It’s notoriously hard to identify the boundaries of fascism¹, but the following quote strikes me as capturing something important:
Now it is not enough to learn how to shoot. In the name of historical justice, in the name of life’s instinct, in the name of truth—we must shoot.²
Self-actualization through violence.
I’m fond of Edith Hamilton’s summary of the classical Greeks' definition of happiness:
The exercise of vital powers, along lines of excellence, in a life affording them scope.
To some, doing violence is the most vital power – the one closest to the quote's “life’s instinct”. It must be done on a grand scale, one that awes the onlooker: that’s excellence, that’s scope.
(It might better be said that a few just innately see violence that way, and that there is a long spectrum of people who can be convinced – with varying degrees of difficulty – to adopt that viewpoint wholeheartedly.)
It’s a step beyond run-of-the-mill tribalism and assholishness. Visible norm-flaunting assholishness is a lesser thing. It’s that impulse in too many³ to ride their motorcycle or car through downtown, revving the engine, making startling blatting noises, having the stereo loud enough to drown out conversations: they get their jollies by feeling they can inconvenience others, which is tied up with making them pay attention to ME.
The turn to violence is the ultimate way of saying “I’m not going to be ignored.” At some point, annoying people doesn’t cut it any more because you just gotta know they’ll have forgotten about you as soon as you’ve moved on. (Which is why you have to keep circling the block.)
The problem with imposing minor humiliations is they’ll forget you once you’ve moved on. But nobody forgets having the shit kicked out of them by a gang. Hence the appeal of fascism. [[[put the need to circle up earlier]]]
We could be seeing this in US politics. Fox News hosts are fond of telling their viewers that “the liberal elites scorn you, they look down on you, they laugh at you.” But I’ve occasionally seen the reaction when someone replies, “Actually, we rarely think about you at all.” Somehow, for a lot of people, being ignored – being not worth insulting is the worst. So much so that they want their Fox News hosts to give them an active enemy, one who cares enough to hate them and scheme against them.
Over-simplistic, I know. May say more about my own psychology than about fascism.
¹ For at least 20 years, I’ve been going on about how categories without clear boundaries are the rule, not the exception. But the concept of “fascism” seems far worse than most.
² The quote is an essay by Rick Perlstein, historian of the American Right. The speaker is a Revisionist Zionist, an alternative to the Labor Zionism we’re more familiar with. The quote is from 1945; Perlstein doesn’t identify the speaker to set up a zinger, so I won’t either. The essay is "The Neglected History of the State of Israel". Given the tenor of the times, I feel obliged to note that Perstein is Jewish, the child and grandchild of Zionists.
³ “Who likes loud cars? Ontario study suggests they skew young, male and score high on psychopathy and sadism” (This is a dumb study: “As part of the research, Schermer surveyed 529 undergrad business students”. Sigh. There's a representative sample. But it’s what I had to hand.)