Unironically, I think this is part of the big appeal of fascism and fascistic movements.
People need something to belong to. People need brothers and sisters who see the world the same way they do, who will support them if they’re in trouble, and will ask in exchange for trust and respect and support from their side. It’s part of life. If you don’t have that, something inside you is missing and it’ll never feel settled. Nothing about any of that is wrong – it’s how people are designed to live, in a little village with people they know well and can depend on. It’s right.
Outside your family (if you’re lucky), that just doesn’t exist in America. Daily life is bullshit. It’s coworkers who, let’s be honest, mostly don’t give a shit, and you don’t either, and everyone understands that it’s all a bunch of crap and a big waste of time (unless you’re very lucky). Every day doesn’t matter. You and the people around you and the interactions you have with them, in the final analysis are pretty much a waste of time. But you need money, so you keep getting up and doing it anyway. But something feels very wrong, even if after a while you go numb, and you write off that numbness as “growing up” and “the real world.”
And then, here comes this grouping, maybe with some friends of yours in it, and it’s got an epic mission and an epic struggle. And, people aren’t just talking – they’re doing it. They’re going out on the streets and having rallies, and they bail each other out if someone gets arrested, and they talk about people who are in the thick of it who are finally fighting to make things better (and, let’s be honest, no one anywhere can say that things in America don’t need a ton of help). When they hang out, they have stuff they can talk about and get passionate about, and get confirmation that they’re on the same team. There’s risk. There’s decision. And, most importantly, there are allies.
It’s like pornography for that need for belonging. And so for the first time in your life, something feels right that never did before.
I saw an old, old German man in an interview talking about going to Nazi rallies when he was young. He said, of course now I understand how wrong it was and all the suffering we caused. And of course we all suffered terribly, after the war, because of what we’d done. But even now today sitting with you, I can think back to that time and that electric feeling, going to those massive rallies with all my people, and everyone shouting and singing all together, and Hitler up in front – in person – on the PA in his piercing, passionate voice… and I miss it. I wish I could go back, because it was wonderful.
Absolutely. I would just emphasize something that you alluded to in the fourth paragraph. A populist movement feeds not only the deep-seated human desire for Belonging, but also our profound yearning for Meaning. (War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges is a fantastic book which describes it in the context of war.)
I’ve long thought that the U.S. is ripe for a takeover of populism because of our hyper-individualistic culture, and the way that our lives have been systematically strip-mined of meaning in pursuit of profit.
Unironically, I think this is part of the big appeal of fascism and fascistic movements.
People need something to belong to. People need brothers and sisters who see the world the same way they do, who will support them if they’re in trouble, and will ask in exchange for trust and respect and support from their side. It’s part of life. If you don’t have that, something inside you is missing and it’ll never feel settled. Nothing about any of that is wrong – it’s how people are designed to live, in a little village with people they know well and can depend on. It’s right.
Outside your family (if you’re lucky), that just doesn’t exist in America. Daily life is bullshit. It’s coworkers who, let’s be honest, mostly don’t give a shit, and you don’t either, and everyone understands that it’s all a bunch of crap and a big waste of time (unless you’re very lucky). Every day doesn’t matter. You and the people around you and the interactions you have with them, in the final analysis are pretty much a waste of time. But you need money, so you keep getting up and doing it anyway. But something feels very wrong, even if after a while you go numb, and you write off that numbness as “growing up” and “the real world.”
And then, here comes this grouping, maybe with some friends of yours in it, and it’s got an epic mission and an epic struggle. And, people aren’t just talking – they’re doing it. They’re going out on the streets and having rallies, and they bail each other out if someone gets arrested, and they talk about people who are in the thick of it who are finally fighting to make things better (and, let’s be honest, no one anywhere can say that things in America don’t need a ton of help). When they hang out, they have stuff they can talk about and get passionate about, and get confirmation that they’re on the same team. There’s risk. There’s decision. And, most importantly, there are allies.
It’s like pornography for that need for belonging. And so for the first time in your life, something feels right that never did before.
I saw an old, old German man in an interview talking about going to Nazi rallies when he was young. He said, of course now I understand how wrong it was and all the suffering we caused. And of course we all suffered terribly, after the war, because of what we’d done. But even now today sitting with you, I can think back to that time and that electric feeling, going to those massive rallies with all my people, and everyone shouting and singing all together, and Hitler up in front – in person – on the PA in his piercing, passionate voice… and I miss it. I wish I could go back, because it was wonderful.
Absolutely. I would just emphasize something that you alluded to in the fourth paragraph. A populist movement feeds not only the deep-seated human desire for Belonging, but also our profound yearning for Meaning. (War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges is a fantastic book which describes it in the context of war.)
I’ve long thought that the U.S. is ripe for a takeover of populism because of our hyper-individualistic culture, and the way that our lives have been systematically strip-mined of meaning in pursuit of profit.