Anti-Tourism is Fascism with Training Wheels

[HowardRoarkSpaceDetective]

Every now and then, I like to ponder the nature of fascism and its relationship to socialism. I haven't done my due diligence in this regard but more so have just pulled what insights I can from my knowledge of the theory, the history, and current events pared down to essentials to the best of my ability. Last night I stumbled over the idea that fascism, like Nietzscheanism, is a brand of "noble villainy" in which some person or group has the "courage" to accept that life requires predation. But unlike Nietzscheanism, fascism has a socialist element that either a) provides a clever predator with a storehouse of useful idiots to consume, or b) absolves the self-doubting predator of wrongdoing by arming him with the validation of countless others.

Of course, for the unwashed masses, the picture often looks a lot more like good old fashioned socialism. There's always this piecemeal-ness about political movements that opens up their opponents to being accused of the "slippery slope" fallacy when they're really just identifying the essentials of an ideology, which is how some context-less ideal like socialism becomes fascism on the ground, one step into the mud at a time. And that's exactly what this looks like to me:

I can't help but draw a parallel to the story Piekoff tells about the Academy Awards streaker appearing to him as an isolated absurdity but to Rand as a nihilistic "canary in the coal mine". And I can't help but believe that the people involved in these protests have about all the mental sophistication and impulsivity of the streaker. As weird as this whole scene is, it's pretty clearly both xenophobic and anti-rich, which is the secret formula for fascism that most people today are so inexcusably blind to. But you may also notice to that some of the graffiti says "CARTERISTAS WELCOME", which translates to "pickpocketers welcome". The nihilism behind this is the same as the that which birthed the looters and rioters spurred on by BLM and to Western support for Hamas.

For those of you who follows Stephen Hicks's work, you know that he credits postmodernists with recognizing that the logical endpoint of their philosophy is tribalism, and this story is a case in point. I often get caught up in comparing communism to fascism by the fact that communism is explicitly internationalistic, but I realize now that this is just a floating ideal within a floating ideal and that socialism and globalism are totally incompatible. Capitalism is far more well-equipped to take hold in disparate corners of the world. There is a virality about wealth-creation that socialists deem imperialistic. On the smallest scale, you can see this sort of thing in the "buy local" movements that appear in the form of bumper stickers all over the affluent world. 

But it's exactly the silliness of this anti-tourism movement that terrifies me. No one will know or care about this movement until protesters get the balls to put their morals where their fists are. The only element separating this protest from the Night of Broken Glass is time. And I feel ridiculous saying that, but as we know, absurdity is not a strong disincentive. It might clarify things to view this movement as an instance of "Baby's First Political Tantrum" or a one-week free trial of Nazism.

Of course, this could be a flash in the pan. I'm young, and I'm sure things like this have always happened. But the fact that it's possible at all is flabbergasting. The fact that these people don't feel like right-wingers when they suggest tourism caps or taxes is just evidence of their being very, very philosophically consistent in their economic tribalism. From a BBC story on the same topic:

"Malaga is one of several Spanish cities which are planning on introducing restrictions on the granting of licenses for short-term accommodations. But Barcelona is going even further, and in 2028 it plans to revoke the licenses of all of its ten thousand or so tourist apartments. But as Spain's popularity as a tourist destination shows no sign of fading, many are asking whether the country's success if still a good thing."

No, how could success possibly be a good thing?

What do you guys think? Am I overreacting?

[Jon Letendre]

In my Colorado USA the national parks would be unnavigable and useless to all, with open gates. Visitor limitation is required. That’s fascist the same way Disney World utilizing gates and limits is fascist.

[HowardRoarkSpaceDetective]

33 minutes ago, Jon Letendre said:

In my Colorado USA the national parks would be unnavigable and useless to all, with open gates. Visitor limitation is required. That’s fascist the same way Disney World utilizing gates and limits is fascist.

Sure, but the national parks don't discriminate based on who's going to stay for how long and how much they're going to spend there. They're not saying "arsonists welcome" in an attempt to cut down on the profits of their own gift shops. Although, I think you could make the argument that national parks are an attempt to protect wildlife (the "locals") from developers who have every right to build on unowned (AKA state-owned) property.

Barcelona isn't "at capacity". These people want to put artificial limits on entrants. This would be like if Disney World stopped letting people in after 1pm because the fast-passers tend to show up later in the day on account of shorter wait times and are making the plebs feel sad about having to wait in long lines. What the protesters are angry about is exactly the fact that the tourism, construction, and housing industries are actually making Barcelona more navigable and useful than ever. They believe that having rich people around makes them poorer.

[DavidOdden]

The current protests are caused by one specific thing: the death-worship cult that has infected societies across the world. There are various attempts to rationalize death-worship, for example the “at capacity” slogan, but that is just a side-show. Extreme tribalism is a by-product of the mentality of fear necessary to maintain the death-worship cult. Objectivism focuses on the conditions necessary for man’s existence qua man in a social context, which presupposes that existence qua man in a social context is a good thing, whereas the death cult denies man’s nature, and denies the virtue of existence in a social context. There are some inconsistencies in the rhetoric of the death cult, they typically support freedom of movement for those who are oppressed (presumptively by the rich), but they do not support freedom of movement for the rich (or at least the not-totally-destitute). This inconsistency comes from their fundamental principle, which denies man’s nature – of course, there are many specific ways to deny man’s nature, these Barcelona animals have selected a specific variant, whereas our domestic animals tend in a different direction, in favor of ethnic tribalism. Demanding logical consistency is a hallmark of us reactionaries who oppose the death cult.

The part that you correctly find scary is the expansion of personal assault as a tool of political expression. We have experienced things like this, Kristallnacht being a well-known example likewise the BLM riots and the January 6 riots. Those have been attacks on government and businesses, the current situation in Spain is much scarier because it is a direct attack on the customers. It approaches the personalized atrocities carried out under the Cultural Revolution, only it is worse since it is being carried out by young punks with no semblance of connection to law, government and civilization – it is the embodiment of the hell of anarchy. The threat of which can lead to emergency fascist control of everyone.

However, I think this is just another passing tantrum, like BLM, climate change, and various anti-economic terrorist attacks (whatever happened to the Greek debt riots? Whatever will happen to the Kenya debt riots?). Funny thing about the Yippie and SDS punks of the 60’s is that they grew up, seized the reins of power, and no longer are staunch supporters of “free speech” (i.e. their right to express their political viewpoint). It is likely that local Euro-governments will impose some kinds of restrictions on tourism, aimed at the relevant local businesses rather than the customers.

[HowardRoarkSpaceDetective]

2 hours ago, DavidOdden said:

It approaches the personalized atrocities carried out under the Cultural Revolution, only it is worse since it is being carried out by young punks with no semblance of connection to law, government and civilization – it is the embodiment of the hell of anarchy.

I think that's part of what bothers me so much about it, although I didn't register it while I was lamenting the philosophical bankruptcy aspect. What I mean is that, knowing even just a sliver of what Weimar Germany was like, there is no way I could go out and molest strangers in broad daylight without feeling like not just a nuisance but an honest Nazi. Then I imagine doing it to people who don't speak the language and saying "Go back to where you came from." The looting of Apple stores is one thing because Ken Cook isn't standing right there, but this another thing entirely. I have to imagine that they and the Kristallnacht participants experienced the exact same emotions, namely those of a cornered animal. Except these are humans, and the only explanation is that they act in lieu of thinking. It's the human equivalent of barking.

[Jon Letendre]

Speaking of death cults, domestic animals and personalized atrocities, Trump has been shot.

[necrovore]

ZeroHedge had the best image for this:

[Jon Letendre]

[HowardRoarkSpaceDetective]

I can't get over his face in the moments after. The fist doesn't surprise me at all, but his facial expression was weirdly genuine, as though there was more on his mind than publicity. It was very "I won't back down". Like righteous anger. It gives the exact opposite impression than the one I got during his first campaign, which was that of profound dishonesty and carelessness. I'm sure it was mostly adrenaline that caused him to look that way, but it was still unusually raw.

You almost expect to see a middle finger at the end of the that arm. "Fight the power."

Edited July 14 by HowardRoarkSpaceDetective

[tadmjones]

Maybe your first impression didn't reflect in it a true reading.

[Boydstun]

@HowardRoarkSpaceDetective You remarked: "It gives the exact opposite impression than the one I got during his first campaign, which was that of profound dishonesty and carelessness." What did you mean by "carelessness"? Do you mean an unguardedness about unprepared remarks?

I kind of get what you mean by an impression of dishonesty back then; my immediate impression was that he was a blowhard and con man. I had known of him that he made money in real estate, I had admired a beautiful building with his name on it in New York near the UN building, but I'd never seen his television program (or any "reality" show). His subsequent conviction for fraud did not surprise me (nor, I expect, Mitt Romney who also sized up Trump as a con man).

In the stills of wounded Trump upstream, I saw in their videos a desire in Trump to show the crowd that he was alright and fighting on, but also a rage at whomever had tried to kill him. I've been in that sort of rage before when my first life-partner was beaten up on the street coming out of a bar celebrating what would turn out to be last birthday. That was not life-threatening, he'd been out with a friend, the two of them were disadvantaged by drink, I was at home, the attacker had gotten away, but oh my rage and what I would have done to that guy. And to a lesser level of rage, I intervened in attacks of one man on another on two occasions I witnessed during my years living in Chicago.

I become enraged at public violence of any sort and hold the violent individual(s) wholly responsible for the evil of breaching the civil peace, regardless of their motives. The responsibility for each act of each "patriot" in the Capitol riot lies only with those individuals (and that is how the prosecutions have proceeded). The act of this shooter aiming to assassinate the former President and present candidate Trump may well have thought he was saving his country, like some of those rioters had thought, and given he would have known he wasn't going to be able to escape the scene of the deed, he may have even come to the familiar "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country." Then too, perhaps he was only of the mindset of the young man in Charlottesville who sped his auto into an assembly of pedestrian protestors on the side opposing his own. 

[Jon Letendre]

Is it just me or is there a pattern at OO of a delay before the faithful regulars here come out and take their stands on new controversies, which delay approximately corresponds to the opportunity for Brook and ARI to tell them what that stand will be?

[Boydstun]

@Jon Letendre Some of the regulars here are elderly, already in high school before JFK was assassinated, further for RFK and MLK. This latest is same old America. What is "taking a stand" on such a thing? Decrying violence? Blaming others beyond the attackers? Buying more firearms? Predicting a new civil war? We've seen it all before. We never needed to hear what Rand or other spokespersons for her philosophy had to say "taking a stand" about pubic affairs, especially so simple as violent aggression, else have no "stand." I've noticed quite a few intelligent independent minds participate at this site, you included. Whatever their age, they have their particular areas of enthusiasm and learning and excellence and value-added in sharing. We differ somewhat in such specialty. Back to the elderly, do you recall that scene in The Godfather where the old Don played by Marlon Brando dies of natural causes in the tomato patch? Well, that's pretty much the scene here at this elderly life (who never waited in youth on Rand to tell me that gay was good and that libertarian activism was not for the purpose of drawing attention to ourselves, as she later would smear us). So yeah, we lately took a stand and bought a Glock pistol, but it is just a BB gun and was prompted by the exceptional amount of damage from the rabbits this year on the flower garden.

Edited July 15 by Boydstun

[Boydstun]

Followup on the OP from BBC – For the love of Bacchus!