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NO! OKAY! JUST NO! IM NOT A FASCIST! That title is what we in the industry call a lead. But I watched a rather interesting video on fascism and how it weaponizes beauty, moreso the human body and Yukio Mishima's obsession with it and making himself more machinelike, masculine and some third adjective to give this sentence the flow i want (dominant, militaristic, powerful are all words that would work). It was by Meeka La Fay, it's the one with Pewdiepie in the thumbnail. The video literally altered my brain chemistry though. I don't see YouTube videos as something of utmost importance anymore but it can still have that effect or roll thoughts into motion and this was one of those videos.
My mind was working like overtime. Think disco Elysium thought cabinet. Five thoughts cooking up at once needing processing. I've stewed over them on many long car rides and while playing with a deck of cards but this video gave me that extra push and everything just clicked. All my thoughts fell into place and I need an outlet. Okay, let's start with the first question, the big elephant, the title. Why would I think I'm fascist?
I don't. Like I said that was a lead but do I maybe play a part in it? Probably not, atleast I play more of a willing part in socialism than I do in fascism. Of course fascism is something I'm forced to play a part in for school and the video made me realize that. Like my school is very militaristic. The idea of being one, working like an instrument, not being human but being man. So that's something I'm forced to adhere to but willingly, i would never condone fascism or support it. However I did reevaluate myself a bit. Is my attitude towards learning fascist?
Not really. I believe in being a lifelong student! I want to learn as much as I can and for a second i was like, "am I weaponizing my brain" no. First of all, violence plays a core part in fascism and second of all, I'm not weaponizing it, im trying to attain as much knowledge as i can to give back to literature. After it gave to me. Okay, crisis averted. Im not fascist. Phew! I wiped some sweat off my brow there!
It got me kinda curious though. How much or self improvement content is supportive of a fascist narrative. You'll notice a lot of embracing pain, rejecting comfort and also Samurai stuff. I read Musashi's book and he has some good lessons in there but DAWG! you don't need to take everything that book throws at you. Also, maybe that's why in Disco Elysium, the physical instrument skill is the one that let's you tank the blows. The idea of a physical instrument represents a fascist ideal. Becoming an instrument, not a person. How harmful is that? Like dehumanizing your opponents and then people who support fascism too. That's so bad. No shit, it's fascism. But it can be alluring.
What man doesn't want to look cool, be manly, masculine, perfect, a pinnacle of masculinity? I don't, that's why I became nb but whatever I need to stop including dumb jokes in this serious thing. But for a lot of men that's what they want. I mean cis people do still have gender and it can be affirmed. Yukio Mishima, the main fascist that the video focuses on was a homosexual or suspected to be one and he obviously saw that as embarrassing even more than, emasculating. I had a phase like that where I started finding boys attractive and folks started bullying. I had the f slur thrown at me a few times and my response was to go home and work out, turn myself into a living machine for when the day came that I would fight. I was like 13 okay. But that shows how young the people influenced by this can be.
I'm gonna stir the pot here. Pewdiepie. His audience is so young and he feeds them this Yukio Mishima bullshit. I was one of those people and while my views have changed since then, he helped to foster a love of literature in me at a young age. Just be glad I picked up Hamlet and not Mishima.
When I think of Mishima and people like him who see violence as an art form, it's really scary. Like seeing harming other people as a way of expression and harming yourself. Your body can be a work of art in many ways but through violence, I would discourage that. I thought about a disco Elysium quote. When Kim sees the dead body, he mentions that the deceased was a fighter. Someone who wanted his body to tell a story of violence and brutality. Out of all the ways I can express myself, out of all the ways that my body can tell a story, that is the very last way I'd want to be seen.
Or idk, maybe I'm pulling this shit out of my ass. Who knows?
Comments
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wirem0ther
oooh idk who any of those ppl are but the overlap of fascism/beauty/self-improvement is something i love to read and think about! will def check out this video essay
also highly recommend the conspirituality podcast for more discussion of fascist body politics! it's very specific to the yoga and wellness space, but they're very good at like explaining who everyone is for those who aren't in that whole scene
by wirem0ther; ; Report
picklerick420
that video essay sounds really interesting, i defenetly watch it. this actually reminds me of this book i absolutely love called "art in the time of its mechanical reproduction" (i may have mentioned it before idk i talk about it a lot lmao), it was written by a jewish-german marxist during h tlers rise and it has some really intretsing reflections on how facism uses art and culture. it honestly reminds me a lot of what you meantion at the beginning of this post about how it dehumanizes people and turns them into tools for brutality, specifically with the concept of the aesthetification of politics i think this could be considered like that same phenomenon occuring to politics itself.
in the book he describes how facism takes genuine political sentiments and weaponizes them. it takes the real issues and suffering the working class phases and distorts them in such a way that the cause of this suffering is put on anything that will help further imperialist war rather than the actual material cause of these issues ( for example the idea that immigrants are responsible for how hard it is to get a job.) it twists a real issue into something purely constructed to illicit rage, to in turn justify violence, in such a way that the attention from the true cause is never adressed, the problem never solved allowing them to continue utilizing that rage.
it effectively turns genuine political sentiments into something that has a purely aesthetic value, rage for the sake of rage completely divorced from the root cause. i think it can be considered it does the same at an individual level. it uses the genuine suffering of people and tells them the cause is anything that will ditect their hatred towards something that will further facism (for example, telling men the reason they feel emasculated is because feminism is ruining real masculinity instead of the fact that gender is an impossible ideal that they are expected to live up to). it turns genuine suffering and frustrations of individuals, that result from the clash between them and the capitalistic system(+all related social systems) and turns them into something that only exists to justify and perpetuate violence, which in turn helps sustain the exact systems that caused that suffering in the first place.
oh my god this finally posted it kept saying there was a word that wasnt allowed i actually wrote this entire thing like 12 hours ago
by picklerick420; ; Report
Oh it kinda posted twice but the word is probably "b!tch" they censor that for some reason and then they don't censor fuck or shit or piss or umm I can't think of another swear. But I'll definitely read that book, it sounds interesting! I need to learn more history for the sake of history. I'm always learning about history and politics around literature which probably makes for a lot of blind spots. Like the video essay I watched is something i clicked on because "ohh that's the famous Japanese author I wanna get into" not anymore... yikes... dodged a bullet. The worst part is one of his novels would probably speak to me. The one about homosexuality. Eeuugghh there's still unresolved shame there for me. Anywhuuuu, I'll check out the book you recommended! It sounds interesting.
by Slip_Moth; ; Report
honestly i think his novels would speak to me as well, i overall really enjoy themes of masculinity in media and i think i would particularly likebthe homosexuality and self harm as a means kf expression aspect. ive noticed this a lot but i seem to have a lot of overlap in tastes with facist (a lot of the things i like are the stereotypical things the worst guy imaginable likes). which sucks! i dont think its an inherently bad thing as long as i am conscious on it and dont allow it to shape my actions or politics. which reminds me i also got (back) into literature through pewdiepie. unfortunately a lot of my introductory knowledge of philosophy comes from him. i hate that he was such a big part of my life lol
by picklerick420; ; Report
picklerick420
that video essay sounds really interesting, i defenetly watch it. this actually reminds me of this book i absolutely love called "art in the time of its mechanical reproduction" (i may have mentioned it before idk i talk about it a lot lmao), it was written by a jewish-german marxist during h tlers rise and it has some really intretsing reflections on how facism uses art and culture. it honestly reminds me a lot of what you meantion at the beginning of this post about how it dehumanizes people and turns them into tools for brutality, specifically with the concept of the aesthetification of politics i think this could be considered like that same phenomenon occuring to politics itself.
in the book he describes how facism takes genuine political sentiments and weaponizes them. it takes the real issues and suffering the working class phases and distorts them in such a way that the cause of this suffering is put on anything that will help further imperialist war rather than the actual material cause of these issues ( for example the idea that immigrants are responsible for how hard it is to get a job.) it twists a real issue into something purely constructed to illicit rage, to in turn justify violence, in such a way that the attention from the true cause is never adressed, the problem never solved allowing them to continue utilizing that rage.
it effectively turns genuine political sentiments into something that has a purely aesthetic value, rage for the sake of rage completely divorced from the root cause. i think it can be considered it does the same at an individual level. it uses the genuine suffering of people and tells them the cause is anything that will ditect their hatred towards something that will further facism (for example, telling men the reason they feel emasculated is because feminism is ruining real masculinity instead of the fact that gender is an impossible ideal that they are expected to live up to). it turns genuine suffering and frustrations of individuals, that result from the clash between them and the capitalistic system(+all related social systems) and turns them into something that only exists to justify and perpetuate violence, which in turn helps sustain the exact systems that caused that suffering in the first place.