Oliver’s Reviews > How to Spot a Fascist > Status Update

No explanations for why exactly the enlightenment was viewed as the birth of degeneracy, why intellectuals were conflated with communists and punished as if to be synonyms, no explanation for why the petit-bourgeoisie are fertile seeds for fascisms rise or why fostering the nationalistic ideology of fighting back a vague enemy is in fascisms best interest, or why they promote the idea of an invasion by people who are "simultaneously strong and weak": read the current hysteria around "low I.Q Africans and Arabs who, while apparently, according to our neo-fascist politicians are too dumb to be human, are also simultaneously able to conspire to invade all of Europe, secretively.

Now, I know why all these rhetorical tools, these misdirections of real anger are used. It is to guide the people away from proletarian revolution and into a confused state of looking for solutions in dead-ends.

But the author seems completely confused as to exactly *why* the fascists use this rhetoric. He correctly points out that they *do* use it, but does not analyse, atleast not in any great detail, *why* they apply these exact methods in their devilish projects.

And for a book that is so confident in its title to proclaim itself a "how to" guide on diagnosing a fascist, it is really disappointing to see the author neglect to give any explanations or modern examples for why or how fascists use this rhetoric in praxis.

I suspect, potentially, that the author might be embarrassed to realise that, if he investigated further, he shares some of the factors of fascism mentioned in the book.

I hope I am severely humbled in my criticism as the book progresses... but I severely doubt so