The Influence of Fascism

“Ur-fascism” is about the effect of ideologies such as fascism on people in Italy and breaking down the different aspects of fascism. The article breaks down Ur-Fascism into various aspects and beliefs associated with it. The major categories were xenophobia, elitism, heroism, and selective populism. The author focuses on what each element means and how it fits into the fascist regime. I believe the author, Umberto Eco, was mainly trying to break down and define fascism so that people can identify it even though it may not entirely look the same over time. There are still uniquely fascist things. And to also show that even if people dispel government regimes, they can still leave behind ideologies and habits that can be detrimental to people.

I believe this article came at this point in the course because we’re talking about 1984 by George Orwell, which has a similar society to a fascist organization, as discussed in the article. This article contributes to the main concepts of the course because it talks about fascism, which has beliefs and ideologies that align with what is considered in the class to be a dystopian society. For example, the article talks about Elitism, which is when the government says they want everyone to be a part of their high society. Still, only certain people get to benefit from their high civilization. This leads to there being an imbalance of wealth or classism, a major theme in many dystopian societies. This article relates very closely to 1984 because many topics referenced in the article relate to aspects of culture in 1984. One being xenophobia, which is the fear of difference. For example, in 1984, everyone has to be the same none has any individuality, and if anyone tries to be different, then they are punished.

This article has given me more insight into fascism itself and to the nature of the class and has given me more things to think about/look for when analyzing a possibly dystopian society.

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