The creepiest thing for me is the "Aryan propaganda" vibe that the family on the right has. German Nazis frequently used idealized families of white people, often with blond hair and blue eyes, as part of their propaganda.
I don't know for sure whether OOP realizes it or not. They still have some level of plausible deniability. Still, I see this format in a lot of places. It really feels like a fascist dog-whistle. Especially combined with transphobia appeal to religion, to tradition, attack on the left etc.
Here's an actual 1938 Nazi propaganda picture to illustrate what I mean. They did a lot of those. And I also see a lot of those in MAGA type circles.
It's one of rhe most fundamental common threads in every fascist movement. A return to a hyper idealised past that never really existed, a clean slate without all the 'undesirables' - the end goal not just being genocide, but total erasure, a society that doesn't even have to remember or worry about the gays, or the blacks, or the jews. Just a perfect, clean, safe space.
Except a hatred-fuelled ideology always requires more hate to survive, otherwise the cognitive dissonance may dissolve - and this is why it is the perfect goal. Nothing will ever be enough, because the past they want does not exist. Hence the expansionist tendencies, once the homeland has been 'cleaned up.'
Intentionally or not, they all end up with pretty much the same aesthetic. There are other tropes like the idolisation of masculinity / mens' bodies / physical strength - mussolini would often go shirtless; neoclassical imagery (Trump ai slopped into Caesar, constantly comparing himself to history's "greats," the horrifically gaudy white house renovations;) and the illusion that followers are actually somehow being radical free thinkers, through supporting an ideology that is based on conformity and upholding dominant power structures
Yeah, it's a death cult, and ultimately it's also a suicide cult. The fascists think they are winning because they are hurting others more than others are hurting them. But really, there is no winning. Everybody loses. Fascists will go through cycles and cycles of purge, including among themselves, until they self destruct. In the meantime, they cause suffering everywhere they go, they ruin everything they touch.
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u/kamizushi Sep 03 '26
The creepiest thing for me is the "Aryan propaganda" vibe that the family on the right has. German Nazis frequently used idealized families of white people, often with blond hair and blue eyes, as part of their propaganda.
I don't know for sure whether OOP realizes it or not. They still have some level of plausible deniability. Still, I see this format in a lot of places. It really feels like a fascist dog-whistle. Especially combined with transphobia appeal to religion, to tradition, attack on the left etc.
Here's an actual 1938 Nazi propaganda picture to illustrate what I mean. They did a lot of those. And I also see a lot of those in MAGA type circles.