Helpful Delusions of Fascism – Nation, Race, Brotherhood.

Fascists have (unfortunately) lots of ideas. They have nationalism, race, ethnicity, aesthetic and brotherhood. The most importnat part of these ideas is not that they are true, but that they are helpful.

Take nationalism for example. Nations don’t exist. Ask three americans what makes them american and you will get three answers. Ask a macedonian what the difference between them and bulgaria are and u will go through 300 years of the most complicated history i have ever had the disfortune of hearing2. But whether it is actually they are actually descendant of Alexander the great simply does not matter. Thats not why ppl say it. Thats not why people believe it. They believe it because they want to. Telling that story makes them feel good, find community and mobalize self or group beneficial action. Its a useful idea, whether its true or not.

This is the starting point, recognizing why these ideas come again and again, why it seems no one in france believes in british supremacy no matter how much more logical it may be (poor example), bc they have soemthing so much better than logic promoting thier ideas: feelings. That warm feeling i get when i as a southerner hear a person with a drawl, when someone notices my mildly higher use of yall, or when as. gay guy can immediately clock the fagccent. its nice to be a part of something. I am no more southern than the average person, though I am notably gay than the actual person, but thats not what gives me those happy feelings, its that in that moment I feel connected to other ppl, like I belong. Thats intoxicating, and thats what matters. When I talk about nationalism or other particularist isms (like regionalism etc) that is what i’m talking about. Fasicsts leverage this to mobalize millions, a connection I can elaborate on if yall want, but hopefully the point is made.

Liberals Helpful Delusions – Institutional Grandeur and Functional Democracy

Liberals have the same thing, not only in their half hearted and nonsensical acceptance of nationalism in the name of “patriotism” but in the creation and deification of institutions. Have you ever walked into a court room? or read a judgment? in that room or in that document exist facts and reality’s that are helpful3. We talk about rights and obligations and states and, in England, the monarch as if they are in the room. The judge dresses in a gown, not bc it looks cool, but because when wearing it they cease to be a person, they become a judge. Its drag. None of those things exist, they are not literally there and they have no literal power.

But seeing a judge as a judge, and not a person with flaws and biases, serves those in support of law and order a purpose. It gives one the language to treat their word as final, and gives you the different standards to hold them to. No longer is the court a place but its a machine. The same is done to the police. They are not people with family’s, homes, and vulnerabilities. They are extensions of the state, tools in a large machine. Even if you get how this is not literally true, i hope you see why there is a good moral reason to accept it as true: if we all agree the judge decides the truth, the system works better. The benefit of believing is more important than then the belief being true. And if we accept this, it then feels good to believe it. It feels great to believe judges are actually infallible, then we dont have to worry about how corrupt they are. There is a systemic argument for a helpful delusion and that delusion also makes you feel good. Fuckin bingo.

Leftists Helpful Delusions: Revolution

Leftists have the same, revolution is the primary one that comes to mind. Dreaming of it is fun, but the reality of it is not only messy also entirely unpredictable. We speak of revolution to simplify an incredibly complex mess of dispersed organizations people and moments, not because its true that its any one thing , but its helpful to talk about it that way. it mobilizes, it excites and it allows for discussion.

I think I’ve made my point, everyone and every conversation has a gap between the concepts being talk about and the reality of them, not just because of ignorance but out of necessity or systemic and political benefits or tertiary benefits (oozey woozy good vibes) Now will, why does this fuckin matter? well dear reader I will tell you

Why does this matter ?

Because recognizing and instrumentalizing what is a helpful delusion just as much a part of building a plan of action as creating good concepts and good actions.

Undermining Nationalism –

For example, if I want to undermine nationalism (which i do), and I think the ppl who believe it are actually convinced 1 – they are descendant of alexander and 2 – that matters in a material way, then my time is well spent talking history with them. But they arent. No one fucking thinks that if they have the language or analysis to consider what the nature of their beliefs are. They hold that concept bc it makes them feel good then develop narratives around it. This changes how to address it, no longer is logic enough but allowing them an emotional out or alternative is needed.

And this is what we are dealing with. Fascists find comforts in their delusions of national mythos, racial superiority, and fraternity. They build athestics that display and promote that, you need not go deep into history to find these. But for most its not because its the most logical or factual belief but the one they needed to feel good, or in some cases to persevere through quite difficult times to their perception. If that is the core of the belief , even if the fascist in front of us cannot be reformed, which i agree is nearly all the time, to prevent more of them forming, we must build a better way for those who would need such ideas for comfort to recieve the care and community they need. If the only club in town is the KKK, ppl r gonna join. Build another club. Live another way.

Undermining Liberalism

This applies equally to liberals. While The illusion of independent electoral democracy is empirically untrue, which it is, it serves a purpose. Originally, the agreed on delusion of electoral democracy served the same as the delusion of a judge’s decisio being correct: we don’t bicker about who won or who deserves power we just accept it and society functions. The machinery continues. But in the rise of fascism, it serves another, more emotional purpose.

It allows them to feel comfortable and moral simply voting or even better if they canvas. If they believe the clearly compromised judiciary will come to the rescue they don’t have to feel like shit not fighting the very fight that got us a judiciary in the first place. and they can justify denying the facts on their own somewhat meta analysis, with things such as “if we give up hope in the judiciary that is only allowing them to become corrupt” and they are right… if the system was working. So we have spotted the cognitive dissonance, the emotional and logical reason liberals hold on to these symbols of power: 1 – it justifies inaction 2 – they believe holding onto this helpful delusion protects the little amount of good they can see “recognizing the dems are committing genocide is only making things worse”, and in a system as they envision it, a liberal democracy, they are right.

2 comes down to a factual debate, are we in that system anymore, to which I suggest we hold them to their word that trump is a fascist. That is an admission we are no longer in a liberal democracy and gives them a factual out to let go of their delusion of liberal institutions. We are seeing this btw, with them no longer holding the stiff upper lip about redistricting. its a TINY admission of liberal democracy failing but its something. seize on it. 1 is both easier and harder. Because to undermine it we must also provide them an alternative. They hold on to the delusion of voting as effective activism because they simply are terrified of whats going on. If voting does not work, and all i know is voting, or all i have ever done is vote…. am i a bad person? does fascism win? IDK but i can make u feel a bit better by saying “look here is what worked before” and point to revolutionary organizations in the past that actually worked, that actually fought fascism with a large variety of tools, from building revolutionary infrastructure through mutual aid, to using it to do direct aciton to diverse and creative propaganda and pressure campaigns.

Give them hope, not because its necessarily there, but because it can replace one formerly helpful delusion of liberal institutions with a different, updated one, of revolutionary optimism. I think its true because it seems to cohere with reality, but even if it does not, I think its all we got.

Conclusion –

Everyone believes shit that is not true, myself included, but often its not because of ignorance its because the sheer complexity and depressive nature of the world. Fascists have the mythos of the national past. Liberals have the grandeur of the institutional present. Leftists have the liberation of the revolutionary future.

All of these are simplifications, they are all delusions and they are all dangerous. We should treat them like drugs: Intoxicating and addictive, but at the right dosage at the right time, they are medicine.