Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Nevilledog

(50,660 posts)
Thu Feb 4, 2021, 01:07 PM Feb 2021

Video shown during Jan 6th rally was shot-through with fascist imagery & symbolism.



Tweet text:John Scott-Railton
@jsrailton
Until I read Prof. @jasonintrator's essay I hadn't paid attention to this shocking movie from the rally.

Now I can't stop thinking about it. Stanley argues it's shot-through with fascist imagery & symbolism.

Watch & judge for yourself.

Must read essay: https://justsecurity.org/74504/movie-at-the-ellipse-a-study-in-fascist-propaganda/



https://www.justsecurity.org/74504/movie-at-the-ellipse-a-study-in-fascist-propaganda/

On January 6, Trump supporters gathered at a rally at Washington DC’s Ellipse Park, regaled by various figures from Trump world, including Donald Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani. Directly following Giuliani’s speech, the organizers played a video. To a scholar of fascist propaganda, well-versed in the history of the National Socialist’s pioneering use of videos in political propaganda, it was clear, watching it, what dangers it portended. In it, we see themes and tactics that history warns pose a violent threat to liberal democracy. Given the aims of fascist propaganda – to incite and mobilize – the events that followed were predictable.

Before decoding what the video presents, it is important to take a step back and discuss the structure of fascist ideology and how it can mobilize its most strident supporters to take violent actions.

I. The Fascist Framework

Increasingly central to Trumpism is the QAnon conspiracy theory, which, as many commentators have now pointed out, closely resembles Nazi anti-Semitic myths. QAnon is just the most obvious manifestation of the increasing parallels between Trumpism and Hitler’s framework itself. Indeed, several contemporary fascist and white supremacist movements find similar roots in the framework Hitler developed, even if they did not culminate in such extreme actions as the Nazis.

Fascist thought

Chapter 2 of Mein Kampf, Hitler’s first and most famous book, is entitled “Years of Study and Suffering in Vienna.” In it, he documents what he describes as his gradual realization that behind the various institutions of power were the Jews. His enlightenment supposedly begins with the entertainment industry, where he remarks that “[t]he fact that nine tenths of all literary filth, artistic trash, and theatrical idiocy can be set to the account of a people, constituting hardly one hundredth of all the country’s inhabitants, could simply not be talked away; it was plain truth.” But it was, Hitler writes, when he “recognized the Jew as the leader of the Social Democracy” that “the scales fell from [his] eyes.” Hitler describes a growing sense, foundational to the ideology the book delineates, the ideology of Nazism, that Jews were controlling the apparatus of the state, both as important party politicians in the Social Democratic Party, and as operators behind the scenes of the press and other institutions.

*snip*



9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Video shown during Jan 6th rally was shot-through with fascist imagery & symbolism. (Original Post) Nevilledog Feb 2021 OP
sweet baby jaysus. that is horrifying. mopinko Feb 2021 #1
It should be. Nevilledog Feb 2021 #4
then dare those spineless reptiles to acquit. mopinko Feb 2021 #5
I truly believe the only way he'd be convicted in by secret ballots Nevilledog Feb 2021 #6
me too. mopinko Feb 2021 #8
Did Leni Reifenstahl make that movie? frazzled Feb 2021 #2
Article really lays out the iconography. Thread title is accurate. . . . nt Bernardo de La Paz Feb 2021 #3
M. Greene: a perfect example of Hitler's master race n/t AntiFascist Feb 2021 #7
Good article. jeffreyi Feb 2021 #9

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
2. Did Leni Reifenstahl make that movie?
Thu Feb 4, 2021, 01:41 PM
Feb 2021

I had no idea about the film at the Ellipse ... scary, but not surprised.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Video shown during Jan 6t...