#AmReading #BlackshirtsandReds by #MichaelParenti.

(many hashtags, sorry, but I'm hoping it'll make this thread easier for me to find when I wanna do things like add to it)

It's sad listening to a rundown of the process that melted my parents' capacity for critical thought, but it's certainly all here.

One of the most important things he's stressing so far is the degree to which the people who benefit from fascism do not believe the many images of it they offer to the supporters they need to use (who frequently do).

And so their supporters inherit this kernel of "suffering is good, actually, if nonpeople are the ones doing it" wrapped in the seductive cheese of "a nonperson is whoever I'm not, bc they chose to be Like That and I've chosen to be a person. They wouldn't have issues if they simply also chose to be people, but now They want to turn me into a nonperson too! Like I'm some sort of Them!“ You can tell you've found the cheese when someone is tokenizing. The rest always follows.

(This is, btw, why ableism is everybody's problem. Once you give ideological shelter to the idea that a Malfunctioning Person Unit™️ is not a proper person at all, it's open season on all of us the instant our sacrifice will keep someone else powerful.)