Ur-Fascism: The Nature of Starfleet · 5:52pm Sep 1st, 2018
Note that I did not write this. At worst, I am the translator because this was originally in Spanish and at best, I'm the proofreader. If you want to read Ur-Fascism, check out https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/
The concept of fascism is often one that baffles people in that the word has become so ingrained in our vocabulary that is has begun to lose all meaning. Nevertheless, people have tried to define it. One of these individuals was Umberto Eco in his essay “Ur-Fascism”. Many of these traits are displayed by Starfleet, the supposed heroes of Starfleet Magic.
The best place to start is probably at the beginning with the cult of tradition and syncretistic culture.
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 counter-revolutionary Catholic thought after the French revolution, but it was born in the late Hellenistic era, as a reaction to classical Greek rationalism. In the Mediterranean basin, people of different religions (most of them 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 whenever they seem to say different or incompatible things it is only because all are alluding, allegorically, to the same primeval truth.
As a consequence, there can be no advancement of learning. Truth has been already spelled out once and for all, and we can only keep interpreting its obscure message.
The cult of tradition comes from their reverence of the Grand Ruler as their god-king. Being the first of the Space Ponies, the Grand Ruler holds a special amount of importance in the culture of the Space Ponies. The culture, however, doesn’t become a syncretistic culture until the Grand Ruler becomes king of Equestria after uniting both his subjects and the princesses’ subjects. What makes this culture syncretistic is the cultural significance of Celestia and Luna. According to The Journal of the Two Sisters, the alicorn princesses were chosen to rule because of their traits as an Earth Pony, Pegasus, and Unicorn. All tribes would be held equal. With the Grand Ruler’s arrival and subsequent marriage and alteration of all Equestrian biology, his mere presence on their throne blends the cultural lines.
Despite their advanced technology, irrationalism and action for action’s sake take root.
Traditionalism implies the rejection of modernism. Both Fascists and Nazis worshiped 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 Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.
Irrationalism also depends on the cult of action for action’s sake. Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection… The official Fascist intellectuals were mainly engaged in attacking modern culture and the liberal intelligentsia for having betrayed traditional values.
The Starfleet lacks any logical battle strategy other than a Power Rangers-esque fighting squad and, as described by Mykan, is a warrior culture, meaning that action for action’s sake is taught to young foals. After all, if you live in a warrior culture, isn’t everyone taught to be a hero, another aspect of fascism?
Let’s go back to our old friend Umberto Eco.
No syncretistic faith can withstand analytical criticism. 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.
Of course, I didn’t prove that this cult of tradition finds criticism and satire as inherently bad or illegal, but per word of Mykan:
Alchemystudent: What difference does it make whether royalty is publicly or privately insulted? After all, if someone insults Celesto while conversing in a pubic bathroom, they could argue that, since it wasn't out in the open, it was private!
DakariKingMykan: Perhaps... but it's still a serious offense to publicly insult/slander royalty, just as it is in our world.
Alchemystudent:
Wait, so does this mean that parodies and riffing on royalty is not allowed? That the populace is not allow to have a little fun at the royalty's expense? Because we make fun of royalty all the time here.DakariKingMykan:
What you are committing is called "Defamation" and if they caught you doing it, depending on the seveirity, it could be serious.
here, look at this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation#Criminal
But now since this topic no longer near the Starfleet subject, I'm afraid this portion will have to be closed
Now let’s see what Eco also has to say about this:
Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity. Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks for 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.
Let’s see an example of Space Pony racism:
“That's Cadance for you.” Twilight said “The best foal-sitter I ever had.”
“Don't you mean babysitter?” Lightning asked.
“Oh, sorry…” Twilight said. She was still getting used to her new speech adjustment.
It was "Somebody" not "Some-pony", and all the basic stuff.
It’s one thing to have a language to use in public like BBC newscasters being required to speak in the Queen’s English, it’s one thing to have language slowly take on different meanings (“faggot” changing meanings from meatball and bundle of sticks to a slur against homosexuals), but it’s a completely different thing to be force people to change their language just because. In addition, this ties into the concept of Point 14: Newspeak as it makes creating complex arguments difficult because it narrows the method of thought and presentation to such an absurd degree.
Putting aside the racism for now, fascist cultures show contempt for what they perceive to be weaknesses such as respect for life including those of your enemies. After all, if life is lived for the struggle and the fight, it’s best to be on the winning side and what better way to display that with the heads of your enemies.
Twilight hated to admit it but she was still a little shaky on the fact of having to destroy creatures. “I know sometimes we have to, but… I still don't think that it's right. It makes us no different than they are.”
Krysta hovered near her “Twilight, I like you, but… sometimes I think you really need to wake up and stop kidding yourself.”
According to Point 7: Obsession with a Plot, the fascist must feel besieged in one way or another in an “all or nothing” and/or “us against them” type of mentality which should culminate in a glorious final battle. Negotiations are kept at a minimum because the enemy has been totally destroyed. This goes hand-in-hand with their fear of difference as anything they cannot understand must be the enemy or objectively wrong.
Lightning and Krysta felt sick to their stomachs at such stupidity. “I know he had good intentions but... reasoning with creatures THAT evil…?” groaned Lightning.
“That's like trying to capture the sun, either incredibly difficult or impossible.” added Krysta.
The fascists need a hero, a Voice of the People, in order to pretend that people have rights and a voice in their own government when in reality, they don’t. This role is fulfilled by Lightning Dawn who is the personal student of the cultural and political center, the Grand Ruler, and is therefore an infallible force.
In conclusion, the Starfleet culture is a fascist cult of tradition, fears difference, despises perceived weaknesses, reduces the rights of its citizens by way of censorship and Newspeak, and are an irrational culture of warriors.
Again, I didn't write this. I just posted the document with permission.
Encore, encore! I was waiting for someone to properly explain how the Space Ponies are fascist!
Let's see how our "good pal", the Dakari-King, tries to defend himself this time.
Also, loved the blog.
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I'm not sure if he'll be able to understand the quoted passages from Ur-Fascism.
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And that's what makes it so amusing.
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Dohohohohohoho!!
This... this was brilliant. It took me a while to read through and process everything, but this was so well pieced I must crow, "Bravo! Magnificent!"
This is a journal I am to bookmark and will read again many times over in the future.
4932397 Agreed.
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Mykan did PM me and say he didn't give a crap.
4938804 Well that just figures. Trying to explain anything to that mean-spirited knob is impossible.
Got shared this by a friend: while it’s informative and clever... I kind of feel like the sort of bad writing being dissected isn’t clever enough to really apply this kind of analysis to. It’s juvenile power fantasy, and while superficially juvenile power fantasy and fascism are similar, it strikes me that the key difference here is in the application of a philosophy. Mykan doesn’t care about the deeper meanings. He just wants characters he likes to beat up characters he doesn’t like, in a juvenile and childish manner.
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Fortunately, I didn't make the analysis. I just translated the analysis from a friend of mine who is attempting to learn English through self-study.
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It’s a great analysis, don’t get me wrong. Just, y’know, potentially too great for the subject matter. 🙂
Mykan seems to be blocking any and everyone that comments here after sending them a private message. It is unfortunate that he cannot accept even a simple reply back, yet he still views this page (and probably stalks the blog posts).
I purpose that we leave our "responses" to his PMs in this thread that way he gets to see them despite blocking us. It's only fair and quite the antithesis to his efforts.
Do you lot agree?
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I already blocked him and deleted his messages to me. Personally, just being associated with the guy makes me sick. All I'm doing is giving information on the subject.
4940284 A fair point. Also, in the event I haven't done this, I have liked your reconstruction of Starfleet into something actually decent.
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Thanks. I wish to resume work on it once I'm able to.
4940289 If you are interested, I can offer you insight to my own effort - a reimagining of Starfleet using the likes of Starship Troopers (the movie, not the book), Aliens, and Voltron Legendary Defender as inspirations. An unusual mix, I agree, but it did serve as a useful tool to create my own version.
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Huh. Sounds interesting. I'll gladly look at it tomorrow!
4940293 Just send me a PM titled "Starfleet" whenever you're ready.
From what I've seen, Space Ponies do exhibit plenty of fascist ideologies. As long as they have control, they believe themselves to be the rule makers. Which honestly proves that conspiracies don't have a lot of fans, since the guys up top have nothing to hide. If they're the ones making the rules, it's legal for them to screw over whoever they want.
Nice essay.