Fascism Explained

Why is it that so many people get the definition of fascism wrong? Basically, because it's a complex thing to define, and it's become a word people use to describe their enemies in order to boost their political agenda or promote their cause.

Mr. Beat's definition of fascism: the idea that the group is more important than the individual.

Produced by Matt Beat. Music by Electric Needle Room. All images either by Matt Beat, found in the public domain, or used under fair use guidelines.

Sources:

Photo credits:
Reiner Kraft
Kouku阿謙
Jose Antonio

Sound credits:
Mike Koenig

For more about Mussolini:
Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship

Tristan's video:

Clips used:
(The Some More News one is actually quite good)

Another good Fascism video by Kat Blaque:

Yo, I’m Mr. Beat. In 2010, when I was a young lad, I began teaching World History at Blue Valley High School. Fun fact- that’s where Michael Stevens from Vsauce went to high school.

Anyway, when I tried to teach these poor kids about fascism, I had a hard time explaining it. For starters, there were so many definitions out there, and when I finally did find a definition that was historically accurate, it was ridiculously complex.

And since then, I’ve noticed that a lot of people confidently talk about fascism but apparently have no clue what it actually means.
Rarely is a word so often misused or mischaracterized. So let’s look at what fascism actually means. I planned on making a video about this awhile ago, but I held off after my friend Tristan from Step Back History beat me to it. That’s right. He beat Mr. Beat.

Anyway, he released this video back in October 2017. Tristan does a great job as he always does, but he mostly dives into the early history of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, and frankly, he was still a bit too vague with his definition of fascism.

In the comments of the video, I attempted to simplify the definition of fascism as I used to simplify it for my World History students so they’d better understand. Fascism is essentially “conform or else.” Well, it got a lot of likes, so that’s cool, but then the “well actually” crowd hopped on, and one of the responses, from Eli A, was “That's just authoritarianism. Not all authoritarians are fascists, but all fascists are authoritarians” and….Eli kind of has a point. Maybe, I simplified a bit too much. Violence usually is associated with fascism, but not always.

So let me revise. Fascism is the idea that the group is more important than the individual.
Diversity is a threat to the group. Individualism is a threat to the group. Immigration is a threat to the group. New ideas could potentially be a threat to the group. Basically, anything that undermines the country, nation, or even ethnic group is a threat to the group. The people in a fascist society are expected to have limited choices and strict guidance. In other words, conform to the group.

Some argue fascism had its roots in the Jacobin movement, with leaders of the French Revolution like Maximilien Robespierre. Others argue it had its roots as a backlash against the Enlightenment. During the Enlightenment, when more and more people were raving about individualism, laissez faire economics, liberty, and equality, dudes like the British philosopher Thomas Carlyle were like hold up. Hierarchy is good. Democracy is bad. Some are leaders but most are followers. Absolute rulers were good for society. These ideas gained popularity during the late 1800s and early 1900s. To add to the backlash, Social Darwinism, the idea that the evolutionary concept of natural selection also applied to human societies, became a big thing. This fit right in with what would eventually be called fascism.

The term “Fascism,” wasn’t first used until 1915 by supporters of a guy you probably know about named Benito Mussolini.

[EmperorTigerstar]

Seeing the Prager U definition of fascism makes me cringe every time.

[yeeman]

At first I thought this said is Mr.Beast a fasict

[alpacaofthemountain]

I would like to change "The group is more important than the individual" to "Sacrifice individual freedom for the group to succeed against other groups"

[nicholass.brisco]

"Fascism is when the police are mean. The meaner the police, the Fascister it is. And when the police are really, really, mean, it is Nazism." –Benito Mussolini

[akorn]

The fact that Mr. Beat knows that VSauce went to the school he taught at just makes me imagine him giving Micheal a detention or something and Micheal going “I’m in trouble... or am I??” and then the music starts to play and Mr B just shakes his head.

[panfriedegg]

Within the first minute, the line " when I did find [an accurate definition] it was just ridiculously complex" sums up so much of the difficulty talking about it. Because yeah, it's not simple. It's convoluted and contradictory by its design. Very glad that was pointed out so early, really good video structuring!

[pix-can-fix]

To fight fascism, we first must understand what is the true meaning of fascism

[reiattano]

The PragerU one reminded me of when they said Hitler wasn’t a nationalist because he wasn’t born in Germany lol. So cringe.

[johnnyanderson-roblox]

NGL, I thought it said "Is Mr. Beast a fascist?"

[andrewwestcott]

I think that definition isn't quite right, as it would essentially mean most parents have a fascist approach to their families (i.e. "my family is more important than me as an individual").

[GentleMouse]

This definition falls apart a little bit once you take into consideration all the various definitions that 'group' can have and the fact that facists don't care about the 'group' as in the collective population of their country, but rather a group within that, usually one that already has a significant concentration of power relative to the rest of the population. Furthermore facism /is/ inherently authoritarian and violent as by concentrating power and benefit onto the chosen subgroup one must at minimum reduce the relative power of all other subgroups, which is a form of political violence, and automatically creates a tiered power structure wherein the outgroups are subject to the authority of the ingroup/ruling party.

[neopolitan]

"Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state."
–Benito Mussolini

[Wafflepudding]

For a moment I read "Is Mr. *Bean* a fascist?" and I was like waaa???

[KhakiCube]

When I was in school, fascism was taught as "A one party system" which was designed to increase a nation's military readiness in response to WW1.

[sefisyara]

"The idea that a group is more important than the individual" is a definition of collectivism. Yes, fascism is a branch of collectivism, but so is socialism, communism etc. This is what they have in common, it's the rest of their beliefs (even though they're all surprisingly similar) that make them any different and so hateful against eachother.

[supaidaman]

"Creating a white homeland? I just want to build a new Roman Empire!"

- Benito Mussolini (2020)

[aeternusdoleo]

"Fasicsm is the idea that the group is more important then the individual". That is incomplete. You are describing collectivism in general. Facism also aggressively pursues the betterment of the group, at the cost of other groups. I see it as little more then a modern evolution of tribalism - which given humanity's past, would come natural to us.

[AnonYmous-xpym]

One thing I wish you touched on is the historical context of governments considered to be fascist. The points you outlined are not necessarily right-wing, but governments that fit those definitions & that are often cited as examples of fascist governments all do seem to match the dictionary definition.

Great and thought-provoking video.

[Meftu]

Fascism can be socialist (strasserism for example), but it doesn't have to be (Pinochetism)

[cadespaulding]

a list of words that you need to prove you understand before using

1. any word ending in ist or phobic
2. communist/socialist
3. fascist/nazi