Fascism, Rashism, or Something Completely Different?

Oculus archive. First published on 13.06.2022.

Perhaps, like me, you also experienced a dissonance in the perception of reality after what was seen in the liberated cities. And now somehow one has to live with this, and moreover, to comprehend it. At such moments a reassessment of values takes place, but it is very difficult to do because a foundation is needed, and there is none.

I am intuitively troubled by the comparison of raseya with Hitler's fascism. First of all because the fascists of Germany had a goal and a coherent ideology. There was the idea of the Aryan race, the ideology was built on the genetic superiority of some people over others. The Holocaust in the original plan did not contain the idea of the complete extermination of Jews, but only of resettling them in ghettos. Hitler showed enormous love and care for Germany. State symbols were borrowed from ancient Rome; the Hugo Boss company designed the Hitlerite uniform.

All of Germany's military equipment is saturated with the ideas of German genius, both in the form of armaments and in the scientific and technical superiority of that time. We use many inventions of the German fascists today without even knowing their origin, and some inventions have not been replicated even now. Over time, this ideology, beauty, and nationalism turned into unjustified cruelty and inhuman behavior, and modern society should have drawn the appropriate conclusions. But apparently it did not.

So raseya skipped the phase of an idea, technological superiority, ominous beauty, and also the phase of logic, however perverted, but still logic. “NATO will threaten us if Ukraine joins it,” therefore we will seize it in order to have a common border with NATO in Poland, Romania, and Hungary. Or: “We are attacking first because Ukraine plans to attack us.” How? If American intelligence gave Kyiv 96 hours until capitulation. You do not need to be a genius to understand the delusional nature of such ideas.

Therefore, no, no, no - raseya cannot be compared with fascist Germany; that is like paying it a compliment. And ху#ло cannot be called Putler and compared with Hitler; that is also a compliment to him. ху#ло is a misunderstanding that one does not even want to call a dictator; it has not grown up to the level of a dictator. After all, a dictator is a person whose harsh actions are aimed at overcoming a severe crisis, not at creating that crisis.

If we draw parallels and comparisons, the familiar epithets now applied to raseya are mistaken; they exaggerate its role and achievements that actually occur in reality.

It seemed to me that the term rashism, and Putinism, would in the future become the definitions we use to designate similar phenomena. But it is difficult to define them, let alone formulate them into an independent idea. Look at what nonsense results:

Putinism is a phenomenon that has the characteristics of a complete absence of logic in the actions of a state relying on propagandistic ideas completely detached from reality, leading to complete economic, political, and military collapse.

Rashism is a phenomenon in a society where every individual is raised on the absence of ideas and ideology as such, relying on propagandistic ideas detached from reality, with a complete absence of moral and ethical values.

In nature there are no creatures, and especially no groups of creatures, whose actions lack at least elementary logic and at least simplified values. Animals protect their offspring at the cost of their lives; animals unite for survival and resist a threat to the species. raseyan mothers abandon their children, raseyan society unites around ideas of self-destruction and opposes the whole world, without realizing its insignificance in this struggle.

In the phenomenon developing in our time, which raseya has realized, characteristics appear of the refusal of the basic principles of the human being and human consciousness to function, even such as the instinct of self-preservation. I mean the story with Andryusha, who was taken prisoner, sent to raseya, and wants to return to the war. How is that possible?

To find a basis for this raseyan phenomenon, I explored many ideas, including fantastic ones. A clue came from the side. There is a Nobel Prize-winning work by William Golding, “Lord of the Flies,” in which the idea of the allegorical “Beast” is revealed over the course of the narrative, and by the end it becomes clear that this “Beast” is inside every person. Another proof of the idea of the “Beast” inside us was Marina Abramovic's 1974 performance in Naples, called “Rhythm 0”.

The brief essence of the action came down to the fact that Marina stood in the hall and in front of her was a table with various objects; the instruction read:

There are 72 objects on the table that may be used on me as desired. Performance. I am the object. During this period I take full responsibility. Duration: 6 hours (8 p.m. — 2 a.m.)

On the table lay “objects for pleasure” and “objects for destruction.” Among the harmless objects were flowers and feathers. Among the dangerous ones were a knife, razor blades, and a loaded pistol.

At first everything was innocent: people gave her flowers, kissed her, but in the third hour all her clothes were cut off with blades. In the fourth hour the same blades began to explore her skin. She was subjected to all kinds of harassment. Someone made her point the pistol at herself.

You can study this real-life example in detail. And these were not rashists, riot police, or sadists - they were ordinary exhibition visitors, adequate people. Moreover, only 29 years had passed since the end of the Second World War, not 77 as now.

Instead of a conclusion.

I am not going to remove responsibility from raseya and its citizens, and the post is not aimed at justifying the actions of rashists, saying that such is human nature. On the contrary, I want to place additional responsibility on every person who allows themselves to lose control over emotions and desires, who is too lazy to reassess values when a situation goes beyond the habitual.

Each of us, no matter how adequately we behave in familiar surroundings, can turn into a creature that cannot even be called an animal - such behavior is much worse than animal behavior. Each of us must monitor self-control and rely on stable values. No idea is capable of justifying violence and murder if it is not connected with a direct threat to your life and the lives of your loved ones. The process of internal transformation is imperceptible, and it happens the faster, the more external justifications it has.

Only the one who is guilty is always guilty. And if you encounter the beginnings of transformation into a base creature in someone, your direct responsibility is to convey and prove that such transformations are dangerous. No super-idea is needed for this; all that is needed is your inner acceptance that this can happen to you too. And that such a transformation acts like a viral disease, and you must make an effort over yourself to resist it. And propose that everyone already on the path of such transformation make efforts as well.

Each of us has experienced signs of such a transformation; everything always begins innocently. First you do not want to study something new and understand the details. Then you get used to the fact that your opinion is often correct. Next you look for confirmation of your ideas in the external environment, and when you find it, you transfer responsibility for values to external experts who have figured out the details. Next you are too lazy to recheck the experts, because you have already given them your trust, and you no longer form your own opinion and will never form it again.

External values have been with you for so long that you get used to them. As soon as the habit of not updating values, not understanding the details, and shifting responsibility onto someone else has been formed, consider yourself infected with this virus of the “inner beast.” The incubation period of this virus is not limited in time and strongly depends on external conditions.

If your life is habitual and comfortable, and no one calls on you to do anything relying on external values, then consider yourself lucky: you were simply a carrier of this “inner beast” virus and it caused no damage to anyone; you simply passed it on to your offspring.

Do you think I am talking only about propaganda? No, that is not so. I suggest you go through a small checklist of external values, whether you are infected with the “inner beast” virus now or not, in the context of recent events, and retransmit the results onto your past:

• Are you convinced that everything must be done according to the law, and that the law reflects a person's inner values?

Are you convinced that science has answers to all questions, and that for the sake of study we must use all available tools that do not violate the law?

Are you convinced that the interests of society are above the interests of the individual?

I tried to build the checklist in such a way that you would answer yes to each question. Since they are very simple and understandable. We all should be law-abiding, support science, and develop our society. In my view, harmless external values. But there is one but!

raseya attacked Ukraine according to its legislation, and according to its legislation one cannot call a war a war, etc.

for the sake of science, the USSR tested nuclear weapons and checked how radiation affects Soviet soldiers or nearly abandoned villages.

raseyan mothers abandon their sons, supporting the value that the interests of society are more important than the interests of the individual.

Draw your own conclusions.