Wait a minute... who's the fascist here?

If you accept the premise that a school is a microcosm of a nation, then you would not hesitate to subject the former to similar analysis. While I often feel that the nation, as it is represented by elected officials, seems a lot like a high school (image trumping substance, irresponsible spending, impending debt, raging hormones in the form of wars) the focus here will be on the reverse: how is a high school like a nation? More specifically: my high school.

I’ve given it some thought. I’ve traveled. I’ve read intensely. And now, I give you: the fourteen identifying characteristics of fascism.

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism.
5. Rampant sexism.
6. A controlled mass media.
7. Obsession with national security.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.
9. Power of corporations protected.
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.
14. Fraudulent elections.

The analogy here is not one hundred percent spot on. It often shifts between students-as administrators-of-a-repressive-state-apparatus and students-as-masses, in other words, victims of the state. However, one remembers from history that the desperate will take whatever power they can, and that modicum of power often reflects, however petty, the behavior and means of the state. It is with this in mind that I suggest the students lean more toward masses. This leaves the administration and teachers to the role of the state, which is not an apt comparison. Granted, young people in a school have little say in how things are run, however, if anything, the repressive nature of power that is reflected in the behavior of the student masses spawns more from the paranoid delusions of adolescence than any teacher or administrator. Teachers, if we fit anywhere into this analogy, are more like society’s repressed intellectuals, our books burned as in Nazi Germany, our body’s beaten as in Mao’s China.

Finally, a nod to Laurence Britt for the 14 points below, elaborations quoted prior to my interpretation.

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.

“From the prominent displays of flags and bunting to the ubiquitous lapel pins, the fervor to show patriotic nationalism, both on the part of the regime itself and of citizens caught up in its frenzy, was always obvious. Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common themes in expressing this nationalism. It was usually coupled with a suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia.”

I’ve yet to participate in the fervor that is school spirit, but it exists in every school in the form of colors. Every school has a set, and my school suggests we sport not only the colors, but the name and logo of our institution as much as possible. Just the other day I was asked to buy a pin, a blinking contraption featuring the school’s mascot. Everywhere you look there are the colors. And not one hallway is without some sort of motto inspiring pride in the nation-school. The military is paralleled in this analogy by the football and other sports teams. Rallies before every home game (despite my school’s lack of adequate facilities, causing ceremony to look more like a farce than Triumph of the Will) ensure loyalty and conformity, mass admiration of the school’s muscle. As for a suspicion of foreigners, observe the way new students are treated, immediately harassed, questioned, tested to the point of either conformity or outcast.

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.

“The regimes themselves viewed human rights as of little value and a hindrance to realizing the objectives of the ruling elite. Through clever use of propaganda, the population was brought to accept these human rights abuses by marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted. When abuse was egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation.”

My students have no respect for personal space. Ass-slapping, face-slapping, wrestling, punching, fighting and groping take place constantly in the halls. Governments throughout history have used euphemisms for torture. At my school, there is a particular group of students who like to taunt and beat up girls. When caught, they immediately exclaim, “That’s my sister!” as if that makes it any more appropriate. It has occurred to me, after seeing the same situation play out among different students, that “sister” is code for “victim.” As for disinformation, gossip is a fact of every school. Gossip smacks of Stalin and McCarthy’s paranoia and the oral culture surrounding them. In schools, gossip is a means of intimidation powerful enough to cause students to transfer schools.

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.

“The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice—relentless propaganda and disinformation—were usually effective. Often the regimes would incite ‘spontaneous’ acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and ‘terrorists.’ Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly.”

If there is one thing my students excel at it is making excuses, however illogical. Teachers, as well as administrators, are often used by students as scapegoats for a student’s own misbehavior. I’ve found that something as simple as writing a student’s name on the board for talking over a lecture, which has very little consequence at that moment, always escalates into illogical and absurd tirades on why the teacher is petty, why the teacher can’t just teach. And students love to gang up on a teacher who punishes one of their own.

4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism.

“Ruling elites always identified closely with the military and the industrial infrastructure that supported it. A disproportionate share of national resources was allocated to the military, even when domestic needs were acute. The military was seen as an expression of nationalism, and was used whenever possible to assert national goals, intimidate other nations, and increase the power and prestige of the ruling elite.”

Again, athletics operates as the military strong arm of the school, usually hording most of the school’s funds to put toward expensive uniforms, jackets, and other status symbols not afforded to non-athletes, thus building the complex combination of admiration and resentment necessary for athletes to hold the positions of “power” that they do.

5. Rampant sexism.

“Beyond the simple fact that the political elite and the national culture were male-dominated, these regimes inevitably viewed women as second-class citizens. They were adamantly anti-abortion and also homophobic. These attitudes were usually codified in Draconian laws that enjoyed strong support by the orthodox religion of the country, thus lending the regime cover for its abuses.”

Especially in a rural school, male students hold pre-suffrage beliefs about the abilities of their female counterparts. Sexist jokes are as prevalent as those racist and homophobic. Further, I have to constantly ask certain students to refrain from using the word “fag.” The very word once appeared in a “declaration of independence” assignment, in which a group of students created, among others, a “no fags” law. Females at the school are more progressive, which possibly explains the seemingly disproportioned amount of lesbians, paradoxically accepted with greater ease than male homosexuals.

6. A controlled mass media.

“Under some of the regimes, the mass media were under strict direct control and could be relied upon never to stray from the party line. Other regimes exercised more subtle power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite. The result was usually success in keeping the general public unaware of the regimes’ excesses.”

While students’ brains are hardly developed enough to decode the opinions and propaganda generated by mass media, their petty debates over what is “cool” certainly mirror the current media climate. For example, logic is not their primary concern. More important to their rhetorical style are ad hominid attacks, glittering generalizations and circular reasoning. And over what? A pair of shoes or rapper about as ephemeral as their attention span. They are the future O’Reillys, proto-Hannitys.

7. Obsession with national security.

“Inevitably, a national security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite. It was usually an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints. Its actions were justified under the rubric of protecting ‘national security,’ and questioning its activities was portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.”

I got nothin’.

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.

“Unlike communist regimes, the fascist and protofascist regimes were never proclaimed as godless by their opponents. In fact, most of the regimes attached themselves to the predominant religion of the country and chose to portray themselves as militant defenders of that religion. The fact that the ruling elite’s behavior was incompatible with the precepts of the religion was generally swept under the rug. Propaganda kept up the illusion that the ruling elites were defenders of the faith and opponents of the “godless.” A perception was manufactured that opposing the power elite was tantamount to an attack on religion.”

Students constantly refer to their moral superiority when justifying their fascist actions. For such atrocious behavior, many of my students are extremely religious, or at least convey the attitude. A totally forgiving God combined with an adolescent mindset, which imagines a life of sin followed by a last-minute penance, is a perfect match. Much of the religiosity, I believe, is a front anyhow. God is commodified, a gaudy piece of gold swung around the neck as yet another status symbol. In other words, God is hip at the moment.

9. Power of corporations protected.

“Although the personal life of ordinary citizens was under strict control, the ability of large corporations to operate in relative freedom was not compromised. The ruling elite saw the corporate structure as a way to not only ensure military production (in developed states), but also as an additional means of social control. Members of the economic elite were often pampered by the political elite to ensure a continued mutuality of interests, especially in the repression of ‘have-not’ citizens.

Again we find the students-as-masses. Seeing as how my students do not see me as their leader (one has actually said she doesn’t trust me), they instead bow to the factoids and rhetoric of corporate culture. On a small scale, it is true that there are certain cliques of elite students who keep to their own and ignore or abuse those deemed unpopular. The irony, in the end, is situational, because the masters of popularity must still report to their own masters: the monolithic corporate apparatuses that sway their feeble minds into believing a T-shirt or type of soda will make them cool.

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.

“Since organized labor was seen as the one power center that could challenge the political hegemony of the ruling elite and its corporate allies, it was inevitably crushed or made powerless. The poor formed an underclass, viewed with suspicion or outright contempt. Under some regimes, being poor was considered akin to a vice.”

Students-as-masses yet again. Labor is only valued by a few of the students who come from a lineage of farmers. However, that is not to say they haven’t given in to the evils of agribusiness (refer to point 9). As for the students who do not farm, they aspire to be the same corporate images they admire. Sports stars, CEOs, famous rappers, entrepreneurs. Not the overworked, lower-middle-class blue collars they will, at this rate, inevitably become.

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.

“Intellectuals and the inherent freedom of ideas and expression associated with them were anathema to these regimes. Intellectual and academic freedom were considered subversive to national security and the patriotic ideal. Universities were tightly controlled; politically unreliable faculty harassed or eliminated. Unorthodox ideas or expressions of dissent were strongly attacked, silenced, or crushed. To these regimes, art and literature should serve the national interest or they had no right to exist.”

There is some interesting historical work on anti-intellectualism in schools, especially around the time of World War II. You’ll find in these works, similar connection between the nation and the school. Kids are so obviously anti-school… I’ll give you one quote from my first day of classes uttered by multiple students: “I hate to read.”

12. Obsession with crime and punishment.

“Most of these regimes maintained Draconian systems of criminal justice with huge prison populations. The police were often glorified and had almost unchecked power, leading to rampant abuse. ‘Normal’ and political crime were often merged into trumped-up criminal charges and sometimes used against political opponents of the regime. Fear, and hatred, of criminals or ‘traitors’ was often promoted among the population as an excuse for more police power.”

Many of my students, it would seem, are Draconians. They quote Hammurabi without even knowing the name: “eye for an eye.” They have expressed the belief that a thief should have his hand chopped off (same assignment as the “no fags” group, different students). Generally, a good old-fashioned ass whooping passes for justice.

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.

“Those in business circles and close to the power elite often used their position to enrich themselves. This corruption worked both ways; the power elite would receive financial gifts and property from the economic elite, who in turn would gain the benefit of government favoritism. Members of the power elite were in a position to obtain vast wealth from other sources as well: for example, by stealing national resources. With the national security apparatus under control and the media muzzled, this corruption was largely unconstrained and not well understood by the general population.”

Cheating on quizzes and tests is rampant in my school. I had one student copy directly from another, as if I would not notice that their five paragraph essays were about the exact same thing, in the exact same words, word for word. Another insult to my intelligence is when some kind of report is due, say, a simple book report, and a student assumes that I do not know the difference between their remedial prose and a remotely coherent paragraph with polysyllabic words. You cannot copy and paste something written with correct spelling, grammar and syntax when you yourself are incapable of producing such work. At least change it up to say (edits in italics) “Mark Twain is like this ornery author of enormous stature and like acerbic humor and wit.”

14. Fraudulent elections.

“Elections in the form of plebiscites or public opinion polls were usually bogus. When actual elections with candidates were held, they would usually be perverted by the power elite to get the desired result. Common methods included maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating and disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and, as a last resort, turning to a judiciary beholden to the power elite.”

Although my students will most likely always be on the receiving end of disenfranchisement, this last point should allow us all to breathe a temporary sigh of relief. Because my students, as mean and dumb and likely to be involved with drugs as they are, will never vote. They may, however, be elected president.