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Posts Tagged ‘Fascism’

Los Desaparecidos (The Disappeared)

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on April 15, 2025| 4 Comments »

Lawlessness is a self-perpetuating, ever-expanding habit.

–Dorothy Thompson, The Courage to Be Happy (1957)

Let me preface today’s blogpost by saying that I am sorry for being compelled to write this but, though I knew it could, I never truly thought such a thing would happen here.

I didn’t know much about Dorothy Thompson before a few weeks ago. She was a journalist/ radio broadcaster who died in 1961 at the age of 67. She was, to put it plainly, an asskicker and a truth-teller. She interviewed Adolf Hitler in 1931 before he came to power for the magazine Cosmopolitan and soon after wrote a book, I Saw Hitler. Published just before Hitler became German Chancellor in 1933, she warned of the grave dangers presented if he were to ever take power.

The book infuriated Hitler. As a result, she was the first American journalist expelled from Germany in 1934. Arriving in Berlin she was greeted in her hotel within hours by Gestapo agents who gave her 24 hours to leave the country. A crowd of journalists gathered at the train station the next day as she left, presenting her with bunches of American Beauty roses as a symbol of their solidarity.

She became a celebrity, on equal footing with Eleanor Roosevelt in as being the most influential woman in America according to Time Magazine in 1939, as well as a symbol for journalism’s role in fighting fascism.

She spent the 30’s on a crusade to warn the world and particularly the USA of the threat that Naziism and Fascism posed to all countries. She famously disrupted the infamous 1939 German American Bund at Madison Square Garden, heckling and laughing at the speakers until finally being escorted from the building. Her efforts against totalitarianism were tireless.

And of course, many brushed it off as hyperbole. It might be no coincidence that she was married to Sinclair Lewis from 1927 until 1942, a period in which he wrote the prescient and dystopian novel It Can’t Happen Here which outlined just how an American candidate who fomented fear and division while making empty promises of instant prosperity is elected president. He then immediately takes complete control of the government and sets up a totalitarian regime.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

I came across the quote at the top from Dorothy Thompson a few weeks ago and its truth screamed at me. Looking her up made wish we had a journalist like Dorothy Thompson right now who had the guts and the brains to speak truth to the naked lawlessness we are experiencing.

If you’re not paying attention, it’s high time to get your head in the game because as Thompson said, lawlessness is self-perpetuating and ever-expanding. In short, it’s going to get much worse if something doesn’t bring an end to it soon.

As an example, the idea that due process can be thrown out the window for any reason should terrify everyone. Without due process, anyone can be whisked off the streets and dispatched to a distant or even foreign detention center (you can read that as slave labor or concentration camp) without any chance to seek legal counsel or defend oneself against the charges–if there are even charges.

Without due process, they could basically disappear anyone at any time for little to no reason and with no determined length of sentence. You are just gone. You cease to legally exist. And there is no telling when and if you might return.

And you better believe that this has been part of their plan for some time. In fact, at yesterday’s meeting with the El Salvadoran president, Trump told him that El Salvador needed to build about five more even larger prison camps as Trump was planning on starting to send native US citizens there. He used the term home-grown.

Don’t try to shrug this off and say these people being whisked away to camps here and El Salvador probably did something to deserve this kind of treatment because without due process there is no way of knowing that. Due process provides the evidence, charges, and adjudication that have been the backbone of our legal system for as long as we have existed as a country.

It feels like we are about 8 seconds from being fully into fascism here as this administration totally ignores Supreme Court orders and openly makes plans to disappear all sorts of people. Disappearing people has long been one of the go-to moves for totalitarian regimes. Think of the several thousand people disappeared in Chile under Pinochet in the early 70’s. %o years later Chile is still dealing with the repercussions from that time. Or think about Argentina in the late 70’s/ early 80’s when it is estimated that around 30 thousand people, mainly political opponents or activists who spoke out against the dictatorship that was put in place by a military junta that overthrew Juan Peron, were seized and never heard from again.

The numbers that are being thrown around here would dwarf those from Argentina.

The idea that they could sweep anyone off the street and imprison them indefinitely without charges should concern you deeply.  You might think it doesn’t affect your life but it portends an even darker future where this corrupt and lawless government may very well affect every aspect of your life. Now is the time to stop this madness. The window for action is closing fast and there may not be an opportunity in the future. And depending on how the Supreme Court responds to their orders being tossed aside, that window might already be closed.

You might be shaking your head and saying that I should calm down, that this is all hyperbole. That such a thing couldn’t happen here. Dorothy Thompson heard that all the time and look what happened then when people ignored the repeated warnings from her and others.

It can happen here and will if we don’t act now. The crisis is now at hand and there is no avoiding it.

Here’s a song off the 1983 album Voice of America from Little Steven. The song is titled Los Desparecidos (The Disappeared) and is about those who were surreptitiously taken away in Argentina at the time. I urge you to pay attention to the lyrics here and be aware that it might well apply here now.

It can and will happen here unless we stop it now. As I stated at the beginning: though I knew it could, I never truly thought such a thing would happen here…

For more on Dorothy Thompson there is a fine article online from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

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A Fertile Soil

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on October 24, 2024| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- Monde Parfait

Monde Parfait— At West End Gallery

In order for the wheel to turn, for life to be lived, impurities are needed, and the impurities of impurities in the soil, too, as is known, if it is to be fertile. Dissension, diversity, the grain of salt and mustard are needed: Fascism does not want them, forbids them, and that’s why you’re not a Fascist; it wants everybody to be the same, and you are not.

–Primo Levi, The Periodic Table (1975)

Love this passage from Primo Levi, the famed chemist/writer and Holocaust survivor, especially with the growing stench of fascism lingering in the air.

I think it succinctly sums up the strength of this country: fertility.

Not fertility in the human reproductive sense of the word. More like when analogizing the country to its soil and its ability to gain strength from diversity, absorbing everything beneficial from the impurities that are blended into it, becoming more fertile and productive.

Without this diversity and the ensuing impurities, the soil becomes sterile and fruitless.

A simple analogy, of course. That doesn’t take away from its point– that the conformity and purity that fascism demands are antithetical to the individual and to humanity.

The fascist society requires absolute obedience and compliance. They desire a homogenous population that is easily dictated to and compliant in their response. Purity and conformity.

There can be only one viewpoint, that of whoever stands at the head of the governing body.  The government is then that person, subject to the whims, beliefs, and aims of that person alone.

That sounds pretty goddamn un-American to most folks. We are not a one-size-fits-all country. There is practically no single unifying factor to this nation except a belief that we can say whatever the hell we want to say whenever we want to say it, that we alone can set our own course and make the important decisions in our life, and that our individuality counts for something.

We don’t like being told we have to be something other than what we are. Or being told what we have to do.

We are a contrarian place in many ways. But that somehow works here. We like the idea of the underdog, the David versus Goliath story of the little guy taking on the bully. Right over might.

Fascism is the opposite of that. It is might over everything, even right. Goliath would smash David to bits in their telling of the story. Fascists hate individuality, anything that veers from the uniform lockstep of their march forward.

Clean and compliant.

But in the end, that’s not who we are as a nation. We are messy and loud, sometimes stupid and wrong. But that’s just because, in theory, we try to give everyone an opportunity to follow their dreams and imagination. That’s the fertile part of it. In that crazy, diverse mix we have often found something that works for us, something that suits most of us in a fair way.

We are at our best when we celebrate the individuals, the oddballs, the non-conformists. When we recognize and respect the many diverse voices and viewpoints, not the commands of one rich old white guy who has exploited every one of the many advantages he has been given in life.

The end of that final sentence– that’s why you’re not a Fascist; it wants everybody to be the same, and you are not– might be the best argument for rejecting the current form of fascism being seen as a solution by a sizable number of folks.

Some will not have a problem adhering to what is expected of them but many, when seeing how they will be limited and controlled, will flinch at the thought. But it will be too late at that point. Once it has taken hold, it won’t let go except by the physical force of the people uniting against it.

And it will do any and everything to prevent that. That means sterilizing the soil through the elimination of any impurities.

We all know what that means. Some will scoff at the mere suggestion. Some will feel they are safe– they already fit the mold that others will be forced into. I fit that mold– an older white guy who has lived a life of being able to blend in easily on the surface, often going unnoticed. But I certainly wouldn’t feel safe because I know that in my heart of hearts that I will never be part of that group. In any way.

I don’t want to be the same nor do I want that for anyone else. I want people to be the singular beings they should be, to celebrate their differences while still respecting and appreciating the differences of others.

I want the fertile soil that America alone can offer.

That’s a lot this morning, I know. Thank you for sticking with me to this point today. I apologize if you came here to be soothed. I can only offer that this–clarifying where I stand– serves as a check valve, helping to release the pressure of my own anxieties. Holding it in only serves to make it worse.

Here’s an all-time favorite song from the Kinks that I last shared a couple of years back. It’s title really speaks to the subject at hand: I’m Not Like Everybody Else. This is one of my favorite versions, a performance from their 1994 live album, To the Bone.

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The Great Dictator

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on October 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Charlie Chaplin The Great Dictator 1940

Charlie Chaplin- The Great Dictator, 1940

Our knowledge has made us cynical
Our cleverness, hard and unkind
We think too much, and feel too little
More than machinery, we need humanity
More that cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness
Without these qualities life will be violent, and all will be lost

— Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator Final Speech

The final speech in The Great Dictator the 1940 Charlie Chaplin film that brutally satirized the Naziism/Fascism that was then a dire threat to the entire world, feels very relevant to this moment in history.

The Great Dictator is about a Jewish barber in the fictional nation of Tomainia that is ruled by a ruthless dictator, Adenoid Hynkel. Without getting into the plot, Chaplin portrays both the Jewish barber and the Hitleresque Hynkel. At the film’s end, the barber is mistaken for Hynkel and is forced to make a speech, one in which delivers a message of hope to the world rather than the hateful rhetoric that was expected.  

It is a direct appeal to the people of the world to reject the brutalism of such dictatorships and fight for the humanity of mankind. It was controversial at the time and Chaplin’s friends and advisors tried to dissuade him from including it in the final cut, telling him that it would cause him to lose a million dollars, a vast sum in 1940. Chaplin responded that he didn’t care if it cost him 5 million.

It feels though we are at a similar point in time with a presidential candidate who threatens to unleash the military on US citizens who oppose him, to imprison his political rivals, to revoke the licenses of TV networks who displease him, to monitor and control pregnancies, and to first round up then mass deport millions of illegal immigrants along with many who are now legal. And so much more.

These are not inferred threats or hyperbole. These are his words. 

It is never wise to dismiss such threats. I hope enough people understand the peril we face.

Please take a few minutes to watch this final speech. It is inspiring in the context of history, then and now. If you get a chance, I urge you to see the whole film. It is both funny and heartbreaking on many levels and Chaplin exhibits his brilliance throughout. Jack Oakie is hysterical as the clownish Mussolini-like dictator, Benzino Napaloni, of the neighboring nation of Bacteria. He would have been a great choice to portray the current GOP candidate.

Anyway, here is the final speech from The Great Dictator:

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The Contentious Mr Wyndham Lewis

Posted in Influences, Neat Stuff, Painting, Quote, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »

"Mr Wyndham Lewis as a Tyro"- Wyndham Lewis

“Mr Wyndham Lewis as a Tyro”- Wyndham Lewis

For many years now, one of my favorite books to just sit and flip through is my now very worn copy of  A Dictionary of Art Quotes by Ian Crofton.  It has great quotes by artists and critics about artists, schools of art and assorted other things that have to do with art.  The thing that I like most is that Crofton keeps it subjective, often having opposing points of view under each heading.  You might read one quote praising an artist while the very next might be one that portrays him as a hack. It’s interesting to see this contrast of perceptions, often by the artist’s contemporaries.

Some artists receive no negative words against their work or personality– Henri Rousseau, for instance, who was much beloved and respected by his contemporaries.  Most have positive quotes with an occasional barb thrown in their direction.  But the section concerning one artist, Percy Wyndham Lewis, really stuck out when I read it.  There is not anything that could be perceived as positive–Ernest Hemingway even said he had the “eyes of a rapist.”  Not knowing much about this artist, it prompted to find out a little more about Wyndham Lewis, as he preferred to be called.

It didn’t take much research to discover reasons behind the vitriol directed at him.

First, a little background.  Lewis was born in Nova Scotia in 1882, educated in England, lost his eyesight in the late 1940’s and died in 1957.  He was an extraordinarily talented painter and writer and the founder of the Vorticists, an art and literary movement derived from Cubism that flourished in the years before World War I but died out in the aftermath.   He painted and drew , wrote well received novels and published a ground-breaking art magazine, Blast.  No lack of talent, that is for sure

"T.S. Eliot"- Wyndham Lewis

“T.S. Eliot”- Wyndham Lewis

But from what I can deduct, he was a very contentious and very opinionated, always seeking an argument or looking to tweak those he viewed as his intellectual inferiors.  He ruffled more than his share of feathers.  As he said, “It is more comfortable for me, in the long run, to be rude than polite.”   But his biggest offense came in the early 1930’s when he wrote in favor of Hitler and the Fascists, believing them to be the keys to maintaining peace in Europe.  That was, to be sure, not well received and was for many unpardonable even though Lewis did reverse his views later after a 1937 trip to Berlin when it became obvious to him that he had gravely misjudged the intent of Hitler.  He wrote a number of items against Hitler and Fascism and in defense of the Jews of Europe but the damage was done: he was a persona non grata.
He basically disappeared from the art scene although he continued to write prolifically, even after the loss of his sight. There was a re-interest in his painting  and Vorticism in the mid-50’s , just a year or two before his death and in subsequent years his profile as an artist has regained some of its lost stature. He is consdiered among the finest of British portrait painters.  His painting of poet T.S.. Eliot, shown here, is considered one of his finest and one of the great examples of British portrait painting.

I picked up a book on his portraiture and find it very compelling.  The self portrait at the top of the page, Mr Wyndham Lewis as Tyro, really stood out for me as did the ominous Praxitella, below.  An interesting character.  I was glad to come across his work and will continue to explore it.

Wyndham Lewis -Praxitella

Praxitella– Wyndham Lewis

A Battery Shelled- Wyndham Lewis

A Battery Shelled- Wyndham Lewis

Wyndham Lewis- Seated Figure

Seated Figure- Wyndham Lewis

 

 

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