Are you a closet fascist?

1. 77

   Mighty Momposted 11 years ago

   Just because we don't hear the words "Tea Party" in 2012 doesn't mean there aren't folks out there who still think exactly this way.
   How about you? Are you a fascist and don't even know it?? Take this 18-question test and see.
   (I scored 0 ).
   
   You Might Be A Fascist If�
   May 5, 2012
   By Stephen D. Foster Jr.
   
   Are you a fascist? Many people are fascists and they don�t even realize it. And sometimes, they know it all too well, but hide and deny it. Most of the time though, it�s obvious who the fascists are. For instance, you might be a fascist if�
   
   1. You are obsessed with national power and pride and believe your country doesn�t have to follow the rules and shouldn�t ever apologize for doing things that are wrong. You think your nation can do whatever it wants.
   
   2. You believe in the rule of the few, election rigging, political decisions being made by a select group of officials behind closed doors, embrace the informal and unregulated exercise of political power, arbitrary deprivation of civil liberties, and little tolerance for meaningful opposition.
   
   3. You believe in survival of the fittest, an every man for himself mentality that causes you to believe that poor people and sick people are weak and must be punished. You think rich people are strong because they are wealthy and that they should rule us. You also believe your race is superior to all others.
   
   4. You use the media as a political propaganda machine to target a specific audience and to push your agenda on others. You make sure the media demonizes your opponents and takes your side on nearly every issue. You use your propaganda machine to play on the fears of others.
   
   5. You are obsessed with security, and war. You feed this obsession by spending trillions of dollars building up a large military force and are willing to sacrifice domestic programs your people count on to keep your military huge. You start unnecessary and costly wars and you are paranoid of other nations.
   
   6. You are driven to indoctrinate others into your way of thinking. So much so, that you try to re-write history, change the way school children are taught and you brainwash the ignorant. You use your propaganda machine as a tool to achieve this.
   
   7. You fear and demonize intelligent people who have a higher education because they are the ones who can thwart your effort to brainwash people. You then attempt to prevent others from achieving a higher education because you want the people as ignorant as possible so you can convince them that your way is the right way.
   
   8. You have a deep hatred and fear of communists and you instill your followers with hatred and fear of others by accusing your political opponents of being communists. This gives you an easy scapegoat to blame when things go wrong. Any person or policy you don�t like is branded as communism.
   
   9. You disrespect women and think their place is in the home. You believe women are weak and cannot do things that men do. You believe that sexual harassment or assault is no big deal and that the only thing women are good for is cooking meals and having babies.
   
   10. You strongly align yourself with corporations and you support corporate money and influence in government. You despise government regulations that keep corporations honest because you believe everything should be controlled by the free market and that corporations should be allowed to do whatever they please.
   
   11. You are obsessed with Christianity. You seek to declare a Christian State and to impose religious laws on all the people across the country and the world. You believe other religions are inferior and that those who practice them should either be converted or destroyed.
   
   12. You believe your race is superior and seek to disenfranchise or humiliate other races. You believe in legalized discrimination and fantasize about a return to times when the races were separate or when those of color were enslaved. You use code words in an attempt to hide your racism and you make laws that weaken the influence of those of color. Immigration and voting laws in particular.
   
   13. You absolutely despise unions. To you and those like you, labor unions represent the empowerment of workers. Since you believe corporations can do whatever they want, you see organized labor as a threat because they fight for higher wages, health care, safety regulations, less hours, vacations, sick days, and holidays off. This obviously threatens the amount of money corporations can give to you and your cause so you brand unions as proponents of socialism and make laws that severely weaken them so that corporations can have a cheap, mindless labor force.
   
   14. You are obsessed with crime and a major supporter of punishing those who commit crimes. So much so, that you donât care about the concept of innocent until proven guilty You are proud of executing people and aren't bothered if an innocent person is killed. You seek to make harsher laws, especially laws that target specific groups of people such as immigrants, women, and people of color. You also oppose Miranda rights and using humane interrogation tactics and you seek to undermine the independent judiciary.
   
   15. You believe every election should go your way and to reach that goal, you push voting laws that disenfranchise those who traditionally vote for opponents such as people of color, the elderly, college students, and the poor. You even stoop to fixing elections in some cases and complain when your opponents challenge the vote counts.
   
   16. You believe in rewarding your friends with positions when you gain power and you reward those who support you with government contracts and money, especially corporations. You also do your best to aid your supporters in any way you can, such as repealing undesirable pieces of legislation and regulations. You often have something to gain financially from this.
   
   17. You create scapegoats to blame when problems arise. Whether it�s communists, liberals, minorities, homosexuals, the poor, or non-Christians, one thing is for certain. You and your propaganda tool will blame each and every one of those groups for bad things that happen even if you were the cause of the problems in the first place.
   
   18. You take advantage of a national disaster such as an economic collapse or an attack to demonize your opponents and push your agenda. You use these events to strike fear into the population in an attempt to scare people into voting for you and your cause. It�s all about fear and scare tactics.
   
   Sounds just like the Tea Party led Republican Party, doesn�t it?

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   1. 0

      Sooner28posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Interesting list.  Where did you get it from?

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      1. 59

         paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         This originally blitzed the internet Nov 16, 2011. I still haven't figured out the source though.

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         1. 70

            TomBlalockposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Can't say I'm a fan of it. Blatant bias of any kind just turns me off. Not that a lot of those don't have merit as an accusation, but some border on things that are useful, like the status of the military. I guess that makes me a facist?

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            1. 0

               Sooner28posted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Doesn't make you a fascist.  It just means the propaganda you were taught in school sunk in.
               
               Most people have a fetish for worshipping the killing capabilities of our military.  It's quite strange, and really unnerving.  Violence should be the last resort, and the military should ONLY be used for self-defense and to aid protestors when their government oppresses them.
               
               It's turned into an arm of a never ending imperial conquest to control the world's oil supply.

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         2. 59

            paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            My best guess is Stephen D. Foster Jr.
            
            Site being addictinginfo.org
            
            It is a political opinion site.

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            1. 77

               Mighty Momposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Yes. That's where I got it.
               Well, actually, I got the link from my college roommate's FB page.
               :-)

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2. 59

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   We got at least one person in our political forums who is a firm believer of this one...
   
   "10. You strongly align yourself with corporations and you support corporate money and influence in government. You despise government regulations that keep corporations honest because you believe everything should be controlled by the free market and that corporations should be allowed to do whatever they please."
   
   I will not name names.

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3. 70

   TomBlalockposted 11 years ago

   Come on, Sooner, you're better than that. I didn't qualify why I believe in the strength of the military, yet you presume it to be a faulting of me, rather than give me the benefit of the doubt in assuming I might have good, logical reasons for believing so. You are better than that, I've seen some of your comments. My education consists of a high school education, an upbringing under the almost heard of democratic lawyer as a father, and a nurse practioner, both from lower class families. Adding to that, I do hold a BA from a liberal arts college (which isn't the same thing as liberal, for those of the conservative persuasion reading). My education is more than sufficient to balance the benefits of having a smaller armed forces towards the benefits of having a larger one. There is nothing wrong with a strong and well maintained armed forces, provided they are used responsibly. Might makes right, in national politics, and as Teddy Roosevelt said, and democratic vice president Joe Biden recently quoted, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." The military is our big stick. Apparently, Mr. Obama also most assuredly has a "big stick" according to Biden, much to my personal amusement.

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4. 60

   Paul Wingertposted 11 years ago

   I read your list and can say "NO" to all of them. Although I'm not a Labor Union fan, but not for those reasons listed in #13.

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5. 78

   Shadesbreathposted 11 years ago

   I have to say, though I do love your stuff, MM, this particular list is abysmal. This is an example of preaching to the choir in the worst way and does soooo nothing to facilitate anything other than "rallying the troops together" in the common "cause" of recognizing how "horrible and stupid those OTHERS are." You have always struck me as the kind of mind that recognizes the danger of "otherizing" people.
   
   While there may be some microscopic percentage of the population that would fit the ridiculous belief sets described in these questions, the truth is, they are gross exaggerations that maliciously twist beliefs into things that nobody reasonable actually believes.
   
   You are a passionate person, but you've also always been so intellectual. I think you must have been in quite a mood to see anything legitimate in this particular thing. Maybe the author just got one over on you, but, to be honest, that list is sad manipulative garbage of the sort that hate, ignorance, prejudice and war is founded on.

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   1. 77

      Mighty Momposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Fair criticism, Shades.
      It's too straight and ponderous.
      
      I think it needs some humor. Or some bows or somethin' (Working Girl).
      I could lighten it up but not sure it's worth the effort.
      Or we could ask hubbers to take one point each and turn it more playful.
      Or just move on to the next...
      
      
      On the most basic level, though, I think it's valid to set out what the beliefs of a specific "ism/ist" are, because so many "other-hating" labels get bandied about with no real understanding of what they mean.
      

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6. 93

   habeeposted 11 years ago

   #9 - A woman's place is in...the mall...the shoe store...restaurants...the salon...or wherever else she wants to be!

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   1. 60

      Xenonlitposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Then yes, Mighty Mom and Habee! By that standard, I am a closet fascist. How awful.
      
      As for the rest, I plan to become a member of the resistance if they take power in 2013.

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