Finland got a bad rap because of their alliance with Hitler. That was solely the result of a single-minded determination not to ever again accept conquest by the Russians. When the Soviets had been driven beyond their traditional borders, the Finns refused to join the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
Damn - this is one of my hobby-horses. Riles me right up.
Must be cos of all the stupid accusations of fascist that rang in my ears constantly when I was a wee-lowan.
And Beowulf's mummy (or are we speaking of Grendel's) was a hysto-fascist.
Grendel's mum, of course. As for Beowulf's mummy, I don't think it's ever been found.
Grendel's mom was a single parent with severe self-esteem and image issues--give her a little slack.
At the end of the real Beowulf, as opposed to the abridged version you get in schools, his remains were burned--no mummy there:
Then fashioned for him the folk of Geats
firm on the earth a funeral-pile,
and hung it with helmets and harness of war
and breastplates bright, as the boon he asked;
and they laid amid it the mighty chieftain,
heroes mourning their master dear.
Then on the hill that hugest of balefires
the warriors wakened. Wood-smoke rose
black over blaze, and blent was the roar
of flame with weeping (the wind was still),
till the fire had broken the frame of bones,
hot at the heart. In heavy mood
their misery moaned they, their master's death.
Wailing her woe, the widow old,
her hair upbound, for Beowulf's death
sung in her sorrow, and said full oft
she dreaded the doleful days to come,
deaths enow, and doom of battle,
and shame. -- The smoke by the sky was devoured.
The folk of the Weders fashioned there
on the headland a barrow broad and high,
by ocean-farers far descried:
in ten days' time their toil had raised it,
the battle-brave's beacon. Round brands of the pyre
a wall they built, the worthiest ever
that wit could prompt in their wisest men.
They placed in the barrow that precious booty,
the rounds and the rings they had reft erewhile,
hardy heroes, from hoard in cave, --
trusting the ground with treasure of earls,
gold in the earth, where ever it lies
useless to men as of yore it was.
Then about that barrow the battle-keen rode,
atheling-born, a band of twelve,
lament to make, to mourn their king,
chant their dirge, and their chieftain honor.
They praised his earlship, his acts of prowess
worthily witnessed: and well it is
that men their master-friend mightily laud,
heartily love, when hence he goes
from life in the body forlorn away.
Thus made their mourning the men of Geatland,
for their hero's passing his hearth-companions:
quoth that of all the kings of earth,
of men he was mildest and most beloved,
to his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.
(From the Francis Gummere translation, 1910)
Ah, the good old days, when we threw around the term with giddy abandon. Wasn't it Gore Vidal who called William F. Buckley a "crypto-Fascist" on a tv chat show? Can't recall for certain. Someone help me here!
The word can take on a different nuance just by not capitalizing it and that Oxford Dictionary is pretty lightweight. Here's the Merriam-Webster entry (italics are mine):
Main Entry: fas·cism
Pronunciation: 'fa-"shi-z&m also 'fa-"si-
Function: noun
Etymology: Italian fascismo, from fascio bundle, fasces, group, from Latin fascis bundle & fasces fasces
1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control <early instances of army fascism and brutality -- J. W. Aldridge>
Yes, I do thing the word is bandied about surreptitiously and often it's being used as a generalization. Their are aspects of Fascism, the government being in bed with the industrialist for one, that can be applied to what would seem to be a free government.
Around the OC, we enjoy using the term in sardonic humor:
Fashion Island, the upscale mall in Newport Beach becomes
Fascist Island
There's obviously room for debate here, but can we agree on one thing?
There are two s's in Fascist...
There are two SS, one fact and an I...wow...
ooops -- typo, D'artagnan.
(Look out, it's the fascist typo police).
Nope
I have termed the Neocons as NeoFascists. They don't fit the mold of the PaleoFascists. Go read the PNAC doctrine and judge for yourself.
@pistoff,
None of the so called leaders are facist.
Only the dumb driven cattle( citizen) with patriotic fervor are facists.
Ask the new born Germans who are better qualified thatn italian Or Spain .
I purposely leave a country where i had never been nor with to in my life
