A photo of an Early Warning Signs of Fascism poster, in the US Holocaust Museum, has gone viral. Find out more about the articles and research it is based upon.
A photo of the Early Warning Signs Of Fascism poster, by Sarah Rose (twitter.com/RaRaVibes), has been shared and liked nearly half a million times on Twitter alone.
It lists the warning signs as:
- Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
- Disdain For Human Rights
- Identification of Enemies As a unifying cause
- Supremacy of the military
- Rampant Sexism
- Controlled Mass Media
- Obsession With National Security
- Religion and Government Intertwined
- Corporate Power Protected
- Labor Power Suppressed
- Disdain For Intellectuals & and the Arts
- Obsession With Crime & Punishment
- Rampant Cronyism & Corruption
- Fraudulent Elections
It’s been shared so much because it’s easy to understand, and resonates with many people’s fears at a time of political turmoil.
Pedants, and / or critical thinkers have pulled the list apart – mentioning that the author of the Signs is Laurence W. Britt, a retired businessman rather than a professional academic, and that the simplicity of the list means that it does not accurately describe fascism.
The poster is a shortened version of Britt’s article “Fascism Anyone?” that reportedly appeared in Free Inquiry Magazine. Read “Fascism Anyone?” here (also includes Britt’s references).
Chip Berlet points out that “Fascism Anyone?” is similar to a Umberto Ecco article popularly known as “Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt.”, which is drawn from a longer essay: Ur-Fascism (1995).
If the poster has caught your attention, it’s the Ecco articles that are worth reading.
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