Fascism is an economic system, in which big government and big business are one. Some homosexuals are worried about a trend within their community,
gay fascism.
So it's fairly easy to establish that gay people are not inoculated from fascism. They have often been at its heart. This begs the bigger question: why? How did gay people - so often victims of oppression and hate - become integral to the most hateful and evil political movement of all?
A little bit of power will go to anyones head, so it seems to me all state actors go bad, not just homosexual gay actors. But this fellows essay claims otherwise. Whether or not, or to what extent, does not really matter, what is interesting is the theme that gay fascism is harnessed to nefarious ends, as in the case of Hitler's brown shirts. That is bad. The other part of the scenario is when the brown shirts are suppressed.
The Brown Shirts were suppressed, well murdered, when after a political revolution that wing of the Nazis wanted wealth redistribution. The record demonstrates that Hitler was supported by industry and the wealthy, and wealth redistribution was not going to happen. Indeed, the German word Reich means wealth and rule.
This essay is interesting because the $15 minimum wage in Seattle is certainly fascism in practice, and the mayor of Seattle has tied in the effort closely with "gay rights" movement. The mayor also announced with his signing of this law, that affects just about everyone but was not put to a vote, that it will lead the way all over USA. Seattle uber alles!
Probably not, but who knows? Those who want Seattle to be big business/big government now have their way. But among progressives I know, there is much dissent, quietly. Independent health care workers feel burned by Obamacare, small restauranteurs will be crushed, and educators see the money to education going anywhere but the classroom. These are the natural allies of the gay rights movement. Indeed, they supported gay freedom from government interference as homosexuals worked out their lives, their pursuit of happiness.
Complaining invites bullying in the form of name calling instead of discussion and argument, in essence mau mauing. This bullying can get active, like the fun time destruction of a targeted business that does not want to be associated with a "gay wedding." With a wee bit of government power, some gays want to bring government interference on people who would like to be free of government interference as they work out their lives, their pursuit of happiness. The same people whose live and let live attitude allowed gays to overcome official persecution are now the target of official persecution.
Thoreau marvelled at how few people in a democracy it took to get into a war. Although the essayist cited above seems to imply fascism is a fairly universal gay trait, it seems to me to be simply universal. Battle lines are being formed, huge forces unleashed. A fascist putsche against small business is in play. It is tightly associated with the gay mayor, gay community, gay rights.
The essayist continues...
But given the prevalence of homophobia, isn't that - even for people who don't see fascism as inherently evil - a terrible risk to take? Won't a culture that turns viciously on one minority get around to gay people in the end? ... If Bruce LaBruce is right, many of the mainstream elements of gay culture - body worship, the lauding of the strong, a fetish for authority figures and cruelty - provide a swamp in which the fascist virus can thrive. Do some gay people really still need to learn that fascists will not bring on a Fabulous Solution for gay people, but a Final Solution for us all?
The Wright family has an interest in a certain development of the city. Fascism is an excellent tool for anyone who wants to bully dissent out of the way. The commission to "study" $15 an hour was not pro and con the question, it was pro and pro $15 an hour. The city council voted unanimously. The day after, the money starts flowing,
$100,000 here, $100,000 there. To start.
The mayor said the $15 an hour is an experiment, and that is what governments do. Governments experiment on people? Some might disagree. Most government agendas go bad, and when this one does, how much harm will have been done? Who will take the blame? The beneficiaries, big construction, will be recalled as being "against" the idea. Will the sympathy for gay rights still be there if "gay" is associated with fascism?
There is the extreme template of nazi germany, gay fascism used until results were accomplished, and the moment the wealthy were threatened, gay fascism was wiped out. As a template, the same thing is happening in Seattle, the question is only to what degree?
The essayist makes a compelling argument that gays have often been the avant garde for fascists. Fair enough, the history shows that. But I don't think the implication that gays tend to fascism holds. I think most gays have no more use for fascism than I do. But by aligning this fascist putsche so closely with gay, and the history of gay fascism, in whatever degree there is a pushback, it will be on all gays. This is unfair, but fascism is essentially unfair. No one should have anything to do with it.
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