Will Britain become a fascist state?

So I've mentioned it before. Economic downturn typically means right wing politics. I'm really glad the US is on a sensible left wing politics. But I'm a little worried about the UK. 

Our extremist party (think KKK genetically bred with a right wing republican) is the BNP British National Party (formally the National Front). 

They've donned thier suits and they're talking to the deprived, under educated and hard done by. Planting the seed of hated and resentment. But why does it work? Well.. it offers a solution to people who feel there is no solution. 

Sure it's a really shite solution and doesn't actually work, but you'd be amazed how easily people fall for those types of solutions. 

Being an asperger people, I tend to analyse everything rather than go with the flock which is why I'm normally a Liberal Democrat voter. But I can kind of see why some people would see fascism as being 'cool'. In our hearts we all have the tibal instincts of them and us. Granted I would never apply this to skin colour, disability, sexual orientation, gender etc etc. 

But if your waiting to go into a nightclub and someone walks up and says... your special.. you should come right through. You'd probably like that person. I think that's why this type of polictics is so effective. It seperates people out as better and if you're in the 'special' group I would imagine it feels pretty good. Having never been in a special group I'm not really sure. But I often wanted to be in the cool gang at school. I guess this is just a really big 'cool' gang, that's dangerous and doesn't listen to what the teacher/morality tells them to do.

SO... canI see Britain dramatically turning to the right... probably not. (thank god!) I'd love to say this was because we're all very moral, or we've evolved beyond such petty interests. This may be true for some.. but for others it's just plain financial sense. We're in a global economy, we need to work with people who are in all groups if we are going to work and prosper. There's no point getting in a club infront of others if the clubs shite and you can't afford to buy any beer. 

It makes more sense to go wait in a queue for a better club that you can afford an that's packed with people having a great time.. together. 

So.. why today's rant? I've just had a flyer through from the BNP. They want no EU, no immigration, british jobs for british people and my favorite quote. "Because it's not racist to oppose mass immigration and polictical correctnesss - it's common sense!" 

First of all... their flier said NO immigration. Not limited and controlled immigration, whereby we attract the best talent from around the world to help support jobs here, but draw the limit at being a charity to all and sundry.

And apposing political correctness...wikipedia says Political correctness is 

"a term applied to language, ideas, policies, or behavior seen by some as seeking to minimize offense to gender, racial, cultural, disabled, aged or other identity groups."

So... if you oppose minimising offense.. you support maximising offense... in areas including race... making you a.... racist. 

Logic.. intelligence and a bit of integrity really doesn't go with the job description of a fascist I guess. 

Now.. if they'd of said "it's not racist to question why some councils spend many thousands of pounds defining policitcal correctness language guides for their staff, whilst common sense should be sufficient and the money could be better spent." Then ok. I'd be ok with that as a statement. But that's not what they're saying. That's just what they hope some people will read into it at the same time they know others will take it to it's other extreme.... "I want that job so I'll just go kill them." 

The odd thing is.. we have soo many people on benefits that just won't do some jobs. They'd rather stay on benefit. British people turning down British jobs. Maybe I'm mis reading the principle of british jobs for british people... maybe it should be. Fantastically well paid jobs for fuck heads..... yes.. I think that's what it's hidden meaning is. Little did they know there were lots of these jobs going in the banks. 

Ok ranting over for a while. Just got Supernatural Season 3 part one to cheer me up. 

Is this the start of a New Fascism?

Hey

It's become quite a social fact that after a war society tends to move towards the political left. We beleive we're fighting for something good and just and we want that to be reflected in the way we live our lives. 

Equally during times of economic hardship we tend to move to the political right. We feel insecure and defensive. We tend to revert to tribalism, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribalism) strengthening our bonds and social identity with specific groups of individuals we can relate to. This can take many differant paths but in recent history the most notable is the national darwinistic approach (or fascism). 

Technically speaking this is Neo-Tribalism "as the culture and institutions of modernism declined, societies would look to the organizational principles of the distant past for guidance"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Tribalism

And of course you also get an increase in religious tribalism

http://www.sociologyguide.com/types-of-society/Characteristics-of-Tribal-Society.php 

It's happened before

1920's Cabaret

Yes, you're probably wondering what on earth this has to do with anything. Well, you're probably familiar with the first and second world wars and you've probably seen loads of films about them. But have you ever really looked into what happened inbetween them in Germany? How did they really go from a defeated and financially ruined country to the biggest threat in Europe in a relatively short period of time? It certainly wasn't a straight line and like much of the world the 1920's was a golden era of liberalism and technological advancement. The cabaret became the blogosphere of it's time with a politics, satire and social debate at the heart of many events (and of course sex at the others, just like the blogosphere :-) ). 

http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/his452/Alcohol/germancabaret.html

Social acceptance of homosexuality

I think this message really captulates just how quickly a society can move to the right and truely catch people out with devistating consequences. 

http://www.qrd.org/qrd/culture/1995/gay.culture.flourished.prenazi.germany-10.95

Key factors

More than ever in my life time society as a whole seems to be reaching out for something. We seem confused about where we go from here. What will global warming mean? what does globalisation mean? What's happening with the economy? Who am I? Where do I fit into society. So more people than ever feel lonely. There are few families with a stable social status and people are much more likely to move to new areas for work. So social bonds aren't that strong right now. Combined with economic hardship and a lack of credible role models it's possible for a strong leader to come to power that will provide a structure and hope that we so desperately need.

Are there signs already?

You may have heard on the new 'British jobs for British workers' not to mention calls for a more'values' driven society over the 13 year old father controversy. 

It couldn't happen now

Yes, standard response, but I can't help thinking if you'd of asked all the financial experts in the world just 3-5 years ago whether we could see another depression I bet they would have said something along the lines of "No, it's not possible, lessons were learn't from the great depression, society and financial models have moved on." Ask them now and they'll tell you there were lots of warning signs that were ignored. The news makes it sound like we were 'obviously' heading for trouble, why did no one realise? 

So my question to you is really, what happens after a financial collapse? What is stopping a repeat of history?

Is Obama the one to unite a strong left and provide the security and answers we need without is reverting to the hard line traditional instincts on the right? 

(Plan to post again with what I think the 'New Fascism' might look like. But feel free to comment on your views. Am I mad?)