Wednesday, November 30, 2011

BENADOR: THE PROBLEM WITH "LIFE" AND "PEACE"

B"H

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me..." Psalm 23

Fighting for "LIFE" is commendable. But, there comes a point where a human being has to ask him/her/self if simply being alive is enough.

And, if that was the case, then why did G-d took His Children, the Jewish People, out of Egypt to His Land, Israel, that He gave them...?

The question has a simple answer.

Living in servitude is a quasi-animal status and that's why G-d did not want to leave His Children to be slaves of the Egyptians.

But, where are we standing now?

There are so many now, writing that "we are for LIFE..."

Just as we have been for "Peace..."

Blindly, we have fallen into the Liberal parameters that in the most absurd manner "defend" notions such as "life" and "peace" -regardless if they will become the boomerangs that will jeopardize the mere existence of those fools who believe in words rather than actions.

"Life" and "Peace"... both so near and yet so far...

Their philosophical study brings them dangerously close to become a deadly weapon unless one dissects both terms separately or together...

Both, life and peace, taken in the absolute, abstract scope of the terms, are among the most desirable goals one can possibly aim for. But, that would have been the case in the world before Adam and Eve showed their crushing weakness and exchanged Paradise for the damn apple.

In the world we live now, the situation has completely changed, and those who advocate to fight for Life and Peace as the ultimate goal a human being could achieve, simply belong in the pre-Adamic world and not in ours.

Living as slaves removes our inalienable right to freedom.

Naturally, freedom as such has been used and abused and we are all too aware that the fact that G-d gave us intelligence was with the purpose to use it wisely in order to reign in our freedom within the Commandments that G-d in His Infinite Wisdom gave us.

But, no. As we used and misused our "intelligence" we have ended up under-using it right from the onset, for who with a superior intelligence would give up paradise for a damn apple...? Now, therein lies our weakness which until now we are refusing to accept. And, yet, accepting that one has a weakness is the first step to regain our strength and control of a situation gone astray for too long.

Now, America and Israel, the doors to Civilization, are on check by their arch-enemy, the Muslim world in their quest for world domination.

This is the time when the peoples of America and Israel will have to decide what's more important:

Be alive, but be amputated from their inalienable right to freedom... and live as a slave?

Or, risk one's life and fight for survival for a life filled with dignity and pride, if not for oneself then for those who will follow...?

When liberals speak of peace, they refer to the pure abstract concept that implies "absence of conflict." Now, when and where is there "absence of conflict," when one is alive...? Nowhere.

Just as the concept of "life", "peace" is a very defeating term.

"Peace" without security, in simple terms means, "death" and "hell".

So, it is up to us, thinking free-will human beings to make our choice. What kind of "life" and what kind of "peace" are we interested in.

Take a deep look at your children and their children before you answer...

America and Israel need people who love SECURITY above all, because it is only when a population can live safely that one can have peace and have a life with dignity and pride.

And, in order to be safe, one has to fight for it.

The enemy loves death more than life. And they think they have that advantage over us.

I have some bad news for them.

There are more and more of us, who understand the real meaning of LIFE and PEACE.

And those of us who get it, are not afraid to fight and risk our lives to secure the safety of our families and our nations, and leave ahead of us an inheritance of LIFE and PEACE so next generations may have a better life than we have had.

So, when push comes to shove, YES, we do love more life than the enemy.

AND it is because of that that our numbers are increasing, because we who love life are not ready to give up or give in. And we know that G-d is on our side...

VICTORY IS OURS BECAUSE G-D IS WITH US...

BENADOR: NO SHARIA FOR AMERICA. STOP MUSLIM INVASION.

Hillel says, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?" Ethics of the Fathers, 1:14

Hussein Obama’s statement on the occasion of Muslim’s Eid al-Adha...:

“Michelle and I extend our greetings for a happy Eid al-Adha to Muslims worldwide and congratulate those performing hajj. Thousands of Muslim Americans are among those who have joined one of the world's largest and most diverse gatherings in making the pilgrimage to Mecca and nearby sites.

As Muslims celebrate this Eid, they will also commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son by distributing food to those less fortunate around the world. They join the United States and the international community in relief efforts to assist those struggling to survive in the Horn of Africa and those recovering from the devastating earthquake in Turkey.

The Eid and Hajj rituals are a reminder of the shared roots of the world's Abrahamic faiths and the powerful role that faith plays in motivating communities to serve and stand with those in need. On behalf of the American people, we extend our best wishes during this Hajj season. Eid Mubarak and Hajj Mabrour.”

When Hussein Obama said “As Muslims celebrate this Eid, they will also commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son,” he is referring to the ‘sacrifice of Ishmail’ as Sarah demanded from Abraham to send him away... And so, Hussein chose to ignore this, mentioned in the Torah, the Divine Universal Book of Life that was given by G-d to His Chosen People, the Jews, in Genesis, Chapter 21, Verse 12:

"And God said unto Abraham: 'Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in I s a a c shall seed be called to thee. "

In an eventful last week, you may have missed this ‘guest commentary’ telling us how Muslims and America grow together... The writer has no hesitation whatsoever, signing as Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, founder of the Cordoba Initiative, which proposed their project, the Ground Zero Mosque -later to become Park 51.



At the Cordoba Initiative website, it states that it “...is a multi-national, multi-faith organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of mistrust, misunderstanding and irrational fear that exists between Islam and many parts of the Western world.”

So, let’s state with the same clarity what we, American Patriots expect as minimum compliance with our needs for national security:

Given that it was a group of evil, virulent and ill-intentioned Muslim terrorists that attacked our country, massacring thousands of innocent victims in times of peace,

Such a treacherous terrorist attack AND other terrorist attacks and suicide-homicide-bomb attacks throughout the world on innocent civilians, has provoked in us, people of good will in the world, a natural survival instinct to come to the surface -especially given that the Muslim world has not taken responsibility in hunting, catching and/or stopping their terrorists and their evil acts of terrorism against the West,

On the contrary: Instead of showing results of programs established to stop terrorism and suicide-homicide-bombings against civilian populations anywhere in the world, they are coming up with projects such as the Cordoba Initiative...

Yet, we all know that, thanks to taqqiya, their right to distort the truth to advance the cause of Islam, they are “promoting [a] multi-national, multi-faith organization,” when it is known and recorded that anywhere in the Muslim world, Islam persecutes people of other beliefs -condemning them to death, mutilations, stoning, persecution, honor killing and many more disgraceful acts.

One more food for thought for the reader. Last week, as America was getting ready to celebrate “Veterans Day,” an article published how the Dover Air Force Base mortuary for years disposed of portions of American troops’ remains by cremating them and dumping the ashes in a Virginia landfill... What a contrast with the “due respect” given to Muslim chief terrorist and brain behind the massacre against our people on the infamous 9/11, and who received full-service funeral in compliance with the Muslim Islamic tradition...

For heaven’s sake, Americans, wake up!

There is no need for further analysis any more. There is no need to assess the reality of how the situation is developing in our country. Each one can see with more or less regularity and increasing frequency, the ubiquitous presence of Muslims and Muslim fully-head-covered women in our midst, wherever that is in America -even as cashiers, at grocery stores from the fanciest neighborhoods.

As liberals have gained access to reins of power given to them by the trusting American people, it’s easy to see through it and understand how it is all part of the plan to invade and takeover America -which is being served to them on a silver platter hold by Hussein Obama, Clinton, Soros, Bloomberg, Buffett and all the bad boys of the gang.

It is a mix of avalanche-tsunami of a reality that’s going to fall upon us and our children and next generations to come -unless Americans decide to react.

The Islamic Muslim fascist enemy has:

An instruction manual: The Koran
A tool: taqqiya
An instrument: sharia
A goal: world domination

Americans should do well to take a careful look around themselves, look at the “Occupy” movements throughout the country, which are being respectfully left alone to blossom, under Hussein Obama and his Administration.

Historically, in 1937, a Christian missionary, Charles Watson, in Egypt, described Islam as totalitarian by showing how, "by a million roots, penetrating every phase of life, all of them with religious significance, it is able to maintain its hold upon the life of Moslem peoples.”

By 1963, Manfred Halpern, a Princeton professor, expert on the politics of the Near East and Africa, in his book “Politics of Social Change in the Middle East and North Africa,” presented Islamism, particularly in Egypt, as the “neo-Islamic totalitarianism... basically as fascist movements that focus on mobilizing pasion and violence to enlarge the solidarity within the movement... They view material progress primarily as a means for accumulating strength for political expansion, and entirely deny individual and social freedom. They champion the values and emotions of a heroic past, but repress all critical analysis of either past roots or present problems..... Like fascism, neo-Islamic totalitarianism represents the institutionalization of struggle, tension and violence... Unable to solve the basic public issues of modern life such as intellectual and technological progress, the reconciliation of freedom and security, and peaceful relations among rival sovereignty --the movement is forced by its own logic and dynamics to pursue its vision through nihilistic terror, cunning and passion....” Thus, Halpern described precisely the objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood -the trusted partners of Hussein Obama, Hillary Clinton and so on...

As the reader can see, it is possible to make an analogy between the Muslim-fascist totalitarianism that slowly and surely is also developing in America via an increasingly chaotic situation that’s been nurtured in our country, including the “occupy” movements.

The fact that Americans are looking at the disaster coming their way without at least “ducking” means that there is a collective illness numbing the senses and most especially the very critical sense of survival, the one without which no human being, or society, can survive.

Is it curable...? Yes, it is!

First and foremost, as in all psychological treatments, one has to identify and then acknowledge the illness. Then one needs to begin treatment by defining reachable, attainable goals that will show how able we are of facing the danger and actually manage to succeed and survive doing so... For, what will give more joy than fighting for our lives and succeeding -whatever it costs...?

As G-d would want it, an answer came yesterday from beautiful, fancy and amazing Switzerland... It so happens that Grenchen, or Granges in French, is a city located in the Canton of Solothurn that has a population of roughly 16,000 inhabitants. It exists since beginning of 1,100 of the Common Era, and is also known for its watch industry which has been present there for over 150 years. Grenchen was also the winner of the Wakker Prize for architectural prize for architectural heritage.

It is in this context that the news report that the local police in Grenchen found pigs, last Friday, the holy day of the week for Muslims, following an anonymous message claiming that there were buried pigs body parts and spilled 120 liters of blood from the animals “in an effort to desecrate the ground to halt the construction of the mosque.”

As we can see, as much as the invaders are intent in invading the West, there are layers of our societies that are not ready to give in or give up.

It is therefore for Americans to shake their beings before they will be actually, physically and, worst, inevitably shaken by the Muslims and their evil ways...

It’s time to show that the more Hussein Obama and his Administration want to impose and facilitate the presence of their Muslim patrons, the more American law-abiding and peaceful -but decisive American resolve will be.

THIS is America. The land that, with the work of their people, the heart of gold of their Mid-Westerners and the guts of their tireless scientists and business leaders, became almost overnight, in the millennia-long History of Mankind, the Superpower of the World.

This is the land of inspiration and unstoppable cowboys and our fierce Indians, who knew no obstacles, whether by mountains and rivers or snow avalanches and the dryness of their deserts.

This is the land of impossible dreams come true. This is the land of winners.

This is the land of true people, who came as peddlers and got to be the leaders of the world.

THIS is America. And THIS America is ready to fight for survival and to win the hardest fight of their life so far...

So, Americans, get organized, follow the example of the very civilized Swiss... hold hands and move forward again.

Indifference and stagnation is not for us...

America is the land of progress and real hope...

That’s why you must get this done now.

Stop Hussein Obama.

Stop the Muslim invaders!

Save America now!!!




©ElianaBenador Art: @StephenEHughes

Monday, November 28, 2011

NEW WEEK, NEW BEGINNING...

B"H

I dreamed of a world where everything was love, beauty and poetry, where there was no sickness and no hate among people...

I dreamed of a wondrous world where people were smiling and kind to each other, a world where everyone was happy and positive...

I dreamed of a world where goodness and love were ruling according to the G-d's Commandments.



It was the paradise that G-d had given to Adam and Eve, but this time, we had learned our lesson. The apple was there, but we knew better, we knew just to look at it and say thank you, dear G-d, that you let us look at that sweet apple... but we did not touch it... we knew better...

And, then, I woke up...

G-d bless your day and your week, my darling friends, may He Surround you with His Love, His Light and His Grace...

Friday, November 25, 2011

SHABBAT TOLDOT: RIGHT AND WRONG AND NOTHING IN BETWEEN...

B"H

Every Friday signals the end of our week, and makes me a bit nostalgic for the time that just passed... I always hope that my week was fruitful, that it was meaningful, and that I may have contributed in some tiny way as the Instrument of The One who is My Father, My King and My G-d...

It's not easy to be a Jew, especially a 'good Jew.' But it is the most wonderful honor, privilege any human being could have received...

But my nostalgic furtive moment gives immediately place to my joy of beginning Shabbat, the holiest day in the week, where we come closest to G-d because we fulfill the most essential Commandment that He gave us from the Creation of the world...

We, Jews, are in the world by His Wish and Command, to help make this a better world... we are not perfect, but our role is to aim for it...



Something that comes to my mind is the notion of "Lashon Hara..." which teaches and warns us about the sins of wronging people through speech.

According to our Jewish law, no one should be saying anything wrong about anyone -even if it is true... It teaches about looking at the positive, and only speaking well about others...

A good Jew knows that by doing so, both heart and soul benefit from G-d's Blessings and from creating good-will around oneself...

PROHIBITION OF NEGATIVE COMMENTS: WHETHER FALSE OR TRUE...

It is forbidden to speak disparagingly of people. Even if the information is entirely truthful, it is called Lashon Hara. If the information also contains any fabrication, it is also called motzi shem ra (lit. putting out a bad name). The speaker of Lashon Hara violates the prohibition of "Lo telech rachil b'ameicha (Lev. 19:16)."

Let me explain: People who make it a habit to talk about others in a derogatory manner ("Did you hear.....", "Do you know she.....", etc.) are labeled ba'alei lashon hara (lit. masters of Lashon Hara, in that such speech is an integral part of themselves), and their transgression is far more severe. By doing so, they regularly commit chilul Hashem (desecration of the name of G-d; cf. Lev. 22:32).

Those who commit Lashon Hara, the ba'alei Lashon Hara, end up also cut off from something else: olam habah (the World to Come).

Our Sages also say (Bab. Erchin 15b) that for three transgressions one forfeits his portion in olam habah: murder, adultery, and idol worship, and that lashon hara is equivalent to all three.

G-D's WORLD

Even Einstein, the most famous scientist that has ever existed, believed in G-d...

Einstein through his science and thorough research, somehow got an idea of the magnificence and the perfection of the Creation of the World and most certainly must have understood that only something beyond superior, a unique mind and intelligence that none can grab, must have created this world... G-D...

G-d was Gracious with us. Of all His Creations, He granted us a big though-under-used brain. He granted us intelligence, one which we abuse when we go against not only His Commandments, but against the most basic physical laws of the Universe that expect us to follow and continue the Universal Order, His Order...

Lashon hara is a prohibition.

However, as in everything else, mankind is not listening and has obviously not learned from past experience.

And, we are going yet again, against His Will.

In doing so, we are doing it at our own risk, for there is no negotiating with G-d... simply because there is nothing between right and wrong. There is no middle term and there is no bi-term.

That's what we also see in this week Parashat Ha Shavua, Toldot, where Isaac and Rebecca have two children who were as opposite to each other as day and night. One was righteous and the other was not.

May G-d Bless Israel with more G-d loving and Torah abiding Jews.

May G-d bless the true, steadfast loyal friends of the Jewish people worldwide...

May G-d Bless abundantly His Children, the Jewish people, with blessings of wisdom and strength...

Shabbat shalom

Thursday, November 24, 2011

JEWS GIVE THANKS MANY TIMES EVERY DAY....

B"H

My darling friends worldwide:

A beautiful day to all of you...

And, here a phrase we say daily, by our King David:

זה היום עשה ה ': תן לנו לשמוח ולהיות שמח על זה

"This is the day HaShem has made: let us rejoice and be glad on it..."



And in this phrase, there are two main words: Simcha and Gilah -and though they are slightly the same, there is a major difference between them:

Simcha is reflected in the instantaneous thrill of a quick accomplishment.

Gilah is the joy that comes with the completion of a long process. Gilah goes beyond the moment and it is a far more fulfilling joy.

We, Jews, thank G-d several times, every single day, with simcha and gilah...

Everyday is Thanks Giving day to us...

G-d bless you all, abundantly, friends of G-d's Children, the Jewish people....

G-d bless His people, the Jewish people and His Land, Israel...

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

JEWISH PEOPLE AND TIKKUN OLAM...

B"H
Good morning, beautiful day and evening to my darling friends around the world... May my flowers bring joy to your day...



My thought for today is that, no matter where we are, we, the Jewish people, were placed in this world to help make it a better world -in the lines of tikkun olam... We must therefore, live by His Commandments, for they are witness of His Infinite Wisdom...
Look at the stars... Are they constantly colliding? No. Why? Simply because they have a pattern to follow -and *no* brain to think or decide, so accidents and mishaps rarely happen.
We, on the contrary, were gifted with intelligence and the freedom of choice -which we abuse, for the choice is *exclusively* given to us on the condition that we abide by G-d's Rules, otherwise, we see the chaos and mayhem we are allowing to develop, because we are going against His Pattern of survival and harmony... We do it time and again, we do it at our own risk...

May G-d's Blessings be sprinkled upon you wherever you are and may you be Illuminated by His Light and His Love....

Friday, November 18, 2011

ABRAHAM BUYS MACHPELAH IN HEBRON, JUDEA AND SAMARIA, ISRAEL - SHABBAT SHALOM



B"H

Mes amis, mes amours, bonjour... My darlings, have a great day...

It's erev Shabbat, which means in a few hours it will be Shabbat throughout the world, the time for Jews to pray and rejoice in our Divine Connection with G-d...

On this Shabbat, we read "Chayei Sarah," where we and anyone can read what is recorded in our Torah, the Book where G-d's Words are registered as our Divine Guide:

"Abraham needed a burying-place for Sarah, and bought the field of the Machpelah, at the end of which was a cave, paying four [it] hundred silver shekels."

The Cave of the Patriarchs or the Cave of Machpelah (Hebrew: מערת המכפלה, ..... in Hebron' (Kiryat Arba, before the Cave of Machpelah) is the world's most ancient Jewish site and the second holiest place for the Jewish people, after Temple Mount in Jerusalem...

Bereshit, Genesis, 23, records the purchase by Abraham of a plot of ground in Hebron for a burial cave for his wife Sarah.

Hebron is in Judea and Samaria, Israel.

Enjoy Shabbat and our closeness with G-d.

May the Jewish spirit and its Divine Connection with G-d be reinforced in Israel and wherever Jews live in the world...

May G-d Bless and Protect His Land, Israel, and His Children, the Jewish people worldwide... and our loyal friends...

To my beloved G, my friends... mes amis, mes amours...:

SHABBAT SHALOM

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

BENADOR: RED MAGEN DAVID IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA, BELONGS TO G-D's CHILDREN, THE JEWS... ..



Well, well, well...

Despicable minds think alike...?

So it seems...

And the more time goes by, the more the liberal, secular, godless, corrupt, leftist Israeli leadership distances themselves from the Jewish people and get closer with their spiritual partners, those who are promoters of savage terrorism...

It is good to see the crude reality for what it is...
And, G-d is watching...


"Red Magen David, PA, Red Cross Agree: Israel is an "Occupier" "

Friday, November 11, 2011

BENADOR: ISRAEL, THE LAND OF THE JEWS, G-D'S LAND...

B"H
As a devout Jew, I want to clarify that Israel is G-d's Land, there is NO NEED for anyone to recognize Israel. Israel exists and will continue to exist by the Grace of G-d.
So, I do not ask anyone anything regarding Israel.
There is nothing to add to it.
There is no one to ask for recognition.
Of all countries, Israel's borders were G-d Given.
ISRAEL IS G-D'S LAND AND HE GAVE IT TO HIS PEOPLE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE. PERIOD.
Shabbat shalom

BENADOR: FOOD FOR THOUGHT, THE DIVINE ORDER...

B"H
A beautiful morning on this Erev Shabbat to my darling friends worldwide.
My food for thought today is about the "ORDER" that HaSh-m in His Wisdom has left all over in the Universe for us to see... Whether you look at the galaxies with a powerful telescope, or at the intrinsic structure of the atoms with a powerful microscope...
You will realize that 'this' is the Divine Message to us... The only difference is that as His Children, He gave us intelligence and left it to us to figure out the formula to live in His Beautiful World... And, alas, we are failing.
The 'freedom' He gave us is our responsibility and our burden.
For it is a burden to accept His Boundaries...
Ah, this evil freedom, is so tempting, that misleads us, making us believe that we have the power of doing any and everything and takes us on the wrong path...
Because, so far, with that freedom we are mostly choosing precisely what's not right....
So, NO, we are not free, and that's why we fail on so many endeavours.



We are free to make the right choice.
And the first and foremost of the choices is to accept that the Land of Israel is the Divine Land of G-d given to His Children...
Our power and our strength comes as a Divine Gift from G-d Himself... And, it's time to accept that with pride and humility... For He gave us this Divine Mission: To help make this a better world...
When we will realize that, we will raise our lives closer to G-d's Order of The Universe, and will see His Light, feel His Love...
May G-d bless Israel and G-d-abiding Jews worldwide, may He continue inspiring us with His Wonders along our path...

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

UMBERTO ECO: Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt

Writing in New York Review of Books, 22 June 1995, pp.12-15. Excerpted in Utne Reader, November-December 1995, pp. 57-59.

The following version follows the text and formatting of the Utne Reader article, and in addition, makes the first sentence of each numbered point a statement in bold type. Italics are in the original.

For the full article, consult the New York Review of Books, purchase the full article online; or purchase Eco's new collection of essays: Five Moral Pieces.


In spite of some fuzziness regarding the difference between various historical forms of fascism, I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism. These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it.
* * *

1. The first feature of Ur-Fascism is the cult of tradition.

Traditionalism is of course much older than fascism. Not only was it typical of counterrevolutionary Catholic thought after the French revolution, but is was born in the late Hellenistic era, as a reaction to classical Greek rationalism. In the Mediterranean basin, people of different religions (most of the faiths indulgently accepted by the Roman pantheon) started dreaming of a revelation received at the dawn of human history. This revelation, according to the traditionalist mystique, had remained for a long time concealed under the veil of forgotten languages -- in Egyptian hieroglyphs, in the Celtic runes, in the scrolls of the little-known religions of Asia.

This new culture had to be syncretistic. Syncretism is not only, as the dictionary says, "the combination of different forms of belief or practice;" such a combination must tolerate contradictions. Each of the original messages contains a sliver of wisdom, and although they seem to say different or incompatible things, they all are nevertheless alluding, allegorically, to the same primeval truth.

As a consequence, there can be no advancement of learning. Truth already has been spelled out once and for all, and we can only keep interpreting its obscure message.

If you browse in the shelves that, in American bookstores, are labeled New Age, you can find there even Saint Augustine, who, as far as I know, was not a fascist. But combining Saint Augustine and Stonehenge -- that is a symptom of Ur-Fascism.

2. Traditionalism implies the rejection of modernism.

Both Fascists and Nazis worshipped technology, while traditionalist thinkers usually reject it as a negation of traditional spiritual values. However, even though Nazism was proud of its industrial achievements, its praise of modernism was only the surface of an ideology based upon blood and earth (Blut und Boden). The rejection of the modern world was disguised as a rebuttal of the capitalistic way of life. The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.

3. Irrationalism also depends on the cult of action for action's sake.

Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Therefore culture is suspect insofar as it is identified with critical attitudes. Distrust of the intellectual world has always been a symptom of Ur-Fascism, from Hermann Goering's fondness for a phrase from a Hanns Johst play ("When I hear the word 'culture' I reach for my gun") to the frequent use of such expressions as "degenerate intellectuals," "eggheads," "effete snobs," and "universities are nests of reds." The official Fascist intellectuals were mainly engaged in attacking modern culture and the liberal intelligentsia for having betrayed traditional values.

4. The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism.

In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason.

5. Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity.

Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.

6. Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration.

That is why one of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups. In our time, when the old "proletarians" are becoming petty bourgeois (and the lumpen are largely excluded from the political scene), the fascism of tomorrow will find its audience in this new majority.

7. To people who feel deprived of a clear social identity, Ur-Fascism says that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country.

This is the origin of nationalism. Besides, the only ones who can provide an identity to the nation are its enemies. Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia. But the plot must also come from the inside: Jews are usually the best target because they have the advantage of being at the same time inside and outside. In the United States, a prominent instance of the plot obsession is to be found in Pat Robertson's The New World Order, but, as we have recently seen, there are many others.

8. The followers must feel humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies.

When I was a boy I was taught to think of Englishmen as the five-meal people. They ate more frequently than the poor but sober Italians. Jews are rich and help each other through a secret web of mutual assistance. However, the followers of Ur-Fascism must also be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak. Fascist governments are condemned to lose wars because they are constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of the enemy.

9. For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.

Thus pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. It is bad because life is permanent warfare. This, however, brings about an Armageddon complex. Since enemies have to be defeated, there must be a final battle, after which the movement will have control of the world. But such "final solutions" implies a further era of peace, a Golden Age, which contradicts the principle of permanent war. No fascist leader has ever succeeded in solving this predicament.

10. Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology, insofar as it is fundamentally aristocratic, and aristocratic and militaristic elitism cruelly implies contempt for the weak.

Ur-Fascism can only advocate a popular elitism. Every citizen belongs to the best people in the world, the members or the party are the best among the citizens, every citizen can (or ought to) become a member of the party. But there cannot be patricians without plebeians. In fact, the Leader, knowing that his power was not delegated to him democratically but was conquered by force, also knows that his force is based upon the weakness of the masses; they are so weak as to need and deserve a ruler.

11. In such a perspective everybody is educated to become a hero.

In every mythology the hero is an exceptional being, but in Ur-Fascist ideology heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death. It is not by chance that a motto of the Spanish Falangists was Viva la Muerte ("Long Live Death!"). In nonfascist societies, the lay public is told that death is unpleasant but must be faced with dignity; believers are told that it is the painful way to reach a supernatural happiness. By contrast, the Ur-Fascist hero craves heroic death, advertised as the best reward for a heroic life. The Ur-Fascist hero is impatient to die. In his impatience, he more frequently sends other people to death.

12. Since both permanent war and heroism are difficult games to play, the Ur-Fascist transfers his will to power to sexual matters.

This is the origin of machismo (which implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality). Since even sex is a difficult game to play, the Ur-Fascist hero tends to play with weapons -- doing so becomes an ersatz phallic exercise.

13. Ur-Fascism is based upon a selective populism, a qualitative populism, one might say.

In a democracy, the citizens have individual rights, but the citizens in their entirety have a political impact only from a quantitative point of view -- one follows the decisions of the majority. For Ur-Fascism, however, individuals as individuals have no rights, and the People is conceived as a quality, a monolithic entity expressing the Common Will. Since no large quantity of human beings can have a common will, the Leader pretends to be their interpreter. Having lost their power of delegation, citizens do not act; they are only called on to play the role of the People. Thus the People is only a theatrical fiction. There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.

Because of its qualitative populism, Ur-Fascism must be against "rotten" parliamentary governments. Wherever a politician casts doubt on the legitimacy of a parliament because it no longer represents the Voice of the People, we can smell Ur-Fascism.

14. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak.

Newspeak was invented by Orwell, in Nineteen Eighty-Four, as the official language of what he called Ingsoc, English Socialism. But elements of Ur-Fascism are common to different forms of dictatorship. All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning. But we must be ready to identify other kinds of Newspeak, even if they take the apparently innocent form of a popular talk show.

* * *

Ur-Fascism is still around us, sometimes in plainclothes. It would be so much easier for us if there appeared on the world scene somebody saying, "I want to reopen Auschwitz, I want the Blackshirts to parade again in the Italian squares." Life is not that simple. Ur-Fascism can come back under the most innocent of disguises. Our duty is to uncover it and to point our finger at any of its new instances — every day, in every part of the world. Franklin Roosevelt's words of November 4, 1938, are worth recalling: "If American democracy ceases to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means to better the lot of our citizens, fascism will grow in strength in our land." Freedom and liberation are an unending task.

Umberto Eco (c) 1995