Caleb Anderson: Fascism - the uncomfortable truth

It is pretty standard for the far left to throw the accusation of fascism at the political or institutional right. This has become common currency when the left encounter something, or someone, they don't like.

It saves arguing the case. Just throw the insult, and assume it will stick. Throw it often, and it becomes orthodoxy.

So what are the early signs of fascism?

Fascism in its Earliest Stages (The Warning Signs)

Before fascism inserts itself into the body politic it typically passes through what historians call its "first phase" (creation of the movement) and "second phase" (rooting in the political system). In these early stages, it looks like:

• Erosion of Truth: A deliberate effort to discredit independent journalism, science, and institutional facts, replacing them with alternative narratives and conspiracy theories.
• Weaponizing Grievance: Exploiting legitimate economic anxieties or cultural shifts to foster intense polarization and a "us vs. them" mentality.
• Political Polarization & Gridlock: Normalizing aggressive rhetoric in mainstream politics, turning political opponents into "enemies" or "traitors" rather than mere rivals.
• The "Big Lie": Coalescing the movement around a single, massive historical or political falsehood that tests the loyalty of followers.
• Probing the Boundaries of the Law: Testing how far democratic norms, legal guardrails, and constitutional procedures can be bent or ignored without facing consequences.

Does any of this sound familiar?

When you read this, do you automatically think right, or do you actually think left? Is this more commonly the behaviour of the right, as claimed, or of the left?

The political left in New Zealand tick every box here. This is pretty regular fare for the extreme, and sometimes not so extreme, political left ... either explicitly or implicitly.

Psychology would call this projection, the accusation aimed at another that is, in fact, what the protagonist most denies in him or herself.

But this leads to the second thought, if this is the earliest (emergent) stage what is the next stage?

Once truth is eviscerated, social division embedded, people polarised, politics and media corrupted, targets identified, history rewritten, and normative boundaries of conduct and decency are thrown to the wind, what comes next?

Not saying this is where we are at, but even the sniff of this in the wind should drive right thinking, democracy loving people, to action ... especially at the ballot box.

This is a most uncomfortable truth, a mirror into which the left cannot bear to look.

Caleb Anderson, a graduate history, economics, psychotherapy and theology, has been an educator for over thirty years, twenty as a school principal.