Fascism needs heroes. Preferably dead heroes. Stacks of dead heroes so it can continue to drink the blood of its opponents. That is the conclusion I have drawn after reading and studying the necessary books on fascism. Books such as those by Italian author Umberto Eco, How to Recognize a Fascist, and German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt with her standard work published in 1951, Totalitarianism. Machiavelli the Florentine, on power, Antonio Scurati, Fascism and Populism*. The standard work on this subject in the Netherlands is Fascism by Robin ter La. The English writer George Orwell, on nationalism in a translation of his own. Mein Kampf by A. Hitler, I don’t want to call him a writer. Robin ter La’s book is definitely recommended for those who want to delve deeper into the subject. Give yourself the opportunity to discern parallels with the present in the obscure catch-all term fascism.
I have also worked through the necessary articles to understand what drives entire tribes, like a herd of lost sheep, to blind obedience and docility. How is it possible? Why does reason and rationality literally bite the dust against emotional reasoning? Dass Gesundes Volksempfinden.* That the masses are completely willing to wear the blinders of a cart horse in the sacred belief that they have finally seen the light. That their God is no longer dead. That every person, every group that does not fit into their Walt Disney picture of paradise, may be ruthlessly slaughtered. National uniformity, everything that life is about!
Did I get the answers I was looking for? No, not really, but that may be due to the limitation that every virtuous, woke left-wing intellectual suffers from. The personality trait that, for me, skepticism, rationality, and a critical mind come first.
No matter how strange it may sound to people who hardly trust themselves. Living in discontent with everything and everyone. A deep trust in science. Not that they have already reached the end of all knowledge. Knowing what is true and what is not. Presuming to pass judgment on God. Yet the Enlightenment-based confidence that science will do its best to find the right answer. That every good scientist is willing, as it were, to falsify* himself and his knowledge. How many right-wing politicians can you say that about today? But back to the core of my argument.
What is a recurring theme within fascism. The glorification of struggle and the violence of war. The clatter of weapons is everywhere. The lost First World War, which led to massive gaslighting* among the “deceived” German people. Deception of the people. They had not lost the war. The accursed international Jewry had robbed them of victory. The same accusation came from Trump after his election defeat in 2020 against Joe Biden. Just like the reaction of the Republicans now to the death of Charles Kirk. Who was praised to the skies but was essentially nothing more than an ultra-conservative rabble-rouser.
This black-and-white thinking results in the elimination of the opponent being considered the quickest solution to get rid of the problems. A shocking example of anti-intellectualism that the former fascists and Zionists also prided themselves on. Seen in that light, the liquidation of opponents is the ultimate consequence of the ad hominem argument. The fallacy of attacking not the subject, but the person expressing that opinion. A second thought that can easily be extended to the successful assassination attempt on Charlie Kirk, the Star Trek captain of Trumpism.
Another characteristic of fascism is extreme levelling. The standardization of all parts of society. The suppression of intellectual life. All are devoted to and subject to the same ideal of their people. An idée fixe embodied in the person of the leader, with his clique of yes- men. This leads to an extreme right-wing form of nationalistic patriotism.
And what could be better than falling in battle to bring the empire of a Great America closer? In that respect, Charlie Kirk could not have wished for a more beautiful and polarizing death. To be bombarded as a hero to pull the wool over the eyes of others. That it is worth giving your life for the moral dégénéré at the head of the American government. May his legacy remain as hollow in hell as it was during his lifetime!
Ludo ;
September 17, 2025 * Antonio Scurati, famous for his biography of Mussolini.
* The common sense of the people, which states that anything that goes beyond the understanding of ordinary people must be a conspiracy of the elite.
* Falsifying, searching for that one exception that disproves the hypothesis
* ‘Dégénéré’ means. It is a noun (masculine) and can also be used as an adjective to indicate that something has deteriorated.
* AI gaslighting: Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which someone distorts reality to make another person doubt their memory. Perception and sanity. The name comes from the 1944 film Gaslight, in which a man repeatedly dims the gas lighting in his home and convinces his wife that she is not seeing things correctly, causing her to believe she is going mad. The goal is to throw the other person unbalanced, break down their self-confidence, and gain control. This AI definition ignores the fact that individuals or the masses themselves can also deceive themselves as a form of cognitive and emotional compensation. •
