Orchestrated Bigotry's Role in Turning America into a Fascist Nation

Bigotry and Fascism

Bigotry is defined in the online Oxford dictionary as an "obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction, in particular prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group". In other words, it is an attitude powered by a belief system, one that is most often rooted in negative stereotypes. These beliefs affect the way we view, discuss, and treat particular members of marginalized groups. Different types of bigotry include but are not limited to racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism. If you are asking yourself what bigotry has to do with fascism, you're in the right place.

Fascism, in short, is a far-right government ran by one or a small group of people, the opposite of what a democracy is supposed to be. When Franklin Roosevelt created the New Deal, the idea behind it was not only to fix the economic issues that created the Great Depression, but to repair and reimagine the relationship that the American government had with the American people. In this way, he helped cement the idea that as representatives of the nation, the government (all three branches) should be providing support of all sorts to ensure a happy, healthy, thriving nation. In a fascist government, however, the people live to serve the dictator and the dictator's peers' needs, not the other way around. How could anyone ever fall into the trap of abandoning their own self-interest to essentially be a slave to a government they pay to protect them? Well, a key component to the development of the American fascist government has been to strip people of their sense of humanity and box them into a false sense of community, one where people are grouped together not based on morals, ethics, beliefs, or culture, but by a singular demographic, and then pit against other groups, for example, as was the case with Nazi Germany and the pseudoscientific Aryan (white) race being pit against Jewish people. With each demographic based group having its own set of false and negative stereotypes, tensions brew and often rise between groups, creating chaos, distrust, and a hyper focus on the individual groups' needs/survival vs the needs of all people.

In the United States we have a curious case where, as the self-proclaimed "melting pot" of the world, we are flush with a variety of ethnicities, religions, gender orientations, sexual orientations and more. The path to fascism for a nation such as ours, you would think, would be much more difficult. However, using similar tactics of Nazi Germany plus exploiting and perverting the beauty of diversity in our country, the road to fascism has been paved using orchestrated bigotry to divide and conquer.

What is Orchestrated Bigotry?

Orchestrated bigotry is a type of propaganda where there is an insidious and intentional broadcasting, projecting, and solidifying of stereotypes, especially false and/or negative stereotypes. Orchestrated bigotry happens when a person or a group of people plant seeds of misinformation about a particular marginalized group and then water it and let it grow and fester, causing contention. In the United States, you can see it played out on the News and social media, usually in that order.

We have seen it played out in cases where one group's voice is amplified while others facing similar or worse oppression are actively discredited or simply ignored (increase in crimes against Asian Americans quickly resulted in Stop Asian Hate Act, while the the Anti- Lyncing Bill, first introduced as the "Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill" which would make lynching a federal hate crime, took over one hundred years to pass . Another tactic is to stealthily affirm pre-existing stereotypes by promoting certain images and using certain language in the news circuit (Black male offenders called "thugs" and have their mugshots posted on loop, while white offenders referred to as "lone wolf" and will have a family picture or a baby picture shown instead of their mugshot). They also sometimes create bills and policies that are nothing more than smoke screens to temporarily placate a group that may be gaining momentum towards a revolution (all the alleged steps towards equality after George Floyd's murder which have now been rescinded). It has resulted in people being completely distracted from all the ways our government has greatly veered from the New Deal and effectively failed us all, especially in comparison to other so-called first world countries; we have no universal free healthcare, no universal basic income, no free college, no living wage, no paid parental leave, no commitment to a healthy planet, and no renovated infrastructure. Hyper-focus has instead been placed on individual groups and as a result has not only distracted us all from what is most important but has also impacted our ability to mobilize as a unit and demand that our government operate as a true democracy as promised. Lastly, by viewing life through a bigoted lens, it has made us more susceptible to fall victim to the fascist government we are now operating within.

How Does Orchestrated Bigotry Lend to A White Supremacist Fascist Government?

A piece of the puzzle that is often disregarded, by design, is that the face of the oppressor is white people. There is a general distrust and dislike of white people as a whole, and the general desire to hold them accountable for all the crimes against humanity that the oppressor has inflicted in America and all around the globe. It is easy to assign fault to all white people when the oppressors are in fact white, and those white oppressors have conditioned other white people to either be active participants in the oppression of others (overt racism), benefactors of their white privilege yet still deniers of the existence of racism (covert racism), or spectators who claim to be apolitical, which is also a form of covert racism. In this way, white people are also a part of the demographic war, but because of their skin color, have been destined to always come out on top, which leads others to falsely believe they are the true enemy, instead of mere pawns on the game just like everyone else.

The most devious part of this scheme is that white people are in fact also victims of the oppression they benefit from if they are not a part of the protected class of old or new white money, aka billionaires, aka the rich. They simply are at the top of the prey chain, and therefore, to some degree, either knowingly or unknowingly support the people who are also oppressing them. Bigotry in this country in fact is weaponized to keep white people in their rightful place, which is under the thumb of the rich, doing their bidding, with a false sense of superiority, while they suffer the same lack of resources everyone else does. To add another layer, since marginalized groups' voices are nefariously and facetiously amplified, and white people in general have become the face of the oppressor, they often do see themselves as victims, but not as victims of their actual oppressor. Yes, many white people see themselves as victims of the marginalized, which further fuels their willingness to participate either actively or passively in the demise of their own freedoms.

Bottom Line

In conclusion, the media backed by the government will continue to push false stereotypes and narratives and mass produce harmful ideologies to make figments look like facts, to keep us distracted from their deliberate failings of we the people, and above all, to continue usurping the wealth from 99% of our population through capitalism. If you're interested in reading more about capitalism's role in the American fascist government takeover, tune in for part two, Wednesday after next at 12:00pm. I will be going over capitalism's roots in bigotry, the harm it has done, how it strengthens a fascist regime, and what we can do to stop it. Make sure you share and subscribe so no one misses out on this very important conversation! It's time to start identifying who the real enemy is. Stay safe, stay class conscious, stay informed. Resist.