I like this piece by Umair Haque as it works well with my earlier post on the Allure of Fascism. Of course fascists never think they are what they actually are. Haque is an economist and not a psychologist, but he takes a good stab at at least some of the dynamics that undergird fascism.

To this, I would add the work of T. W. Adorno (2019) of the Frankfurt School. He wrote a widely-read book in the wake of Nazi Germany titled, The Authoritarian Personality. In that text, he writes of individuals who are uniquely predisposed toward fascist ideologies in that they are rule-governed, conformist, and aggressive. Gordon Allport's classic book on The Nature of Prejudice, also comes to mind.

The short of it is that they have authoritarian personalities that make them vulnerable to leaders that are themselves authoritarian. While still touching the surface here, my friends, I think we all know people like this, right? Plus, the alignment across these two posts caught my attention.

-Angela Valenzuela

References

Adorno, T. (2019). The authoritarian personality. Verso Books.

Allport, G. (1954). The nature of prejudice. New York: Addison-Wesley. 

Why Fascists Never Think They’re Fascists — But Victims and Heroes

The Psychology of the New Global Wave of Fascism

umair haque

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“I’m not a fascist! They’re the real fascists!! The students, the leftists, the woke mob, the anti-fascists, the teachers, the LGBTQ! They’re putting me in danger! They’re taking away my rights! My rights matter most of all! I’m being persecuted, violently and viciously!! I have a right to be heard — and what I have to say is that I’m superior, and they’re inferior! And if you don’t allow me this view — then you’re the real fascist!!”

LOL — do you see how funny and warped all this is the moment you think about it?

Needless to say, what makes a person a “fascist,” at least in terms of beliefs, is pretty straightforward. That some people are biologically inferior, inherently less valuable, hence need to be dehumanized, and cleansed away from society, their personhood, livelihoods, socio-cultural existences, and possibly even lives, removed. Nobody on the left is saying any of that to the kind of person I’m describing — and so quite obviously, the “real fascist” is the one who believes these crackpot theories of inherent supremacy, and then desires political “solutions” to the “problems” of people who are not human. The question we are answering today is: why would anyone believe in such obviously false notions, to begin with? Why would they need so desperately to?

Let’s start at the beginning — I’ll try to really explain the psychology of the new wave of fascism. You can judge for yourself whether it carries any water — I’ll only say this much: if you see these traits in yourself, you should stop and yourself: “Wait, am I what he’s describing?”

Fascists never think they are fascists. A fascist never thinks of himself or herself as a “fascist”, anything at all carrying a negative or malicious connotation. They think of themselves, first, as victims. Victims of great and grand conspiracies — the Great Replacement, the LGBTQ+ destroying them, women murdering babies as birth control, woke teachers indoctrinating their kids, immigrants out to destroy their culture, the liberals want to drink the blood of kids, the Jews are doing this, the Muslims are doing that, blah blah, and on and on the insanity goes.

To the fascist, those behind these conspiracies are not regular people — they are especially cunning and vicious especially greedy and unscrupulous, especially seditious and slothful, especially bad. They are especially powerful, in other words. They have the power to completely destroy the way of the life, the whole existence, of the person being victimized.

How Can I Have a Positive Racial Identity? I'm White! | Ali Michael | TEDTalk

Great Ted Talk by Ali Michaels that addresses whiteness. Drawing on psychologist Janet Helm, she offer the following definition of what a positive racial identity means for white people:

“A positive racial identity [for a white person] is not about feeling good about being white.  It’s also not feeling bad about being white. It’s about understanding what it means to be white in this context of a heavily racialized society that has historically—still today—distributes resources and opportunities inequitably, favoring white people against people of color. Understanding what it means to live in a society that teaches people of color internalized oppression and teaches white people internalized superiority. And dealing with that sense of internalized superiority so that I can show up and be and live in a healthy multi-racial community with people of color in which we work against racism and other oppressions, knowing that all oppressions are connected.”

I like how she framed her own transformation as a result of taking an African American Studies course. This is why so many of us who are teachers advocate for Ethnic Studies. The criticality that such courses provide bring justice and new ways of knowing and being in the world that no longer reinscribe white privilege and white supremacist ways of knowing and being, helping us to live together peacefully in the world.

-Angela Valenzuela

This story surrounding University of Nebraska-Lincoln Professor Jennine Capó Crucet's talk related to her book at Georgia Southern University is not only disturbing, but also sad and pathetic to the point that that this official statement, in reference to the Medieval practice of book burning,  by the university's vice president for strategic communications and marketing had to be made:

"While it's within the students' First Amendment rights, book burning does not align with Georgia Southern's values nor does it encourage the civil discourse and debate of ideas," Lester told Buzzfeed.

This is horrific and unacceptable, my friends.  We must reject these ways of knowing and being in the world that are openly hostile and denunciatory even toward an invited presenter because they could not stomach her statements about white privilege related to her award-winning book.  We need to call out this comportment not as “white fragility,” but rather as the "white hostility" or "Trumpism" that it is.

All of this argues implicitly, by the way, for a more diverse faculty.  We simply cannot in this day and age be cultivating cohorts upon cohorts of undergraduates without any critical sense of history who do not know how to deal in and with an increasingly complex world.  In fact, these students have not been well served by their higher education institutions and that message somehow needs to get communicated to them.  A diverse faculty is an obvious start.  Requiring students to take Ethnic Studies both in K-12 and higher education is another way.

I was very pleased to see that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln stood up for her.  While a sign of the times, no one deserves this kind of treatment.  I think we should all purchase and read her book in solidarity.

-Angela Valenzuela

Georgia Southern students burn UNL professor's novel following campus discussion about race

CHRIS DUNKER Lincoln Journal Star

Jennine Capó Crucet's award-winning novel "Make Your Home Among Strangers" follows a young Cuban-American woman from Miami as she tries to navigate life inside a predominately white, prestigious New York university.

The author and University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor of English and Ethnic Studies was invited to discuss the book that explores race and privilege before a convocation of students at Georgia Southern University, where it was required reading for some freshmen.

But her visit was cut short earlier this week after videos showing Georgia Southern students burning copies of the novel began circulating on social media.

According to the George-Anne, Georgia Southern's student newspaper, students confronted Capó Crucet over what they felt were unfair characterizations of white people in the book.

"I noticed that you made a lot of generalizations about the majority of white people being privileged," the student newspaper reported one student as saying. "What makes you believe that it's OK to come to a college campus, like this, when we are supposed to be promoting diversity on this campus, which is what we're taught. I don't understand what the purpose of this audience was."

According to the newspaper, Capó Crucet responded: "I came here because I was invited and I talked about white privilege because it's a real thing that you are actually benefiting from right now in even asking this question."

The question-and-answer session continued on a congenial note, the George-Anne reported, although some students left the event.

Later that evening, Capó Crucet thanked the university on Twitter, saying she "met some very amazing, brilliant students" and shared moments with some after the tense exchange during the forum.

But a short time later, video of students standing around an open fire burning their copies of Capó Crucet's book began circulating on social media.

Still more students began sending Capó Crucet pictures of torn up copies of her book and accusing her of being racist against white people.

"Are you usually that racist or were you putting on a front to promote your pointless and (expletive) book at my college? Just a question," one female student wrote in a now-deleted tweet. "Work on your ignorance and racism towards white people."

Another student posted a 4-second clip of the book burning, telling Capó Crucet, "Maybe that wouldn't happen if you spoke about your book instead of dissing white people the entire time."

Capó Crucet was scheduled to deliver another lecture Thursday in Statesboro, where Georgia Southern is located, but the school canceled that event.

School officials also moved Capó Crucet from her original accommodations to a different hotel.

That night, she posted a now-deleted video showing her novel being incinerated, adding: "This is where we are, America."

In a statement published Friday, Capó Crucet said she has delivered similar lectures at Stanford University and Albion College, but that "nothing close to the events at GSU has occurred in any of my previous campus visits."

Immediately after the confrontation, Capó Crucet asked Georgia Southern faculty in the room to follow up with the student who questioned her, saying she felt "a compassionate and continuing conversation needed to occur."

Russell Willerton, chair of Georgia Southern's writing and linguistics department, said in a statement Thursday said he was "dismayed and disappointed by the uproar against" Capó Crucet.

"Our department values stories and how they reflect parts of the human experience," the statement reads.

"We also value discussion and debate of important issues from all sides and perspectives. We regret that Capó Crucet's experience in Statesboro ended as it did. We call on students to remain civil in disagreement, even on difficult issues, and to make Georgia Southern University a place that we all can feel proud to represent."

Other departments also condemned the book burning, but John Lester, vice president for strategic communications and marketing, told Buzzfeed that Georgia Southern was not planning to discipline students who participated in the book burning.

"While it's within the students' First Amendment rights, book burning does not align with Georgia Southern's values nor does it encourage the civil discourse and debate of ideas," Lester told Buzzfeed.

Richard Moberly, interim executive vice chancellor at UNL, tweeted his support of Capó Crucet on Thursday night.

"I am proud to be on the same faculty as (Capó Crucet) — I appreciate her important work, as well as her courage," Moberly wrote. "UNL is lucky to have such a talented writer and amazing role model, especially for our 1st gen students."

And in a statement, UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green called Capó Crucet "a highly acclaimed author and scholar," adding her novel invites discussion of the role race plays in society.

Green echoed the statement put forward by Georgia Southern's administration, saying that while book burning is protected speech, it doesn't help foster civil discourse and the exchange of ideas.

"It's unfortunate that an opportunity for an open, engaged discussion devolved into an incident like this," Green said.

In her statement, Capó Crucet said many Georgia Southern students told her how they felt their own stories were reflected in the novel, which she based partially on her own experiences.

Capó Crucet said she wrote the book "as an act of love and an attempt at deeper understanding" and said she hopes Georgia Southern can act to support the students who may feel unsafe after the book burning.

"To think of those students watching as a group of their peers burned that story — effectively erasing them on the campus they are expected to think of as a safe space — feels devastating," she said.

Oct 11, 2019