Rising Fascism – Part 2

In my last post, I touched on how fascism appears to be rising in western countries worldwide. My focus was on censorship, comparing 'book burning' in Nazi Germany in 1939. This extreme censorship was also described beautifully in Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451. In this tale, fire stations do not exist to put out fires but to seek out and set fire to books around the city. My point is to illuminate the censorship that is happening in the present time. We no longer burn books (in most cases) but digitally erase or cancel those online voices that hold a different point of view, contrary to the mainstream narrative. This modern-day “book burning” is the central tool of fascism.

The coup attempt on the US Capital on January 6, 2021, set off a frighting chain of government and law enforcement agencies' events. Citizens were working with the FBI, snitching on their neighbors and family members for taking part in the coup attempt. On the surface, this was a “stop the steal' protest against the 2020 election because it was claimed that President Trump won the election but was stolen by the Democratic establishment; from a much wider sense, it was a protest against the US government overall.

The US people have been sick and tired with a corporate-owned Congress, doing nothing to make their lives easier, particularly during COVID 19. Despite being the richest country globally, the people have no medicare, a paltry minimum wage, and spend garish amounts of money on the US war machine. Add to unfair tax relief for the top 1% (in most cases, the rich hardly pay any tax), most people in the middle class and below simply have had enough. However, similar to the Patriot Act after 9/11, destroying the people's basic rights under the constitution, January 6^th is being used as an excuse to take away all dissenting voices around the country.

There have been two 'policies' that have manifested as a result of January 6^th. Although on the surface, this is a crackdown on extreme right-wing groups who desire total insurrection, when you read further into the document, however, the crackdown goes much further, punishing animal rights activists and, really, any group that disagrees with the establishment narrative. This is a blatant attack on the US Constitution, and the MSM, tools of the State, are for the most part silent on this matter. Indeed, they're part of the problem. The second 'policy' or action taken by the US government was to take down major news outlets around the globe. Any news outlet considered to be an “enemy” of the US, like Russia and Iran, has been canceled from the internet. I'm not going to name these outlets, but they include any left-wing publication that criticizes capitalism. This is fascism.

It has also been revealed in a Navel document that Socialists are deemed enemies of the State and must be oppressed. For certain, when I read this piece of news, the hairs on my neck flared to attention.

Since the Biden administration came to power, censorship on social media has gone into full swing: suspending accounts, demonetizing content, and shadow banning or pushing YouTube channels to the bottom of the algorithm. It must be emphasized that these content providers are right-wing extremists; this includes any content that criticizes the mainstream narrative. What is disturbing personally is many antiwar voices on the internet are being canceled or shadowbanned as well. This is unacceptable and anti-democratic in the extreme.

When a government begins to censor opposing voices or critical comments of the powerful, we no longer have a democracy but a totalitarian regime. When freedom of the press and freedom of speech is punished or canceled because the powerful find it a threat to their ideology and stranglehold on the economy, in a word, we are in deep shit.

Let's be truthful, the mainstream press isn't journalism but pure propaganda. When real journalism is done, it is attacked, not for its prudent factual content. The journalist is smeared, called some nonsense like a Russian agent, a friend to dictators, or a crazy conspiracy theorist. For certain, when real journalism is attacked, it's never about the issues but all about propaganda supporting the mainstream narrative. This should be revealed to anyone with any common sense. 

Oppressing news and information, including opinions about certain stories or issues that counter the government position is the central tool of fascism.

History has shown that the rich capitalists, corporations, militarist governments will do anything to quash any opposition to their hegemony from censorship to outright violence. Unfortunately, at the moment, we see both.