Tuesday, August 09, 2005
(3:14 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
"Islamofascism"
Seriously, "Islamofascism?" Are the terrorists winning the sympathy of the common folk by promising to get the trains running on time? Is contemporary Islamic terrorism characterized by a militaristic aesthetic? Are there rumblings of a return to paganism? Is there an industrial-style operation currently attempting to exterminate one or more races of people? Is this supposed Islamic version of fascism an attempt to ward off the danger of communism in the face of the injustices brought about by rapid industrialization? Is it focused in on a messianic leader who speaks publicly to crowds of thousands? Are the terrorists of a nationalistic and expansionistic bent? Do they actually hold power in a legitimate nation-state at all?No, to all of them. If you take any of the historic traits of actual fascism that actually happened in actual real life, none of them would be found in this dread spectre of International Terrorism. In fact, I would go so far as to say that in terms of political strategy and structure, the dread spectre of International Terrorism is as unlike fascism (as it actually happened in actual real life) as it is possible to be.
If by "fascism," however, the advocates of the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism (gSave -- apparently trying to cash in on the "open source" aesthetic) actually just mean "bad politics that we're against," then yes, absolutely, the terrorists are just like the fascists, because both are bad. I'll go on record as saying it: Hitler was bad. Mussolini was bad. Osama bin Laden is bad. They all share the common trait of badness. Right on! Where I disagree, though, is where this supposed analogy is shifted back into the literal level so that we're supposed to act as though the kinds of things that Monday-morning quarterbacks now think would have stopped Hitler are also the kinds of things that are going to stop the dread spectre of International Terrorism. Then the analogy becomes not just ignorant and unhelpful, but actually dangerous.
