Into the Dark: Fascist Capture of Information and the Unwinding of the Enlightenment

There's a reason we're watching science and research and awareness systematically demolished

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There is an anticipatory nature to fascism. In many ways, it is a reaction to deteriorating conditions. It feasts on corruption, failure, and fear, taking over ailing systems and institutions, warping them into a nightmarish version of what they once were. When these things are susceptible, fascistic ideology and figures emerge, gaining power and purchase while continuing the decline, eventually seizing them and effectively using will and force to finalize the turn.

With the United States, authoritarian capture comes on the heels of decades worth of abhorrent decisions. We have seen hints. At the beginning of the 21st century, with disasters like Hurricane Katrina in 2005, we began to witness an unwillingness or incapability for the state to protect its own people. Resources had been so focused on the expansion of Neoliberal globalism, setting off a worldwide operation to open and order markets under the guise of “the War on Terror,” that hardly anything remained for the public good. Then, in 2008 with the economic meltdown, the redistribution of tens of trillions of dollars and a lack of revenue as the wealth enjoyed little to no tax burden, austerity continued, only making matters worse.

Eventually, there comes a moment of truth. Either the state changes course, addresses pressing problems, or it begins the process of covering up the consequences and administering “discipline” on an increasingly angry public. In our present time, we are experiencing the latter. These starved systems are collapsing, American influence is plummeting because of these choices, the global order is shifting and leaving us behind, and the scourge of climate change, with its plethora of tragic effects, and, it should be mentioned, one of the lasting blights of the fading American Empire, now threatens to make matters much, much worse. Whether conscious or unconscious, the pivot to authoritarianism is partly an anticipation of how these crises will be handled, namely through violence, the creation of in and out groups that legitimize letting untold numbers of people die and suffer while the wealthy and powerful maintain an increasingly precarious standard of privilege.

Incidents like this past weekends rash of deadly tornadoes will become more common (I discussed this in the most recent episode of Audio From A Collapsing State, including a ferocious storm that wreaked havoc on my hometown). In talking to people back home, a common theme was a lack of warning. There were alerts for some, but many looked out their window and were facing down an outrageous natural disaster. They were luckier than some because they survived, but this is an untenable situation.

We’re already witnessing the demolition of America’s previous standards. Elements like DOGE have slashed programs and left systems like our air traffic control, weather forecasting, and general scientific research complex, on life support or near collapse. As the American situation worsens, and as the wealthy continue to evade proper taxation or regulation, there is no choice besides eliminating these programs that serve the public good. It is a simple weighing of human life versus obscene privilege, and it isn’t a surprise that our ruling oligarchs have chosen themselves.

Again, whether conscious or unconscious, the elimination of these programs also serves another purpose, which is pushing the public into a new era of intentional ignorance. Yes, our climate is worsening, but a lack of empirical data and the sidelining of expert voices will curtail knowledge of that fact. It works similarly to the vilification and vanishing of gay and trans people, people of color, women, and immigrants. Those people exist, they have contributed to history and culture, but commanding and forcing people to forget them and overlook them can make it seem as if they never played a role at all.

In essence, authoritarianism and fascism are reactions to and attacks on the liberal democracy and the Enlightenment itself. For those who are unfamiliar, the foundation of liberal democracy was a rejection of feudal, monarchical power buttressed by religious authority that maintained ignorance and fealty. In the lead up to moments like the founding of the United States, learned individuals operated in the shadows, collecting scientific and philosophical ideas, sharing notes and thoughts, all under the threat of authoritarian punishment, until they were ready to build their own states based on what they saw as enlightened leadership. The American Revolution, though portrayed as a religious movement by the Right, was the severing of the U.S. from this former system and propelled by a belief that these individuals as a collective could chart a course free from these influences and tyrannical energies.

Of course, the U.S. failed to live up to its ideals, created an authoritarian-light structure that served a different group of white, wealthy men, and used espoused “principles” to cover up their control. Over time, democratic energies moved the country forward in stops and starts, a process the established elites have fought tooth and nail with every step. What we have gained, and what is now being lost, is not only the progress of the 20th century, but the original foundation of enlightened thought and resulting government. It is a process of mystification that moves us further and further away from information and toward superstition, all to their benefit.

The people doing this believe that they are the chosen rulers of the world and everyone else is in the way. We don’t need to know why storms are getting worse. We don’t even need clean water or air or food that won’t poison us. Germ theory and scientific understanding of diseases is unnecessary. There is a hubris to this, of course, but it is also based on a eugenics-tinged worldview that sees them as more important, more essential, and the world having been turned upside down when these hierarchies were replaced back in the 18th century.

What this means is a future, if they are to succeed, in which we will have very little knowledge in general that has not been shaped and controlled by this class of people. This is how the feudal order worked. Religious superstition focused on controlling the masses, who were largely kept illiterate, worked hand-in-hand with that group of elites in maintaining order and control. For us, if this isn’t stopped, it would result in a day-to-day life where historically powerful storms hit without warning. Natural disasters mount and mount with little in the way of assistance. What we hear and what we know will be decided by the people with the specialized knowledge, of which there will be a lessening amount. As I have written about, tools like artificial intelligence, which are programmed and directed by these very individuals, would provide much of our understanding, directing the flow of information, our access to history and science and creativity, and functioning much like the control systems these tech oligarchs have already placed in authoritarian countries around the world.

I know we are already tired and the fight is very large. But we must also grasp the enormity of what it is that we are facing so that we do not give up. Conversations like this are not meant to overwhelm you or leave you hopeless, but to spur a sense of purpose. Authoritarian and fascist capture can happen so quickly and always incredibly slowly, meticulously, so much so that we can lose sight of how conditions are worsening all around us. Even as I type this, I am watching a storm roll in over the horizon. It looks bad, ugly, violent. I am taking time to go searching for forecasts and am having to rely on independent meteorologists, experts on social media who have little in the way of a platform. The process of gathering information, of approaching the whole thing in an enlightened way, is getting harder and harder, whereas we have enjoyed so much access in the recent past that it feels maddening to be here.

We cannot allow this to continue. The intention is to slam us into this horrid nightmare without escape. To leave us in the dark, grasping at shapes, stitching together meaning from assumptions and hearsay. It is unacceptable.