Current Society and Fascism

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Current society and fascism
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

CURRENT SOCIETY AND FASCISM1
Different ideologies emerge at different times and it shapes the world around us. Fascism
was one such ideologies that emerged in the 19th century. The article selected for the following
discussion has been taken from The Irish Times that talk about the current global scenario and
what it means for the people in the future. The news report in discussion poses interesting
observation that is even quite worrying, about the political shift towards a more fascist
standpoint. Fascism is not new or a popular political opinion however, it is something that needs
to be examined closely1. The pattern that global political scenario implies there is rise in the
sinister fascist mentality and leniency. This essay discusses the prevalent ideology in the news
article.
Historically, the ideology in discussion is political ideology known as fascism. That
started in the late 18th century by George Valois who is credited for the formation of the first
non-Italian fascist party. The political ideology is a far right wing, authoritarian ultranationalist
approach characterized by dictatorship, forcible suppression of opposition and complete
regimentation of society and economy. The ideology gained a more mainstream popularity when
Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler implemented it during the World War I2. The news report is
particularly interesting as it observes the American society slowly gravitating towards a fascist
political society regimentation under the leadership of President Donald Trump3. The society
from the World war era and now has significant change and one of the main changes that it has
seen is the use of media and technology to propagate an ideology makes it seemingly faster than
1 O'Toole, Fintan. 2019. "Fintan O’Toole: Trial Runs For Fascism Are In Full Flow". The Irish Times.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-trial-runs-for-fascism-are-in-full-flow-1.3543375.
2Finchelstein, Federico. From fascism to populism in history. University of California Press, 2019.
3Giroux, Henry A. "Donald Trump and neo-fascism in America." Arena magazine (fitzroy, Vic) 140 (2016): 31.

CURRENT SOCIETY AND FASCISM2
it was before. The Trump government has always been under public scrutiny since its election
and one of the basics is to rig the elections that Trump has successfully delivered. This
popularisation could very well be a clever strategy to introduce the public to a pre-fascist
political scenario, the writer speculates. A fascist society is not created in a day. A constant
strategized manipulation that is fed in slow doses to the masses to gauge their reaction of the idea
and change strategy accordingly. The article closely examines the tactics that is involved in
creating a fascist society. One of the very first tendency that often gives rise to fascism is when a
group of people who enjoyed a politically and economically stable life find themselves in a
marginalised society. The student loan debt explosion, rising cost of housing, high
unemployment rate that was previously not so common in America is on the increase. Another,
trigger that has garnered sufficient response is the popular Trump slogan “Make America great
again” is a significant fascist motivator. Looking back, all the dictators Adolf Hitler, Benito
Mussolini created a nostalgia of making their nations Germany and Italy respectively, gain its
former glory. It is important to notice the similarity in both these situations that preaches the
same ideology. It is not necessary for the validation or accuracy of the arguments of what makes
America great again, but what it effectively has achieved is the response from the people who
during a period of uncertainty feel that a strong bonding through national identity. This is exactly
the kind of pre fascist state that Trump has created so far4.
The report also speculates the connection of advertisement and marketing while
propagating a fascist agenda. This argument holds true for the current scenario. Political
propaganda begins by selling an idea, building it with stories that may not may not be true but
4 Kuklick, Bruce. "Fascism Comes to America." International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity 6, no. 1
(2018).