#25 Fascism 101

In this episode of So I Was Told, we rip the mask off fascism. Not the cartoonish kind from history books, but the subtler, modern forms that worm their way into policy, media, and everyday culture. From the rise of white nationalist rhetoric in government to book bans disguised as “parental rights,” we explore how authoritarian tactics are being rebranded for a new generation. We’ll break down the characteristics of fascism, track its historical evolution, and highlight the chilling signs.

Umberto Eco – “Ur-Fascism” (1995)
Eco’s essay outlines 14 features of fascist ideology—many of which eerily apply today.Jason Wilson – “The rise of ‘cloud fascism’” (The Guardian, 2021)George Packer – “The Real Reason We’re Banning Books” (The Atlantic, 2023)

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Welcome back to So I Was Told, where we dismantle ideologies,
untangle emotions and reimagine what it means to be human in a
world obsessed with power. Today's episode is called
Fascism One O 1. Yes, today we are talking about
fascism. Maybe you've heard someone
called a politician A fascist and thought, all right, that's a

(00:22):
little bit dramatic. Or maybe you've seen it in
comment sections like it's just the insult of the month.
But fascism isn't just an edgy label.
It's a historical force that's killed millions.
And it doesn't just show up overnight.
It shows up through policy, through language, through
silence. So let's break all of this down.

(00:42):
What fascism is, where it came from and what it looks like
today. And most importantly, what we
can do about it. Let's get into it.

(01:06):
So what is fascism nowadays? Has it changed?
Does it look any different? Well, historian Robert Paxton
defines fascism as, quote, a form of political behavior
marked by obsessive preoccupation with community
decline, humiliation, or victimhood, and by compensatory

(01:27):
cults of unity, energy, and purity.
Sounds abstract? What the hell does all that
mean? Let's make it plain to
understand this better. It essentially means fascism
thrives on fear. It scapegoats.
It demands loyalty. It punishes dissent.
It offers a fantasy that we can be restored to greatness by

(01:49):
purging the other. Now, does any of that sound
familiar to you? If so, you might be experiencing
the rise of fascism. Let's go back to historian
Robert Paxton. He's got these five stages in
which, when understood, helps usidentify the rise of fascism #1

(02:13):
creating a myth of national decline.
These political figureheads willoften talk about how the
greatness of the nation is rapidly declining or already far
gone. Make America Great again #2
Blaming internal enemies. These leaders will often blame
people within the country as being responsible for this

(02:37):
national decline. Whether it's past political
leaders, past presidents, a certain people group within the
nation, you name it. The blame always gets shifted to
these people who are identified as enemies #3 I think this is
very telling of our times when it comes to the male loneliness

(02:59):
epidemic #3 is glorifying tradition and masculinity.
What is this idea of Make America Great Again other than
trying to install some weird midcentury culture in America where
classic masculinity is the norm again and these so-called Great

(03:19):
American traditions are supposedto be what make us happy?
No, they won't do that, primarily because a lot of our
issues can be traced back to this glorification of the
patriarchy #4 is disdaining democratic norms.
That is, to essentially identifyanything democratic as

(03:42):
antithetical to human flourishing or the vessel in
which poisonous ideologies are ushered into the country.
You start to hear these random ideas about who can vote, who
should vote, whose vote should count, how votes should count,
the necessity of classical democratic practices, and #5 the

(04:06):
last stage is using violence to reclaim purity.
That is, any means necessary to enforce policies that are
supposed to make such a nation great.
If you can check off 3 or more of these in your Daily News
cycle, then that's a red flag. And no, it doesn't need

(04:29):
swastikas to count. There doesn't need to be a
symbol. There doesn't need to be blatant
hand gestures. Because that isn't what
determines who is or isn't a fascist.
So much more than that. So ask yourself, have you ever
seen people downplay violence against marginalized folks?
Have you ever heard any languagefrom political leaders or people

(04:51):
you know saying something along the lines of taking our country
back? You see, fascism doesn't need to
be loud and obvious or in the form of marching down the
streets. It can slither right into
society. Now, it's no surprise that in
this episode, I'm primarily going to be using America as the

(05:13):
example for identifying fascism.It's here, it's prevalent, it's
spreading. In June, President Trump
deployed the National Guard to suppress peaceful protests in
LA, a city in which I have incredibly close proximity to.
These peaceful protests have indeed been mostly led by

(05:34):
immigration and housing rights activists.
The Guardian labeled it, quote, a dangerous new era.
The Daily Beast didn't hold back, writing an article titled
Fascism is in Bloom. Meanwhile, Trump openly referred
to the immigrants as, quote, poisoning the blood of our
country. That's not just offensive,
that's textbook fascist rhetoricechoing Nazi ideology.

(05:58):
Added idiots like Ron De Santis banning books and targeting
LGBTQ students with policy, and you've got fascism wrapped in
legislation. This isn't just hypothetical
anymore, friends. Sad to say, the Project 2025,
which is a real conservative road map that concentrates
executive power and guts independent civil agencies, has

(06:22):
already been successful in largeparts of our government.
It's fascism and khakis and policy based purity.
So ask yourself, who benefits from the silencing of teachers?
Who profits from militarized borders?
Who gains when people are too afraid to speak?
This isn't about purity. This isn't about greatness.

(06:45):
This is about the rich getting richer, the powerful becoming
more powerful. It's disgusting.
Turkish writer Temel Quran coined the term cloud fascism
and invisible digital authoritarianism.
Not necessarily a loud dictator,but algorithms that shadow band

(07:05):
descent. Tech companies that quietly
partner with law enforcement, biometric borders and predictive
policing software. In the US alone, ICE has used
DMV photos and social media to track immigrants without
consent. Facial recognition is normalized
in airports, concerts, even schools.

(07:27):
It's fascism with a clean UI. You see, globally, it echoes
Italy's Georgia Maloney has tiesto Mussolini's legacy.
Hungary's Viktor Orban runs a Christian nationalist regime,
the UK has an explicitly fascistparty gaining members, and we've
all heard of China and their social credit system.

(07:49):
That seems straight out of Orwell.
So ask yourself, what does resistance look like when
repression is invisible? How do you fight the cloud?
To do this, we have to 1st understand the psychology of
fascism. You see, fascism doesn't just
conquer countries, it colonizes the mind.

(08:09):
Become familiar with that phrasecolonization of the mind.
You see, in the Third Reich of Dreams, German citizens began
dreaming of censorship. They feared even in their
subconscious. That's how deep the repression
went. Roberto Echo wrote about your

(08:31):
fascism written You are hyphen fascism, which lists traits like
the fear of difference, cult of tradition, obsession with
enemies, and the use of new speak, which if you're familiar
with 1984 by Orwell, is essentially language that
shrinks thought. In other words, there is no

(08:53):
ability to comprehend what you are reading or to think
critically. No more discourse without
assuming it's some form of personal attack.
You see, fascism thrives on nostalgia, it thrives on
suffering as a virtue, and it thrives so obviously on hyper
masculinity. It wants to erase queerness, it

(09:17):
wants to erase softness, it wants to erase all forms of
deviation. It essentially makes you afraid
to feel, let alone speak. So ask yourself, have I ever
been afraid to post the truth? To speak up at work?
That fear isn't just personal, it's cultural.

(09:41):
So what does resistance look like?
Well, let's take a look at our own personal history and go back
to 1943. You see, during World War 2, the
White Rose movement, which was just a handful of students
printed anti Nazi leaflets knowing they'd be executed.

(10:01):
That's what it looked like in 1943.
Today, it looks like librarians refusing to pull books, city
officials blocking police militarization budgets, teachers
telling banned histories. Anyway, Rick Steves says the
fight starts at home. Protect public education, defend

(10:23):
journalism and engage globally. Back to what we learned about
the cloud of fascism. Tell them the Quran tells us to
build a quote cloud of resistance, interconnected but
not isolated. So that means that your
Instagram post still matters. Your mutual aid group still

(10:45):
matters. But don't just stop there.
Ask yourself, what's my version of the White Rose?
What can I do right now with thetools that I already have?
Because I'll tell you one thing for sure, not doing anything.
It's only helping the fascist agenda.

(11:06):
You don't have to do this alone.Find people online.
If you've got people in real life that are talking about
this, get into those conversations.
If not, start those conversations.
Use the examples in this episode.
It isn't hard to figure out, folks.
If this made you uncomfortable, then that's a good thing.

(11:27):
Discomfort is a signal, so lean into it.
Question what you've accepted asnormal.
Fascism thrives in your silence,but resistance lives in
community. Vote local, defend your
libraries, speak the truth even when your voice shakes.

(11:49):
Support whistleblowers, share information, talk to your
people. Stay awake, stay grounded, and
never underestimate the power ofnaming the thing out loud.