@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ Fascism is a somewhat odd term, encompassing a particularly wide range of meanings. The fasces were originally a bundle of elm or birch rods symbolic of authority in Rome, with the term subsequently being appropriated by Mussolini. At present, the term largely refers to any form of ideology or behaviour congruent with dictatorship and authoritarianism. However, Nazism, Stalinism and Falangism were all ideologies quite distinct from fascism (and in the case of the first two much more insidious and dangerous to boot).
Since the concept of fascism is so poorly defined, the Italian novelist and [semiotician] Umberto Eco has sought to define a typology of Ur-fascism, the characteristics of which are as follows:
-- Cult of tradition leading to a rejection of modernity
+- Cult of tradition leading to a rejection of modernity (e.g. [Catholicism])
- Cult of action for action's sake leading to suspicion of culture
- Dissent is regarded as betrayal (See: OnFreeSpeech)
- Rejection of diversity due to fear of difference
- Fascism springs from indvidual or social frustration
