Dynamite post at Digby's Hullabaloo: Fundamentalism and Fascism

[ProfessorPlum]

Here's the link: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2004_12_05_digbysblog_archive.html#110226934277166780

and a clip:

From 1988 to 1993, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences sponsored an interdisciplinary study known as The Fundamentalism Project, the largest such study ever done. More than 100 scholars from all over the world took part, reporting on every imaginable kind of fundamentalism. And what they discovered was that the agenda of all fundamentalist movements in the world is virtually identical, regardless of religion or culture.

The five characteristics are

1) Men rule the roost and make the rules. Women are support staff and for reasons easy to imagine, homosexuality is intolerable.

2) all rules must apply to all people, no pluralism.

3) the rules must be precisely communicated to the next generation

4) "they spurn the modern, and want to return to a nostalgic vision of a golden age that never really existed. (Several of the scholars observed a strong and deep resemblance between fundamentalism and fascism. Both have almost identical agendas. Men are on top, women are subservient, there is one rigid set of rules, with police and military might to enforce them, and education is tightly controlled by the state. One scholar suggested that it's helpful to understand fundamentalism as religious fascism, and fascism as political fundamentalism. The phrase 'overcoming the modern' is a fascist slogan dating back to at least 1941.)"

5) Fundamentalists deny history in a "radical and idiosyncratic way."

All of this is interesting and it's interesting because it crosses all religions, cultural and regional boundries. When the scientists were presenting their abstracts, "several noted that all their papers were sounding alike, reporting on 'species' when studying the 'genus' was called for, that there were strong family resemblances between all fundamentalisms, even when the religions had had no contact, no way to influence each other."

End clip

This is fascinating, especially the way it ties together fascism and fundamentalism as two sides of the same coin, and also the conclusions that this kind of behavior is hard-wired within our species (with the implication that it must be actively opposed).

These aren't Digby's conclusions - he is commenting on an article that he links to. Fascinating.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. kick, kick, kick!!!

:kick:

[MatrixEscape]

2. The new enlightenment

Once this gets through to people, they won't be scratching their heads when you talk about the relationship of modern, American Fundamentalism to Fascism. The Dominionists mean business and they have a detailed game plan and vision for the country.

It is a wolf in sheep's clothing and has slipped by under the radar rather far already.

[undergroundpanther]

4. I am THE ANTIFUNDIE!!

Bwahahahah...urp. :)

[undergroundpanther]

5. KICK

[ProfessorPlum]

3. a kick, this really needs to be read widely here

Digby goes on to write:

"I can think of a few ways we might do this. The first that comes to mind is to pit fundamentalism against territory. If this retreat to fundamentalism is really a default to primitive biology, then we can frame this as America vs the fundamentalists. And lucky for us, it's easy to do and will confuse the shit out of the right. We have a built in boogie man fundamentalist named Osama on whom we can pin all this ANTI-AMERICAN fundamentalist dogma while subtly drawing the obvious parallels between him and the homegrown variety.

We start by having the womens' groups decrying the Islamic FUNDAMENTALIST view of womens rights. These FUNDAMENTALISTS want to roll back the clock and make women answer to men. In AMERICA we don't believe in that. Then we have the Human Rights Campaign loudly criticizing the Islamic FUNDAMENTALISTS for it's treatment of gays. In AMERICA we believe that all people have inalienable rights. The ACLU puts out a statement about the lack of civil liberties in Islamic FUNDAMENTALIST theocracies. In AMERICA we believe in the Bill of Rights, not the word of unelected mullahs."

[burythehatchet]

6. Very powerful method if executed properly..America vs. fundamentalism

[juslikagrzly]

7. Kick - Powerful article - link to original

link to original article

The Fundamentalist Agenda by Rev. Dr. Davidson Loehr, 1st UU, Austin

[Yuugal]

8. kick

good reading!

[Hamlette]

9. I think they missed one

all fundamentalists believe their way of life is under attack. Maybe it's part of his point on modernity.

Without that, you don't have such fervor. Maybe that's just how they rally the troops.

See: Any of the writings of karen Armstrong. She has been writing on fundamentalism for some time too. She things the one defining factor is the feeling that the group is under attack by society at large.

Good article. thanks for posting it.

[SpiralHawk]

10. Meeting Fascist Fundamentalism

(snip)

As we pass through the transition there is a colossal, global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth changes. All this, Mr. Barrios says, was foreseen via the simple, spiral mathematics of the Mayan calendars.


"It will change," Mr. Barrios observed. "Everything will change." He said Mayan Daykeepers view the Dec. 21, 2012 date as a rebirth, the start of the World of the Fifth Sun.

(snip)

Just now the dark side is very strong, and very clear about what they want. They have their vision and their priorities clearly held, and also their hierarchy. They are working in many ways so that we will be unable to connect with the spiral Fifth World in 2012."

(snip)

According to Mr. Barrios, the dark power of the declining Fourth World cannot be destroyed or overpowered. It’s too strong and clear for that, and that is the wrong strategy. The dark can only be transformed when confronted with simplicity and open-heartedness. This is what leads to fusion, a key concept for the World of the Fifth Sun...

(snip)

http://www.chiron-communications.com/communique%207-10.html

[donhakman]

11. fundamentalists are fundamentally the same

[bloom]

12. Abuse of Power...

Fundamentalism is a way to rally the troops. I think what we are against is the abuse of power.

The alpha-male in/out thing was interesting. That is so Republican/Limbaughesque. Trying to frame liberals as the evil - the outsiders. Resisting attempts to unify (all the while saying they want to unify - but only if you become like them).

This sums it up nicely:

"Fundamentalist uprisings are a sign that the liberals have failed to provide an adequate and balanced vision, that they have not found a vision that attracts enough people to become stable."

Though I think part of it is that people need to see the status quo isn't working for them and society as a whole ( I guess that is part of the vision).