"The major enemy, the strategic adversary [of our thinking] is Fascism... and not only historical fascism, the fascism of Hitler and Mussolini -which was able to mobilize and use the desire of the masses so effectively - but also the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us.... How does one keep from being fascist, even (especially) when one believes oneself to be a revolutionary militant? How do we rid our speech and our acts, our hearts and our pleasures, of fascism? How do we ferret out the fascism that is ingrained in our behavior?" -Philosopher Michel Foucault, Preface to Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus Foucault (like his friends Deleuze and Guattari) all grew up during WWII, and during the 60s and 70s tried to theorize why so many people openly EMBRACED fascism. The big idea here is that society does NOT work like the Social Contract Theorists thought - people do not consciously agree to form societies for their own benefit, but instead, societies form people through a kind of unconscious peer pressure. We're taught to conform to certain ideals of "normality" by people who were taught and conform to the same, partially because there is a sense of safety in being like others, and partly because certain religious or political ideologies threaten us or promise rewards based on our obedience (Omelas, Danforth's court, the Norsefire party...) After watching the above-linked 8 Bit Philosophy videos, see if you can make connections between these ideas and the story or setting of V for Vendetta. In particular, think of the final scene with Helen Heyer, the embodiment of the "Fascism within us all,," and Finch, who has overcome that instinct. And if you want to take it further, do any of Foucault and Deleuze/Guattari's ideas reveal "micro-fascisms" in our democracy (or school/community environments) now? In particular, are we "trained" to discipline and repress our desires?
28 Comments
Luke Devine
12/15/2015 08:26:34 am
The characters in V for Vendetta all have contradicting ideas about how government should be handled. Some people believe in the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, while others believe in those of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Those who believed in Hobbes, including Leader Susan, Helen Heyer, and majority of the people believed that people need a harsh monstrosity of a government to keep people from wrong doing. People who believed in Rousseau, like V and Finch, believed that people are free and express kindness without government, so they are able to rule themselves. The view of Hobbes leads to Facism, as the government completely controls the people so that they do not step out of line. The view of Rousseau leads to Anarchy, as the people control their own lives and follow their own moral codes. Hobbes and Rousseau have a large difference between their political ideologies, as do the characters within V for Vendetta.
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Kelly Farley
12/15/2015 02:33:53 pm
"It is not uncommon for people to vote for parties contrary to their social situation, to work for bosses that treat them horribly...." In "V for Vendetta" this is very common. For example, the citizens, Conrad, and Rosemary Almond all like submitting to strength. The video says that people yearn to be protected, ruled, and dominated. The citizens like that they feel protected by the government so they do not mind being controlled. The video says that people generally find powerful leaders "sexy". Conrad most likely submits to Helen's horribleness because he might think of it as "sexy". Rosemary Almond, on the other hand, does not have a fascination with Mr. Almond. She most likely believes that her unhappiness is but a small cost to pay for being protected by someone a strong important man like Mr. Almond. She obey's his orders and does not question them in order to maintain this feeling of protection. On the other side of these 'relationships' are the controllers. Fascism is the fascination with and love of power. These people make others feel inferior so they believe they need help and medicine to 'fix' themselves. The oppressors tell them they can make them "normal", but it will come at the cost of their freedom. They "make you feel sick to sell a cure". In our societies, there are many "micro-fascisms'. Most people exercise and diet because they want to be fit and feel like they fit in. Another huge control in our society is going to school. When I walk to school, there are some days where I think, "I really don't have to go, I could just walk right by and go back home". Of course, I never do this, there is always something, perhaps the superego, telling me I cannot to that because that is not conforming to the social standards. Because of examples like this, I do believe that we are trained to discipline/repress our desires.
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Biggs
12/29/2015 03:00:20 pm
The line about people finding power "sexy" in the Deleuze/Guattari video is so true - think of the club scene in Book II of V where the singer is blatantly sexualizing Nazi dress. And yes, Conrad desperately WANTS Helen to dominate him - and by withholding sex, she keeps him desiring it by denying him the (already-twisted) pleasure he would get from sleeping with her (since she would surely degrade and dominate him in that setting).
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Hannah Daitz
12/15/2015 04:09:35 pm
All characters in V for Vendetta have very different views on how society should be run. Most people in the society believed in monarchy because it was the "safe" option. These people, such as Helen Hayer believed that without one overruling person or thing, the voice of fate, people who purely express their id in the worst way. V on the other hand believed in Rousseau. He believed that people who lived in complete freedom would govern themselves and that expressing the id is not necessarily a bad thing. Evey unconsciously believes in fascism because for her overwhelming desire for a father figure. All the characters in the book have different ideas of how society should be run.
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Erin Ostrowski
12/15/2015 04:45:07 pm
In the last scene for V for Vendetta, Helen Heyer was stranded with a mob of men but when she saw Finch, she began to “confess” to him and explain why she was there and how they should team up to help each other bring order (fascism) back. Helen definitely embodies the inner-fascism we were talking about because as soon as she saw an authority figure in her undesirable situation, she felt safe. All she cares about is a society of levels where everyone has someone above and below them and that was destroyed by V. On the other hand, Finch finally suppressed his love for power and goes after his true desires instead of submitting to society. At the beginning of the novel, Helen and Mr. Finch were on the same page with their inner-fascism, but by the end Finch finally understood that there doesn’t have to be a higher power and he can go after what he really wants in life. V did the same thing to Evey and she went so far as to become the second V. V taught Finch the truth in only a few short moments but he knew that his ideas of government were wrong and the way they were all oppressing society was not how people should have to live.
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Ford Zacks
12/15/2015 05:13:39 pm
The last scene of V for Vendetta perfectly displays the difference between Fascism and Anarchism. Helen represents the fascist in us all, and Finch represents the anarchist. When Helen sees Finch, she is relieved. She is happy to see an authoritative figure. She craves order. Instead of talking to him about staying safe, she suggests working together and creating an army to take over the chaos. She wants to return this disorganized mess back into a society with order and superiority. This is the fascist within us all. Everyone subconsciously wants to be guided in some way. This gives them a goal. Without a goal, many people do not see purpose in doing anything or even existing. Finch on the other hand, represents the rebel or anarchist that is hidden within us. He does not agree with Helen. He leaves her there without even saying a word. He has overcome the desire of order. He believes in freedom of creation. He walks away from the rubble hoping that others will rebuild something better. This is another internal desire. People desire peaceful living. What is more peaceful than having no worries and no authority that can ever harm you? These internal desires do not make us fascists, they make us human. People crave order but they also want the freedom to make something that is their own.
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Trey Soya
12/15/2015 05:58:39 pm
The characters in V for Vendetta have their own ideas of how the government should be run. Most believe in fascism while the rest believe in anarchism. Most of the time, people go along with fascism because they look up to a leader who in their eyes is good and will protect/do good for you and their country. It's an instinct to go to the most powerful person and follow them, I think of school kids. Whoever is the coolest kid will become the most powerful and soon the cool kid will have a bunch of minions following aimlessly doing whatever the leader says. All the minions will then have a feeling of security because they're not strong enough for themselves, but if they follow the cool kid, then no one could mess with any of them. This is a lot like the last scene in the novel. Helen Heyer sees the "cool kid" Mr. Finch and basically says that he can become the leader and there will be order in London again because you're a figure of authority. Helen wants Finch to do this so she'll feel safe again, because she's not strong enough by herself.
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Olivia Smelas
12/15/2015 05:58:43 pm
It would be an understatement to say that the characters in V for Vendetta have differing political ideologies. Honestly, I'm not sure if there's an easy way to ignore our inner fascist, as it is a structure within us that has only grown stronger as generations progress... It's built in human evolution, I think.To ignore and deny the fascist part of us would be to ignore and to deny our human nature, which is virtually impossible at the moment. But, I think there is hope for a devolution of this structure, though I'm not exactly sure how it would come about. Our government, our social systems, even the social caste of high schools... All of that would need to be somehow altered in order for our inner-fascists to change. Maybe delegated and social leaders would have to be eliminated... Our fascist desire to submit and be protected by a government comes from having a powerful leader and structure behind him/her to submit to, so if those powerful leaders and their structures were taken away, the people would be forced to find alternate methods of getting by. They'd have to think on their feet, ignore their subconscious desire for protection and submission to someone/something stronger in order to live. There would be chaos, anarchy, but you have to wonder if Anarchy would be the result... I'm not sure. Moreover, like Erin is saying, Helen Heyer is the pinnacle of a Fascist, she is obsessed with power, and who closest to her is able to possess it. Helen coaches her husband so he might attain the Leader position, offering him the reward of sex if he is able to fulfill her wishes. Literally, Helen WANTS to and will only submit to a powerful leader, she viciously taunts her husband with sex, hoping that it might serve as a motivation for him to go after the position. You could almost say that Helen is subconsciously insecure that her husband, the man who, by stereotype, she is bound by a marriage contract to submit to, does not hold a powerful position. So, in order to make herself feel better, she pushes him beyond his limits, hoping he will reach the Leader role, so she can finally feel okay in her submission to him... But, that's debatable. So, basically, Heyer is THE Fascist of V for Vendetta. Finch on the other hand starts out the book agreeing with Heyer, but by the end, after going through a V-like transformation, he is definitely more like a V figure in his beliefs. Moving on, yes there are absolutely micro-fascisms in practically every aspect of our lives. School is one of the biggest ones. The dress code, code of conduct, HIB codes, codes, codes, codes... A system more powerful than students ruling their conduct, how they interact with others, and even their personal decisions, like how to dress their own bodies. And we as students have to be constantly conscious of these standards or we will be punished, which could translate to other micro fascisms of our lives, like jobs etc. If a few inches of shoulder show, or, God forbid a bra strap, we are sent down to the VPO where we await our punishment.Punishment for not submitting... I could go on for a million years on the dress code, sexualizing of young women who are just trying to express themselves, and how schools take away personal liberties and rights, but that's not the point. There are myriad micro-fascisms in our lives, and we are punished if we do not abide by their rules... Maybe a way to rid ourselves of the Fascist part of us is to take away laws that limit our personal freedoms... We are trained to repress our desires, and you have to wonder what would happen if suddenly, there were no rules, no governments listening to your phone calls, tapping into your social media, no teachers, no administrators watching your every move. Something similar to V for Vendetta most likely... Bollocks...anarchy...Anarchy?
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Biggs
12/29/2015 09:42:23 pm
Do you think that inborn fascism comes from our evolution to seek safety through structure/patterns? Is that what Helen at the end is depicted as a primitive? Is our ONGOING evolution about evolving beyond that inner fascism and embracing chaos/freedom more? Is the "bollocks" girl in some sense the role model we should take away from the book?? Lots of cool questions here :)
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Will Spencer
12/15/2015 06:31:09 pm
The characters that show up throughout the book “V for Vendetta” can be separated into multiple political ideologies, such as fascism and anarchy. Fascism is a form of government where the government has total control over the people. Fascist leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini promoted the ideas of fascism. Fascism leans more toward the social contract of Hobbes. Hobbes believed that a society needs strict law and order, and that the people cannot be trusted. On the other hand, Rousseau believed that the people can be trusted, and that they don’t need a government to tell them what to do. Linking this to the book, the main character V, definitely wants more of an anarchy type of government, which Rousseau explained. V believes that everyone can be trusted, and that if there is no government at all, the world will be a much better place. V believes that the government brainwashes the people, and that they have no choice but to listen. Helen Hayer on the other hand, along with Susan and other political leaders, believed that the people needed to be watched 24/7, and that they were evil. The characters were haunted by the computer Fate. Fate was always in the people's lives. It predicted the weather, it wrote all the laws, and it watched what everyone was doing. This caused people to become insane and speak out, such as V. Overall, many of the characters can be categorized between Rousseau and Hobbes. However, these two social contracts are the opposite of each other, which can cause problems.
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Willow Martin
12/15/2015 07:57:06 pm
I believe that the instinctual “fascism within us all” stem from, as simplistic as it may sound, innate laziness. Since our primal ancestors began using tools, humans have sought to exert as little effort as possible in our daily activities. Fascism, and being controlled by another figure (political, religious, etc.) in general, reduces the amount of mental work we have to do. Where in Anarchy, we must think independently, fascist leaders provide us with a set structure of thinking. All we have to do is follow the laws laid out for us, rather than having to create personal standards for yourself to live by and then having to regulate yourself and make sure you keep in line with your morals. Our unconscious desire to be ruled allows dictators to take power. The characters in V for Vendetta all illustrate everyone’s innate desire to be ruled: Evey in her search for a father figure, Rosemary in her submission (and then grief at the loss of) her husband, the Leader and his insane faith and belief in Fate, etc. Even Helen Heyer, seemingly obsessed with having power for herself, on page 265 rushes into Finch’s arms. She holds him, clinging to him like a desperate child. Helen unconsciously wants Finch to rule over her in this instant. However, Finch, instead of taking on this role, pushes her away, detaching himself from his instinct to be ruled, and asserting the fact that all human relationships do not need to be comprised of a dictator role and a follower role. He refuses to play either part. Instead, he leaves the city alone, taking control of his life, and only his life. Finch, Evey, and V all (at least by the end of the story) achieve enlightenment, shedding away their human instincts in order to see the truth. In doing this, they end their human suffering, the constant search to find a ruler, and the constant pressure to submit to this leader.
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Biggs
12/29/2015 03:11:26 pm
So we hate thinking, it's too much effort and we want someone to take it over for us. YES, Even Helen, the ultimate dominator, wants Finch to be Daddy in that moment, to tell her what to do and save the day! Great catch. She can only think in terms of those kinds of one-to-one relations (she's stuck in the Imaginary Lacan would say, an eternal narcissistic child who either has to be the boss of the center of attention).
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Keira Albano
12/16/2015 03:39:43 am
In V for Vendetta, almost everyone has different opinions on how the government should be run, which is clearly evident in the last two pages. Finch had been walking along after all the explosions and stumbled upon Helen who is the face of fascism. She throughout the whole book had been trying to get her husband to the role of the leader, so then she could basically take over due to the dominant and submissive relationship they share. When he dies however, she sees him and doesn't even bother to try and help him, just lets him bleed out. However, Finch only became proanarchy AFTER his V-transormation. So that had me confused as to what V expects of him? Obviously he is part of this plan still due to the fact that V didn't kill him. So is Finch suppose to be the new V? Is he the next in line?
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Biggs
12/29/2015 02:54:01 pm
I see it as Eve become the new V (the symbolic political figure/"Idea"), and Finch become the seed of the new society, the first Reality of that idea - a completely unpredictable, totally individual force of nature, a wild card: freedom personified :)
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Ash Riegler
12/16/2015 04:08:55 am
There are many strong differences in what the characters of V for Vendetta believe government should be like. Those who are all for the idea of an overpowering government, and then those who are extremely for anarchy. Despite those polarities, there is also just the many common people who despite their own personal beliefs, fall into an uncaring or more fearful place in which they do as they are told until something changes everything. The idea of anarchy really takes root in the last pages of the book. When the people have all been swayed enough from the uncaring position into one of action. Actions, they are actually going to act on. V was the one they needed to inspire that spark though and without him they would have continued their dreary existences. Once V's death came by- the peopl would probably have fallen back into that line of obedience- there might have been a bit of struggle but I feel like eventually they would go back to previous ways because the government could twist V's death to their own personal gain. But once Evey stepped up to take the ideology of V and become that idea- the people could see that it was one that would never fade.
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Shelley Banfield
12/17/2015 02:25:04 pm
The characters in V for Vendetta constantly display inner fascist desires present in all human beings. Helen heyer epitomizes fascist behaviors as she wishes to control multiple human beings in order to gain power. Helen desperately needs to control everything and takes it out on her husband, Conrad. She controls him sexually and forces him to gain power in order to please her. Finch on the other hand, is the absolute opposite. After enduring V's enlightenment journey, he realized his view on the world was incredibly inaccurate and decided he should just walk off. After meeting the embodiment of fascism during total chaos, he walks off without a word showing his noncooperation with even the most basic form of communication.
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Olivia Jordan
12/17/2015 06:19:55 pm
Although I agree with Rousseau, I do believe that an "anarchy" based mindset has a small amount of a fascist point of view. If we were living in a perfect society where there was a complete agreement amongst all of civilization, fascism and anarchy wouldn't even be in existence. In today's world the contradicting views of people are what leads the individual to long for control over aspects that oppose the point of view of that given person. Helen longs for a fascist society because she sees everyone else in the society as being the "other", giving her the only "correct" or "normal" perception of the world. She has this constant desire to be in power in order to create a community with the exact views as herself. V, although a complete anarchist, still has this desire to control the government through his destruction and intelligence. The difference between him and Helen is that his control is a result of her and the leaders of the government constantly suppressing any form of individuality. V being the "other" has rebelled and put all of the suppressors back into their place with a taste of their own medicine. In today's world there is definitely forms of "micro-facsims". An example of "micro-fascism" is friend groups. Of course not all friend groups are like this but specifically those which each individual cannot function as a separate living organism without the need to consult every aspect of their lives with this small group of people. Automatically there is always someone who is the leader or the person who has a slightly more individual thought process than the rest. With this leader on top and each single person trying to act exactly like the rest, there is no individuality, and an imaginary list of boundaries is made concealing all of the ideologies that makes someone original.
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Sydney Gannon
12/17/2015 06:50:53 pm
Everyone in V for Vendetta shows how they would like the government to be upheld, but it is shown very clearly on the last two pages with Helen Heyer and Mr Finch. Helen Heyer throughout the book shows how strong willed she is through bribes and abuse to get to the top of the list. In the end she is shown almost begging Mr Finch to help make a government because she feels that they need a leader to survive, but she wants it to be her. Mr Finch is shown touching her shoulder in sympathy for her and her conceited thoughts. He is still in shock of what happened with V, but sees that they don't need a government or a leader, they just need individuals. Finch is shown walking away silently, a white figure in the dark of the night which i took as the finally found good that is in the bad which could be what V was talking about before he died.
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Melissa Velazquez
12/17/2015 07:13:04 pm
In the final scene with Helen Higher in V for Vendetta, Helen feels the need to be in charger after the events of V. She releases that desire on her husband in a sexual way. Referencing to the video, We have our inner fascism. Despite our beliefs, we follow what everyone believes. In this case, anarchy. Yet they want to be dominant and have followers of their own. Finch realizes what she is doing and pushes her off. Helen uses that sexual desire like the video stated. V and Finch both "free their minds from themselves" just like Evey did. They follow themselves.
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Alexis Disbrow
12/17/2015 07:44:01 pm
In V for Vendetta facism is very popular because the people tend to look for someone to call their leader and they would go along with basically everything that the leader would say. This is very common in today's society because everyone would rather follow than lead and when that leader becomes more popular they tend to become to powerful and bossy (the popular kid in school). When this happens we put aside what we might want to say or think and just let the leader think and talk for us in a way.
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Suubi Mondesir
12/19/2015 04:48:54 pm
The final scene of V for Vendetta is a perfect example of how facism can twist our mindset or even stay with us long after others break from it. In the last scene in V for Vendetta we see Finch has broke from soiceties norm, a dictatorship, and decides its time to create a new one. This shows breaking away from facism. On the other hand, Helen Heyer is stuck in the facsim mind set so much so that she is despreate for any pieces left of a dictatoship so she can finally become ruler. According to Delueze and Guattaris Helen Heyer is suffering from social anixety and the need to continuosly supress her feeling to avoid the truth, which I believes scares her. This is because she will be forced to realize she wasted her life racing to the top to be the supreme leader and ruined lives in the process.
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Brad Chavero
12/20/2015 06:31:32 pm
Foucault, Deleuze, and Guattari all wondered why so many people accepted fascism during the time of Hitler’s reign. They believed generally, that people actually subconsciously accepted it through methods of confession and the urges to be safe with a group of comfortable people. These ideas do indeed relate to V For Vendetta as characters demonstrate their acceptance of the fascist government. One of the first examples of such acceptance comes from Evey at the very beginning of the graphic novel. She attempts to sleep with a fingerman (the fascist, authoritative figure) and then after realizing who he is, tries acting apologetic and even tinier and punier. Why is this? Evey has been accustomed to being treated like a kid and kids feel safe with their parents. With her real parents gone, Evey can only look to the fascist government as an authority and because she just angered it, she wants to fix her relationship with it to maintain her perk of safety. Evey’s actions here make it clear she innerly and truly supported fascism even if it was unconsciously. Another example of these ideas comes at the end of the story when Helen Heyer attempts to take Finch and rebuild their mighty empire. Heyer had become so used to other fascist leaders being around her and all her perks to the society, that she had no plans of letting it all slip away. Helen runs to Finch confessing to join with him just to maintain a power position and her safety. She feels more comfortable with Finch because she knows of his involvement with the government, but Finch actually denies. He has broken his bubble that was restraining him to only these power hungry officials and is willing to take risks all because he knows the fascist government was wrong. He is now an independent man and confesses it to Heyer by strongly refusing her offer and instead moving on from London and his life at the risk of being hunted down by the same people he used to work with. Apart from the novel, these ideas of confession and peer pressure making us want fascism pop up all throughout modern life today. “Micro-fascisms” are all over such as our social medias as the wisecrack video pointed out. When we post our selfies, pictures, and posts, we are confessing a part of ourselves that wants to be accepted and comfortable. How do we reach this comfortableness? By giving up that part of ourselves, we hope to attain attention and popularity through likes, retweets, views, and followers from more and more people. The biggest boosts then also come from when these people who give us attention are popular themselves, acting as the authoritative figure in this small scale fascism government as their acceptance is what makes people the most comfortable on social media. In a sense, this means we are trained to suppress and discipline our desires. Using this social media example, to get as much comfort as possible from people, one may discipline themselves to only post pictures of them wearing makeup or with six filters. Although this isn’t a harsh violation of one’s self, it is most certainly unconscious fascism as an authoritative figure (the internet/popular people) have control of what you do so that you can make them happy and in return, they keep your self esteem stable.
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Biggs
12/29/2015 02:48:40 pm
Excellent post, Brad. You really got what these guys were saying about how we desire these "boosts" which make us susceptible to manipulation. (For Deleuze and Guattari, that's because all life is growth, like Nietzsche said, and we feel that by linking up with others we grow, which is true - but there are good and bad kinds of links, flexible ones vs. fascistic ones.)
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Seamus Cochrane
12/21/2015 03:51:35 am
Political philosopher Michel Foucault speculated that every person has some form of Fascist thinking wired in to their brains. He speculated that this is why through history societies have been so easy to accept Fascist rules (Nazi Germany). While Foucault is correct in saying that people are more willing to accept Fascism than they realize, I don't believe that everyone thinks like a fascist. I instead think that people are more willing to accept and think like fascist when it is easiet for them. For example, when Hitler took over Germany and turned it into a fascist state, the ideas that the country embraced weren't their own. They simply adopted them from Hitler because it was the easiest for them at the time. He was making improvements that other leaders hadn't been able to, so they adopted his ideals. Furthermore, we are trained from a young age to be able to quickly and without questing adopt Fascist ideals. To name one, schools are probably the worst culprit. They "teach" us that order and discipline are the way the "real world works." Assigned seating, memorization and recitation, strict rules; these things are simply fascist ideals, just made for kids.
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Biggs
12/29/2015 02:52:07 pm
Does the fact that we so quickly accept the "micro-fascisms" Foucault describes suggest that there is something in our instintctual "wiring" that does make us want "Order" in a way that makes us all a teeny-bit fascist (not ideologically, but as he says "in our behavoir, heads and hearts.")
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Matthew Vanderveer
12/22/2015 05:19:42 pm
Some people think that over time people have begun to accept fascist ideas. I agree that people will conform to others that have this fascist way of thinking but i do not believe everyone agrees with it. I believe that it only takes one person believing in fascism to cause a chai reaction where everybody allows a fascist way of life. Hitler was a fascist man but this is not the reason people followed him. They followed him because he was a sweat talker and in a way inspiring to the people around him. I am sure there have been many fascist people that never came into power because they did not have this charismatic quality that hitler had. Another fact that supports my idea is how people followed George Washington. Washington and Hitler were two very different people with two very different opinions about the way government should be. They both had the same power to inspire people in opposite directions. People did not follow Washington's lead because they had the same ideas as he did but because he was a likable person that could talk confidently and could speak intelligently. Hitler did not gain support from fascist people, he made his supporters into fascist people.
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Biggs
12/29/2015 02:43:11 pm
So we don't love fascism as an IDEA, we just love the things that allow that idea to become powerful: strong leaders, comfort and security, similarity to others. But it still requires a BAD leader to set that chain reaction of fascism into play. The Washington example is a good one (Washington could be seen as an early anti-fascist because he didn't want more than two terms, didn't want to get involved in wars of conquest, and didn't want a large government). In your assessment it is more charisma (which is really the ability to "Sweet-talk" as you say) that we are attracted to. So, could there be a charismatic leader who brought us to a kind of "Fascism of Love"? or will too much power always corrupt people?
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Kay Franzese
12/22/2015 05:21:06 pm
In V for Vendetta, the people of London favor a fascist government mostly because they do not want responsibility for themselves and because they are too afraid to stand up for themselves against the leader. Foucault believed everyone had some fascist ways of thinking in their mind and I agree. I believe we see the desire for power as selfish and cruel, but in reality we all want some sort of power over others. It doesn't necessarily mean taking over countries and killing people who thought against you like hitler did, but it could mean having the power or being the leader of a group, school, or business. We all want power in some way and that brings out the worst in people like it did in Helen Heyer. We try to repress our desire for power because we think fascism is wrong but deep in our minds we do agree with it.
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