identifying Fascism and leftism as two warring siblings sharing many traits” (Adams). Rather, the fascist is against any form of leftism be it rational or irrational. Fascism is inherently reactionary against the left, no matter who the left may be. This is why every lefty, leftist, or even centrist can be labeled as a far left radical communist by communists. As examples, Trump labeled Kamala Harris as, “A communist” (CBS 21 News) while Aaron Klein and Brenda Elliot referred to Barack Obama as a Manchurian President. Fascists pick and choose narratives sometimes consistently but more often sporadically while the left is always communist, Trump will both praise or dismiss vaccines. But this picking and choosing is a flimsy stance by fascists, especially in the face of true postmodernism, being the kink in the fascist where fascist sympathizers can be pulled away from the ranks of fascism.

Again, you are probably not going to convince a believing fascist away from their fascism in the vast majority of cases. Instead one must convince those complicit to fascism and or those unaware of their fascist tendencies. There is no excuse to become a fascist. There is no excuse to be complicit to fascism or hold fascist tendencies. While we can regularly acknowledge and address the difficulties of existence, a state that has always been postmodern. While we can understand that which pushes people toward fascism, disillusionment but mainly material needs,losses, and desires. Disillusionment and material conditions could lead one toward social democracy, so there is no excuse for anything fascist. The fascist chooses to be a nationalist, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, reactionary, ableist, and genocidal, there is no drive that can universally justify this. Yet, distaste for universality does not necessarily result in violence toward others. Postmodernism as a path of unending paths can be used to show ways away from fascism.

Fascism only survives if narratives are maintained, “Fascism look[s] on the state as an organic entity without the individual in view…One of Mussolini’s favorite sayings was: ‘Everything in the state, nothing against the state, and nothing outside the state’...According to fascist ideology, individual identity comes only from the group, and since culture determines the individual, the needs of the culture have priority. Fascism oppose[s] human autonomy” (Crouse). Postmodernists are the busters of narratives and expose the narratives of fascism by showing the true structures of fascism, “Fascism retains the hierarchy but does away with the pretense of freedom” (Chapman). The narratives of fascism that, “political ideology that valorizes the nation-state, conceived as an organic whole, and seriously depreciates or even outright rejects the autonomy and human dignity of the individual; that places highly centralized governmental coercive power in the hands of a single charismatic leader, aka ‘the strong man’; that glorifies violence against and war with its perceived internal and external enemies; and that promotes a vision of social cohesion that’s essentially regressive and oriented towards an imagined ideal past” (Chapman) become unsuccessful if they are drowned in the ocean of postmodern interpretation. Fascism under a postmodern lens and investigation is shown to have an unfounded mythos taken on mere faith. Fascism but be revealed to be in the realm of uncertainty as just another uncertainty with no salvific prospects. How absurd fascism sounds when properly examined, what is more postmodern than an anti-left reactionary death cult whose salvific hope is in resurrecting a false image of a nation’s past by any means necessary including every form of phobia, hatred, and violence, “All doctrines which postulate peace at all costs are incompatible with Fascism.” (Mussolini). But for this to occur one must even know that they need to examine fascism, “Ur-Fascism is still around us, sometimes in plainclothes. It would be so much easier, for us, if there appeared on the world scene somebody saying, I want to reopen Auschwitz, I want the Black Shirts to parade again in the Italian squares” (Eco). I am not confident that most will really and readily examine fascism.

The phoenix of fascism survives despite its stupidity, “Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty”(Arendt). Still, hopefully someday, somehow, some postmodern words will kill fascism. Hopefully fascism will be essentially dead to us so we may be allowed to embrace the myriad potential joys under postmodernism. Fascism adds extra problems on top of already occurring issues “Isn't our situation bad enough without being a phase in the deterioration to fascism…The political situation in Israel is bad enough without being a preamble to fascism” (Yuran). But beyond this hope we must admit that all in all, fascism is, in Harry Frankfurt’s words, ‘bullshit’.

 

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