Is Everything Fascist?

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Adorno on America’s Fascist Culture

The influential philosopher Theodore Adorno was notorious for his crankiness about everything from slippers to jazz music. And his tendency to perceive seemingly-innocuous things as fascist remains a punchline. But were Adorno’s philosophical concerns about modern culture justified? Was he right all along? Let’s find out in this Wisecrack Edition: Did Adorno Predict the Rise of Fascism?

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Written by Michael Burns
Researched by Tom Whyman
Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by Andrew Nishimura
Produced by Olivia Redden

Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

#philosophy #Adorno #wisecrack

© 2023 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming

[WisecrackEDU]

Purchase shares in great masterpieces from artists like Pablo Picasso, Banksy, Andy Warhol, and more:

[the_lotharingian]

Maybe the real fascism was the friends we made along the way

[Jedidiah_McCain]

I can only speak for myself, but I have never finished listening to Langston Hughes or B.B. King and thought “I think it’s time to subjugate a whole division of people”.

[MalevolentSpirit]

I do suspect that Adorno might have gone a little too paranoid (over slippers at least), but his experience in Germany and its crimes did help him recognize one important thing: some certain values, that should really not be welcomed by society, can indeed hide in ordinary objects or actions, or thoughts and opinions.

[robertstarnes]

Would have loved to hear Adorno's review of Whiplash. As a Hollywood film depicting vicious authoritarian Jazz instruction, it seems like the apotheosis of everything he found wrong with the world. Can't remember if anyone is wearing slippers in it...

[Ntsaved]

Something fascist that probably isn't: assuming vanilla to be the default ice cream flavor.

[Dingghis_Khaan]

I can really see where Adorno's coming from in regards to horoscopes. In the modern day, we see terms like "alpha male", "beta male", and "sigma male" used to justify cruelty and excuse defeatism. It's essentially zodiac signs for insecure men, and insecure masculinity is a fertile garden for the weeds of fascism.

[thefuturist]

When I was an MA student I got really into Adorno’s work, and very quickly fell for the idea that anything and everything can be a way in which capitalism represses us. One of my lecturers, himself an expert on the Frankfurt School, told me that just because we *can* read society in his terms doesn’t mean we *must* and that (like many critical theorists) Adorno is basically taking advantage of the essential ambiguity of the world along with our inevitable drive to ‘fill in’ the missing pieces.

Put simply, blaming everything - no matter how trivial - on capitalism (or fascism) is not much different from the age old idea of the ‘god of the gaps’; we need to explain something but have no way to analyse it, so we create something which does the job for us, a placeholder until we understand it better.

If everything is fascist then we have no hope of ever escaping fascism; it also means that anti-fascism is fascist, and that we have only one option: embrace fascism. I have no desire to be so pessimistic.

[genericusername]

There’s no way in heck that masterworks is not a money hole in actual reality. Diligence, wisecrack?

"Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean I'm wrong." - I forgot where I heard this, but it is my best answer for this video's ending question.

[SeamusCameron]

Those that have experienced trauma often become hypervigilant in identifying warning signs and precursors. I have no doubt that Adorno was experiencing hypervigilance... but he was right about a lot of it as well, just not the slippers thing.

[wandererstraining]

As an anarchist, I've always been worried about "the seeds of authoritarianism". They are hidden everywhere. They can grow, and develop into authoritarian actions, and movements, and societies. Those seeds are not fascism, but they can lead to it if they are left to grow unchecked.

[MrMurica]

Jazz Music: Literally nicknamed "The Music of freedom" and is almost universally despised by Fascists

Adorno: Is This Fascism?

[dmitarobradovic]

Fun fact: the Red Army Faction (left wing revolutionary organization in West Germany) used "The authoritarian personality" to decide which politican, landlord, capitalist and other enemies to assasinate.

[redeemernegativ]

Adorno also hated African American culture. He notoriously claimed that African American culture is “banal” because it doesn’t challenge capitalism or whatever.

[lisasue]

Since I was a very young child I always recognized that we were no more than a hop, skip, and a jump from falling back into fascism anywhere at anytime 😢

[TheOneTrueAnthemis]

"Don't be a fascist"

Spicy take in the year of our lord 2023 in the US right now

[andrewfriedrichs]

The masterworks ad makes me sad. It's likely a scam, at best they grossly misrepresented risk & reward.

[Rampala]

"For centuries, the richest among us have used art to launder money, and now so can you!"

[eric]

I think maybe Adorno recognized a basic nature of humanity to trend toward the path of least resistance. That path can easily include some strong man thinking the hard thoughts for us. So, like treading water, when we get tired, or distracted, we sink; as is the nature of anything more dense than the substance in which it floats. If we are not careful, and ever vigilant, we will sink as well. That is how easily, and inevitably, we will sink in to fascism.