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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

shit this has gotten long

I should start a blog

Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

Or - as Tom likely knows - the Russian government has frequently tolerated dissent in the media, if it's in English and thus not accessible to most Russians.

They don't care what Muscovite PhD students read. If they find a babushka in Kuybyshev reading your essays, then you've got a problem.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

Eco's Ur-Fascism describes this in fascist Italy. The Italian authorities overlooked political dissent in the academy and the arts - because they lacked the desire or intellectual grounding to engage with things like poetry and philosophy.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

Why will fascism allow Tom to keep writing? Because American fascism doesn't give a shit about academics using big words in hoity-toity magazines read by coastal elites.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

You'll be pulled over for spurious reasons and issued BS citations. If you need police assistance, they'll be late and do the bare minimum. If you need a city permit, your paperwork will be inexplicably lost. Local MAGA partisans will harass your employer. Your kids will be bullied at school.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

Likewise, I'd expect American fascism to outwardly embrace the Bill of Rights.

Again, this looks like what they're already doing. Got a "fuck Trump" bumper sticker in a deep red area? You won't be arrested and put on trial for lese-majeste - you'll be subject to persistent official harassment.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

Past fascisms have relied on distinct national traditions.

The Nazis' political repression (and stylish uniforms) drew on the Prussian militarist tradition.

Franco's Spain was hyper-Catholic because Spanish conservatism was already hyper-Catholic.

Portugal's Estado Novo embraced colonialism.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

4. Fascism is inherently nationalist, and most American nationalists revere the idea of constitutional rights.

Freedom of speech, press and assembly are etched deep in our national consciousness as core American values. I'd expect American fascists to value those principles *in theory*.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

Protest movements overseas, and in the US in the past, have addressed that with mutual aid systems. Even in perfect conditions it's hard to see mutual aid substitute for health insurance in 2025 - and conditions are far from perfect for mutual aid, because social isolation is at an all-time high.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

The Eastern Bloc often worked like that. Dissident leaders were imprisoned, but ordinary folks who associated with dissent found they were unemployable.

We give employers so much power over workers that the gov't doesn't even have to ask them to fuck with workers, they do it of their own accord.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

3. Our system makes it easy to go to *a* protest, but very difficult to sustain a broad protest movement.

Most folks depend on their employer for health insurance, and don't have large savings to pay for food and shelter if they miss work or are fired.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

2. Republicans are aiming to build a selectorate that systemically excludes the opposition from political influence.

They don't have to be concerned about protests if their regime doesn't rely on protesters' support.

Instead, they can do exactly what they've been doing - propagandize the protests

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

1. Our system does a good job of isolating elites and politics from protests.

Think of all the mass protest movements since the 1980s. How many have really achieved their goals? The anti-Iraq war protests were ignored. Occupy was ignored. BLM got some short-lived superficial changes.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 14h

I think "fascism with American characteristics" is compatible with periodic mass opposition protests.

Mass protests aren't directly regime-threatening events here like they are in China or Russia..

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 15h

and again, that's assuming all of the organizers are genuinely wonderful folks who just want to defend our freedom

there's no shortage of progressive grifters, and we're not always good about shunning them

how do I know folks like "AltNPS" haven't volunteered as organizers to enhance their grifts?

Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 15h

I don't give them my contact info because I don't need to be on even more spam lists.

Even assuming the organizers are good and earnest, there's entire businesses built around making earnest people feel good about selling their contact lists to data brokers.

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 16h

like, ideas that are obvious and normal to an upper-middle-class white-collar liberal are "dog bites man" stories, not worth reporting on in depth

ideas that are not obvious to that archetype are "man bites dog" stories, worthy of extra attention

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 16h

put yourself in the shoes of an ABCNNBCBS News editor: educated white-collar professional with a liberal arts degree, living in NYC or LA, probably a moderately progressive social circle

which question has a more obvious answer -
- why do people like Trump?
- why do people hate Trump?

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 16h

an alternative explanation that is probably true of some in the media - they focus more on things that, in their view, need more investigation and explanation to understand, and their background adds bias

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 21h

incompetence is exactly the way I'd expect her being awfully unqualified to manifest

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 22h

we should give her an eye-for-an-eye punishment and force her to watch the Jets

$1 million = 1 game

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 22h

me: it's no kings day!

yesterday's dinner: how can there be no kings... if you're holding court from the porcelain throne?

(do good work out there today folks!)

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Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 1d

no, that would be cruel!

but you can help us stop the spread of bad jurisprudence - just $25 pays for us to spay or neuter a stray justice

Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 1d

according to a senior administration official, the decision was made pursuant to section 3 of the Legality in Government Mandated Actions (LIGMA) Act

HuffPost mobile screenshot

In response to HuffPost's query about who suggested Budapest, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded, "Your mom did," and White House communications director Steven Cheung replied: "Your mom."

Fennec Fox Fanfare @fennecfoxfanfare.bsky.social · 1d

what does it mean to steal an idea?

will copyright and intellectual property law liberate me as a worker?