Nina-Bytes: Snitch Culture and Fascism in America

 

Editor's note: Nina-Bytes is a weekday blogging series that features short analysis and commentary on articles from around the web.

Nina-Bytes: Snitch Culture and Fascism in America

In my recent writing, I've briefly touched on two important concepts for understanding life under a fascist political order; a subject that's increasingly relevant to anyone living in the Pig Empire, whether they want to admit that or not. First, it is important to understand that fascist political persecution laws are always retroactive. Fascists are not particularly interested in fairness, so much as excuses to persecute an ever-growing number of "enemies" necessary for "the politics of us against them" to properly function. Second, fascist laws and ideological conformity are always enforced by not only the state, but also extra-legal vigilantism and ad hoc policing efforts among the volk. 

These are of course grim realities in an Amerikkka falling to open fascism at high speed, and as such it's pretty rare to find anything in mainstream corporate media that's going to put these issues into the proper, and ultimately threatening, context. You can imagine my utter shock then, when I stumbled on this exceptionally blunt November 1st, 2022 article by Thor Benson over at Wired; let's take a closer look at it here:

When Your Neighbor Turns You In

Although it's still couched in editorial "weasel" words like "authoritarian" and "may," it's impossible not to read this as Benson starkly firing up an ominous signal flare on the edge of an impeding Pork Reich fascist takeover. First he points out that a defining feature of an authoritarian state is the establishment and incentivization of a snitch culture; then the author notes that many of the American GOP's new political persecution laws explicitly feature a snitch culture component:

"In the United States, we appear to be creeping toward this culture of community surveillance. Texas’ SB 8 deputized everyday Americans to sue anyone who has had an abortion or assisted with one. Texans are reporting the parents of transgender children to authorities. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin set up a tip line and encouraged parents to report teachers who are teaching “divisive” subjects. Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law encourages parents to monitor teachers. With the Republican Party increasingly embracing authoritarianism, this is likely just the start."

 

Given that this is an article in Wired, our author is quick to mention that modern technology enables a reactionary surveillance culture to operate in ways far more effective than Nazi Germany could hope for, but this piece is still rooted firmly in recognizing the existence of this fascist snitch culture in present day Amerikkka; even if he won't call it "fascist." As Benson points out repeatedly, when fascist ideology and fantasy become the law, these snitching structures enable an efficient and relentless persecution of folks criminalized by their beliefs, or indeed their very identities:

"If the US moves further toward authoritarianism, you can imagine states passing more laws to disempower, criminalize, or otherwise marginalize certain groups. Anyone you encounter on a regular basis who doesn’t agree with politically could be encouraged to report you for violations of these laws as some sort of act of civic duty. They’ll have more ways to do it than ever before, considering modern technology allows us to monitor people’s social media feeds, watch them through Ring cameras, report them through community-watch apps like Citizen, and more."

Finally for our purpose here, perhaps the most important thing Benson discusses in this article gets touched on only briefly, and is brought up by one of his expert sources. Specifically the retroactively punitive nature of fascist political repression laws designed to divide and control our communities:

"Consuelo Amat, an assistant professor of political science at John Hopkins University, says that when a state becomes authoritarian, anything people in your community learned about you during democratic years can be used against you once the new regime takes power. She’s closely studied Chile under dictator Augusto Pinochet and says that’s what happened there. Amat says those who support the new regime can essentially become informants for it.

“When that starts happening, the dynamic for communities and neighborhoods is extremely bad,” Amat says. “The distrust that people have is huge, so people start not sharing information at all. One of the cores of democracy is neighborhood trust. You need to trust others in your society and in your community for democracy to work. Period. When there’s a very high level of distrust, you will see a fracturing of community.”

Of course, the biggest flaw with this piece is Benson's insistence on implying this is a mere possibility, when in his own article he's actively pointing out that this snitch culture enforcement of fascist political laws is already a reality in many Republican-controlled parts of the country. Furthermore, this isn't just a fascist community surveillance issue. To properly understand the speed with which the fascists are currently exerting control here, you need to factor in things like using police forces and challenges by local reactionary cranks for widespread voter intimidation and suppression, or the now-ubiquitous presence of antagonistic security forces and armed vigilante groups at virtually every protest against fascism in all its forms, across much of America. 

In short the reactionary volk are already both empowered by, and empowering, a fascist political order in America; it's not a future possibility, it's happening right now. There is no point in ruminating on what a fascist America might look like in a grim potential future; that future is already here, and it's spreading rapidly. It might be a good idea for a liberal establishment now under direct assault from these forces of fascism to stop policing anti-fascist protestors, and to start arresting the rich and powerful nazis running this sh*tshow. It would be a damn shame if we all ended up in labor camps waiting to die just because octogenarian liberal politicians can't tell the difference between violent fascists, and the everyday people trying to oppose this nightmare.

nina illingworth

Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic, and analyst. 

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