Zac Whitman
Communicator

According to Rod Stackelberg, a professor emeritus of history at Gonzaga University, Nationalism and terrorism are phrases that are so common today that people seldom think of their meaning. Perhaps an “ism” free individuals should remember again is fascism.

Rod Stackelberg lectured at SFCC on the relevance of fascism in our modern times in the Student Union building Lounges AB at 9:30 a.m. on March 1. Stackelberg gave an overview of the history and circumstances that led to the rise of Germany’s Nazi Party. Stackelberg also talked about the definition of fascism and the “frightening normalcy” of fascism in society today.

Stackelberg was quick to distinguish between communism and fascism. In communism, the driving goal of the system is equality at all levels of life Stackelberg explained, where as fascism was all about eliminating all equality in favor of creating a nationalist state where all individuals’ rights were subservient to the government.

Stackelberg said that fascism was more common than people believe and had become the favorite political tool used to discredit an adversary in the current political system of the United States.

“Today Islamofascism is a favorite term used to mobilize public opinion against Islamic radicalism specifically and Islamic culture in general,” said Stackelberg. “Those who oppose the steady march of the Bush Administration to authoritarianism at home and militarism abroad don’t hesitate, either, to use the term fascist to describe the more extreme supporters of our present government.”
Fascism contains many contradictory traits. First the fascists use terror to weaken the state and then once in power they “sought to defend the state through war” Stackelberg explained.

Germany before Hitler came to power was the world leader in philosophy, science and art. It was home to universities of great repute and had more Nobel Peace Prize laureates than any other country to date. It had been the “land of opportunity” for fifty years and was a refuge to tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants seeking asylum from the repressive measures of the tsarist Russian empire clarified Stackelberg.

“How did the country of poets and thinkers become the country of iron and blood?,” said Stackelberg.

The common misconception of fascism Stackelberg says is that it stems from a people without morals or religious values. When in fact fascism is caused by “excessive morale zeal” or a people who believe something so much they are willing to put all values and morality aside to see their truth enacted.

“The past five years have shown us how a category of people, defined by both their ethnicity and political activities or opinions, can be so effectively dehumanized in the public mind as to justify their indefinite incarceration and the deprivation of their civil rights. We have seen how it is possible for a cultured, educated people to be easily mobilized to follow their leadership into an open-ended war in the name of fighting unmitigated evil in the Nazi case, Jewish communism, in the present case, Islamic terrorism.”

The most frightening aspect of Nazism says Stackelberg is the fact that it was embraced by the middle class as the protector of moral norms against “liberal and intellectual elites.”

During his lecture Stackelberg expressed a fear that there was a predisposition towards totalitarian design in the religious right of America.

“The closest relative to Nazism today is the religious right, the kind of moral and religious absolutism, fanaticism, and fundamentalism that seeks to impose its ideals on society and suppress deviance or, for that matter, diversity, by force if necessary,” said Stackelberg.
Stackelberg was clear in explaining that it was terminology used effectively and repetitively in the form of propaganda expounding freedom and security that lead to the greatest successes of the Nazi Party.

“Let me conclude instead,” said Stackelberg. “We are not living in a fascist society; we are living in a society with the potential for fascism.”