The gift shop of The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum used to sell a famous poster with 14 early signs of fascism listed on it. Apparently, the list was originally created by self-proclaimed historian Laurence Britt in 2003 for an article published by Free Inquiry magazine. Although the museum’s gift shop doesn’t sell this poster anymore, it occasionally goes viral on the internet.
But what are we actually talking about? What is fascism?
Fascism, in a nutshell, is a political ideology marked by dictatorial power, extreme nationalism, suppression of opposition, and a strong centralized government with no other parties or political views. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it’s a combination of authoritarian rule and a fervent sense of absolute pride in one country and race.
Why would people still be interested in learning about it?
Apparently, people find it particularly familiar at this point in American politics. In recent years, the term “fascism” has been thrown around loosely to critique various issues, such as media restrictions. While scholars often frame fascism within a historical context, its characteristics are still noticed in modern days. Though a complete fascist movement hasn’t emerged post-World War II, understanding its stages is crucial to detect conditions conducive to the rise of destructive regimes.
In case you’re wondering, the dark cycle of the five stages of fascism starts with rising in hopeless times, becoming legitimate with a political party, strengthening positions via partnerships, dominating institutions by force, and applying totalitarian reforms and actions. Now, let’s check how close these stages are to modern days and comment on your thoughts on this.
14 Early Signs of Fascism in One Poster by Laurence Britt
Image credits: TuEstUnePommeDeTerre
The poster highlights 14 characteristics of fascism. As we can see, features of fascism are strong nationalism, disregard for human rights, widespread cronyism, corruption, controlled media, and manipulation of their citizens’ hearts and minds. These signs are often a hot topic for political jokes.
To exemplify this even more, let’s show you how the principles of fascism are contrary to those of a liberal democracy. Fascism is characterized by extreme nationalism, promoting the supremacy of specific nations based on race, religion, or ethnicity. Hitler’s Nazi Party, for instance, advocated Aryan racial superiority. Mussolini in Italy, maintained a powerful image by emphasizing masculinity and crafting his image for the country.
Laurence W. Britt’s Note About Signs of Fascism in April 2003
Image credits: TuEstUnePommeDeTerre
People Think Signs of Fascism Are Present in American Politics
Image credits: ndla
The first early sign of fascism is described as powerful and continuing nationalism. Do we even need to talk about this one? Donald Trump’s slogans such as “America First!” or “Make America Great Again!” are well-known for being his favorite ones. Besides, back in 2018, at a campaign event in Houston, Trump said this: “You know, they have a word, it sort of became old-fashioned. It’s called a nationalist. And I say, ‘Really? We’re not supposed to use that word?’ You know what I am? I’m a nationalist. OK? I’m a nationalist.”
“Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common themes in expressing nationalism. It was usually coupled with a suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia,” writes Laurence Britt in the article.
Image credits: photolibrarian
“The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions,” Laurence Britt writes in the article. People have been pointing out that Trump always finds a way to blame others for the things happening in the country. For instance, the ex-president has been placing blame for the pandemic outside the United States on the Chinese government and the World Health Organisation (in his presidency days).
Moreover, it’s not a secret to anyone that Trump has said and written many things that were quite sexist, to say the least. From referring to a former porn actress who he allegedly had an affair with as “Horseface” to alleging that cable TV anchor Mika Brzezinski was “bleeding badly from a face-lift,” the list goes on.
You can read Britt’s full article here.
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
The author ends his article by saying, “Does any of this ring alarm bells? Of course not. After all, this is America, officially a democracy with the rule of law, a constitution, a free press, honest elections, and a well-informed public constantly being put on guard against evils. Historical comparisons like these are just exercises in verbal gymnastics. Maybe, maybe not.”
Check People’s Reactions to This Poster
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Share on FacebookWe are suppose to learn from history. We never do. It is so sad and frightening
It's because individuals are intelligent, but groups are not.
Load More Replies...Corporate protection, labor suppression, and military supremacy have all been going on well before the Orange Sh*thead was voted into office. So has disdain for the arts--anyone else remember the funding cuts specifically targeting those programs in our education system some years back because they're "unnecessary"? National security is also nothing new, nor the religion and government bit. America has had signs of fascism interwoven into its system for a long time--Trump has merely amplified what was already there. And if he isn't voted out of office now, things will only get worse from here.
Its not going to matter who wins. Don't you get it? Its 6 one way 1/2 a dozen another. Trump didn't create these problems and he hasn't help solve them either but neither has anyone that has been in office. I think its funny win people see a smart child and go maybe one day they will be president. Please intelligence is not a prerequisite for the office look at the list of presidents start just with Bush Sr, all the way to now Trump way to go America some real winners. And then you have the jokers in the house and Senate don't even get me start on them. They are where the real problem is. I don't see America recovering from this because you either get Trump or Biden its a lose/lose. WTF
Load More Replies...I live in Poland and I can check all of them. It's like 1930s in Germany here...
What's happening in Poland? I know I could google search...
Load More Replies...I read the headline and said, "ONLY NOW?"! .... Oh boy.... History reruns *suck*.
It's interesting to note that this list was compiled during the Bush years and was directed at things Bush was doing. Then again, the United States has had a steadily declining Democracy rating (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index) for some time. (I think I originally read about that decline on Wikipedia, but don't see anything on that in that link. These are relevant though: https://www.collegemedianetwork.com/america-is-now-a-flawed-democracy-according-to-the-democracy-index, https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/democracy-crisis)
Wait....are Americans only realizing this NOW? If some of you are scared of this reality, you should be even more scared that a vast majority of your population is totally cool with it.
the majority of Americans are not "totally cool with it." The Treason Weasel has about 31% approval rating. That is still terrifying, but that is nowhere near a "vast majority"
Load More Replies...This is too scary - all of them fit the tRump regime to a T. Vote blue no matter who, top to bottom. In 2022 we'll worry about separating the real Democrats from the fakes.
Freya, I'm not even from the United States, but I want the orange cheeto out of office because his lack of leadership, rampant nationalism, sexism, homophobia, etc., etc. also affects other countries around the world.
Load More Replies...Lets do a quick breakdown. - Nationalism = more government = Democrat Party CHECK - Disdain for Human rights = Put down a group or class based on a difference such as race. BLM organization is anti white people and destruction of private property because they don't agree. CHECK - Identification of enemies as a unifying cause = Again, BLM and democrat party is anti white, anti patriot (if you love America, your the enemy). CHECK - sexism? you bet if your a male, your a problem to a democrat CHECK - Controlled mass media HUGE CHECK when they all hate trump and the republican party, they are clearly biased, thus controlled -America believes in a separation of church and state, to be anti America is to allow an intertwined religion and government. CHECK -Corporate power protected? Vast majority of money making people, companies and organizations support the democrat part in exchange of favors. don't believe me? find out who donates to who... CHECK all i can fit, do your own research!
1: BLM is not anti white. It is wanting equality. How about you get news from a reliable source next time, and not NaziNews 24/7?
Load More Replies...ggirl ... no one talked about socialism, but if you want me to: other than fascism, socialism still isn't tested in reality. A lot of systems gave themselves the name "Socialist", but not one of them even came close. It may work out pretty well. And, on top of that - socialism does not have any natural goal or something. It may as well stay steady for decades if desired ... and as capitalism nowadays is one of the biggest threats to human rights and democracy, being more socialist may not be the worst choice, but rather appears more promising than last year, and that every year.
We, India, have ticked all the points of the list. I guess only Fraudulent elections are remaining (or already done who knows)
The mental gymnastics used to draw this conclusion are impressive, deranged but impressive. Having pride in ones country is far from fascism. Fascism is burning down cities and destroying peoples lives because they don't think like you or act like you. Whoever wrote this needs help.
Controlled mass media, check (Imagine all the good posts about Biden, and all the bad posts about Trump. Imagine Christians in the media vs Atheists. One side is usually the only acceptable side)
And with this last election, even more boxes are checked. I don't think there has been more voter fraud in American history.
If Trump is the problem, why are the Democratic supported Antifa and BLM demanding their views are the only ones that matter and the 1st Amendment be damned? Antifa proudly loots and burns property as does BLM whose "leaders" are one avowed Marxist and the other a child sex offender. Love of ones country and pride in the same does not equate to Fascism but disdain and disloyalty do equate to the stepping stones to the destruction of a nation as directed by the hate-filled layabout and bum known as Karl Marx, a sorry excuse for a man who left his family to starve because he was too good to work and survived by sofa surfing and depending on others to feed him. This article condemns the very one not responsible and lessens its message by relying on the tired old refrain of "orange man bad" while conveniently ignoring the obvious and those actually guilty.
Amen. Marx was a complete bum who never did a day's work in his life, yet morons today revere him as a hero of the working class, lmao.
Load More Replies...I’ve been posting this on Facebook since 2017. Unfortunately the last time I did, some people thought it was to Trumps benefit.
Well you should have realised that because it is other parties, other countries who tick more of these boxes than Trump does. Lmao.
Load More Replies...You know this is a Hoax? It was a third party vendor who for less than a week sold this as an unauthorized souvenir and was pulled from the Museum who condemned it as not historically accurate. Further the historian Kevin Passmore, the foremost expert on Facism in the world, debunked this by pointing out that 5 of these are actually the opposite of things in Fascist Regimes like Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy had. And 6 of them are also present in other Authoritarian ideologies like Communism and others. Shame on you promoting a lie and hoax. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/holocaust-museum-warning-signs-fascism/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/08/11/fact-check-poster-once-sold-u-s-holocaust-memorial-museum/5549019002/
I was going to say thank you for the facts, but then I actually opened Snopes and the USA today article. Both say that it's a list created by an amateur historian after researching 7 fascist regimes, which is what this article says too. (Maybe BoredPanda was updated?) If you can share a citation of Passmore's debunking, I'd like to read it, but in the meantime this seems like pretty much what it claims to be.
Load More Replies...There are a few reasons this poster isnt sold anymore. 1) It doesnt correlate with the actual definition of Fascism. See merriam-webster or any dictionary. 2) This isnt from the holocaust so for it to be in a museum is historically dishonest. 3) Many of the points on this are quite literally part of my Democratic party. Points 3, 6, 9, 13, and 14 are major parts of the democrat party. So much so that I am very on the fence about whether I can support Biden.... lots of other reasons too. Its not completely honest to say its only the Republican side and also extremely dishonest to correlate this with Nazi Germany especially since my family escaped from Germany during WWII and many of these items were not part of mein kampf
With repect, Alpha Puck, "these items were not part of Mein Kampf" isn't relevant to the actual agenda of the Nazis, or Stalin, or many others. Also, I'm a conservative, and I'd rather burn than vote Republican since 1984. Cheers! (Oh, and my mother's family? We didn't all get out. Got stuck with Stalinism after the Nazis. Yes, these are the signs of fascism. Not a definition of it. SIGNS of it. And they're flying redder than ever the last few years. Not just in the US.)
Load More Replies...The list forgot Democratic Socialism. The fascists were Democratic Socialists before becoming fascists. From an old history book.
Historical fascism hallmarks don't define fascism today. The fascism of today comes from the authoritarian left, that demands blind obedience or they will literally try to destroy you any way they can. You can have no opinions but theirs, no religions but theirs, no ideals but theirs, and not only can you not dissent but remaining silent is "violence".
Absolutely. Today the Left condone + commit more violence, vandalism + destruction of lives + livelihoods than any other group by far. I would have added terrorism but, on that, they have strong competition from another ideology, the R.o.p. (r-l-gion of "peace").
Load More Replies...Oh look, another anti-socialist propaganda believer missing the point. Here's the point: the examples of "socialism" anti-socials like to point to are dictatorships/fascistic systems that used socialism as bait to get and maintain support, just like any politician promises good stuff to get support, only to never provide the good stuff once they HAVE the power.
Load More Replies...Scientific study of human behavior shows that conservatives are the ones who align with authoritarianism, NOT liberals.
Load More Replies...We are suppose to learn from history. We never do. It is so sad and frightening
It's because individuals are intelligent, but groups are not.
Load More Replies...Corporate protection, labor suppression, and military supremacy have all been going on well before the Orange Sh*thead was voted into office. So has disdain for the arts--anyone else remember the funding cuts specifically targeting those programs in our education system some years back because they're "unnecessary"? National security is also nothing new, nor the religion and government bit. America has had signs of fascism interwoven into its system for a long time--Trump has merely amplified what was already there. And if he isn't voted out of office now, things will only get worse from here.
Its not going to matter who wins. Don't you get it? Its 6 one way 1/2 a dozen another. Trump didn't create these problems and he hasn't help solve them either but neither has anyone that has been in office. I think its funny win people see a smart child and go maybe one day they will be president. Please intelligence is not a prerequisite for the office look at the list of presidents start just with Bush Sr, all the way to now Trump way to go America some real winners. And then you have the jokers in the house and Senate don't even get me start on them. They are where the real problem is. I don't see America recovering from this because you either get Trump or Biden its a lose/lose. WTF
Load More Replies...I live in Poland and I can check all of them. It's like 1930s in Germany here...
What's happening in Poland? I know I could google search...
Load More Replies...I read the headline and said, "ONLY NOW?"! .... Oh boy.... History reruns *suck*.
It's interesting to note that this list was compiled during the Bush years and was directed at things Bush was doing. Then again, the United States has had a steadily declining Democracy rating (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index) for some time. (I think I originally read about that decline on Wikipedia, but don't see anything on that in that link. These are relevant though: https://www.collegemedianetwork.com/america-is-now-a-flawed-democracy-according-to-the-democracy-index, https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/democracy-crisis)
Wait....are Americans only realizing this NOW? If some of you are scared of this reality, you should be even more scared that a vast majority of your population is totally cool with it.
the majority of Americans are not "totally cool with it." The Treason Weasel has about 31% approval rating. That is still terrifying, but that is nowhere near a "vast majority"
Load More Replies...This is too scary - all of them fit the tRump regime to a T. Vote blue no matter who, top to bottom. In 2022 we'll worry about separating the real Democrats from the fakes.
Freya, I'm not even from the United States, but I want the orange cheeto out of office because his lack of leadership, rampant nationalism, sexism, homophobia, etc., etc. also affects other countries around the world.
Load More Replies...Lets do a quick breakdown. - Nationalism = more government = Democrat Party CHECK - Disdain for Human rights = Put down a group or class based on a difference such as race. BLM organization is anti white people and destruction of private property because they don't agree. CHECK - Identification of enemies as a unifying cause = Again, BLM and democrat party is anti white, anti patriot (if you love America, your the enemy). CHECK - sexism? you bet if your a male, your a problem to a democrat CHECK - Controlled mass media HUGE CHECK when they all hate trump and the republican party, they are clearly biased, thus controlled -America believes in a separation of church and state, to be anti America is to allow an intertwined religion and government. CHECK -Corporate power protected? Vast majority of money making people, companies and organizations support the democrat part in exchange of favors. don't believe me? find out who donates to who... CHECK all i can fit, do your own research!
1: BLM is not anti white. It is wanting equality. How about you get news from a reliable source next time, and not NaziNews 24/7?
Load More Replies...ggirl ... no one talked about socialism, but if you want me to: other than fascism, socialism still isn't tested in reality. A lot of systems gave themselves the name "Socialist", but not one of them even came close. It may work out pretty well. And, on top of that - socialism does not have any natural goal or something. It may as well stay steady for decades if desired ... and as capitalism nowadays is one of the biggest threats to human rights and democracy, being more socialist may not be the worst choice, but rather appears more promising than last year, and that every year.
We, India, have ticked all the points of the list. I guess only Fraudulent elections are remaining (or already done who knows)
The mental gymnastics used to draw this conclusion are impressive, deranged but impressive. Having pride in ones country is far from fascism. Fascism is burning down cities and destroying peoples lives because they don't think like you or act like you. Whoever wrote this needs help.
Controlled mass media, check (Imagine all the good posts about Biden, and all the bad posts about Trump. Imagine Christians in the media vs Atheists. One side is usually the only acceptable side)
And with this last election, even more boxes are checked. I don't think there has been more voter fraud in American history.
If Trump is the problem, why are the Democratic supported Antifa and BLM demanding their views are the only ones that matter and the 1st Amendment be damned? Antifa proudly loots and burns property as does BLM whose "leaders" are one avowed Marxist and the other a child sex offender. Love of ones country and pride in the same does not equate to Fascism but disdain and disloyalty do equate to the stepping stones to the destruction of a nation as directed by the hate-filled layabout and bum known as Karl Marx, a sorry excuse for a man who left his family to starve because he was too good to work and survived by sofa surfing and depending on others to feed him. This article condemns the very one not responsible and lessens its message by relying on the tired old refrain of "orange man bad" while conveniently ignoring the obvious and those actually guilty.
Amen. Marx was a complete bum who never did a day's work in his life, yet morons today revere him as a hero of the working class, lmao.
Load More Replies...I’ve been posting this on Facebook since 2017. Unfortunately the last time I did, some people thought it was to Trumps benefit.
Well you should have realised that because it is other parties, other countries who tick more of these boxes than Trump does. Lmao.
Load More Replies...You know this is a Hoax? It was a third party vendor who for less than a week sold this as an unauthorized souvenir and was pulled from the Museum who condemned it as not historically accurate. Further the historian Kevin Passmore, the foremost expert on Facism in the world, debunked this by pointing out that 5 of these are actually the opposite of things in Fascist Regimes like Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy had. And 6 of them are also present in other Authoritarian ideologies like Communism and others. Shame on you promoting a lie and hoax. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/holocaust-museum-warning-signs-fascism/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/08/11/fact-check-poster-once-sold-u-s-holocaust-memorial-museum/5549019002/
I was going to say thank you for the facts, but then I actually opened Snopes and the USA today article. Both say that it's a list created by an amateur historian after researching 7 fascist regimes, which is what this article says too. (Maybe BoredPanda was updated?) If you can share a citation of Passmore's debunking, I'd like to read it, but in the meantime this seems like pretty much what it claims to be.
Load More Replies...There are a few reasons this poster isnt sold anymore. 1) It doesnt correlate with the actual definition of Fascism. See merriam-webster or any dictionary. 2) This isnt from the holocaust so for it to be in a museum is historically dishonest. 3) Many of the points on this are quite literally part of my Democratic party. Points 3, 6, 9, 13, and 14 are major parts of the democrat party. So much so that I am very on the fence about whether I can support Biden.... lots of other reasons too. Its not completely honest to say its only the Republican side and also extremely dishonest to correlate this with Nazi Germany especially since my family escaped from Germany during WWII and many of these items were not part of mein kampf
With repect, Alpha Puck, "these items were not part of Mein Kampf" isn't relevant to the actual agenda of the Nazis, or Stalin, or many others. Also, I'm a conservative, and I'd rather burn than vote Republican since 1984. Cheers! (Oh, and my mother's family? We didn't all get out. Got stuck with Stalinism after the Nazis. Yes, these are the signs of fascism. Not a definition of it. SIGNS of it. And they're flying redder than ever the last few years. Not just in the US.)
Load More Replies...The list forgot Democratic Socialism. The fascists were Democratic Socialists before becoming fascists. From an old history book.
Historical fascism hallmarks don't define fascism today. The fascism of today comes from the authoritarian left, that demands blind obedience or they will literally try to destroy you any way they can. You can have no opinions but theirs, no religions but theirs, no ideals but theirs, and not only can you not dissent but remaining silent is "violence".
Absolutely. Today the Left condone + commit more violence, vandalism + destruction of lives + livelihoods than any other group by far. I would have added terrorism but, on that, they have strong competition from another ideology, the R.o.p. (r-l-gion of "peace").
Load More Replies...Oh look, another anti-socialist propaganda believer missing the point. Here's the point: the examples of "socialism" anti-socials like to point to are dictatorships/fascistic systems that used socialism as bait to get and maintain support, just like any politician promises good stuff to get support, only to never provide the good stuff once they HAVE the power.
Load More Replies...Scientific study of human behavior shows that conservatives are the ones who align with authoritarianism, NOT liberals.
Load More Replies...
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