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Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future
From Yale professor and bestselling author of How Fascism Works, a searing confrontation with the authoritarian right’s efforts to annihilate public education, silence teachers, and use taxpayer money to undo a century of work to advance social justice action on race, gender, sexuality, and class.
Combining historical research with an in-depth analysis of our modern political landscape, Erasing History issues a dire warning for America and the the worst fascist movements of humanity’s past began in schools; the same place so many of today’s right-wing political parties have trained their most vicious attacks. Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recip Erdogan, and Argentina’s Javier Milei have all reached the same conclusion: if you want to roll back the clock on civil rights, equity, and inclusion, a great place to start is in our schools. Yale professor Jason Stanley exposes the true danger of the right’s tactics and traces their inspirations and funding back to some of the most dangerous ideas of human history. He shows that hearts and minds are won in our elementary schools, high schools, and universities—and that governments are currently ill-prepared to do the work of uprooting fascist policies being foisted upon our children through school boards, in courtrooms, and in the boardrooms of the companies trusted to train our teachers and create the materials they’ll share with their students. Deeply informed and urgently needed, this book is a vibrant call to action for lovers of democracy worldwide.
Combining historical research with an in-depth analysis of our modern political landscape, Erasing History issues a dire warning for America and the the worst fascist movements of humanity’s past began in schools; the same place so many of today’s right-wing political parties have trained their most vicious attacks. Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recip Erdogan, and Argentina’s Javier Milei have all reached the same conclusion: if you want to roll back the clock on civil rights, equity, and inclusion, a great place to start is in our schools. Yale professor Jason Stanley exposes the true danger of the right’s tactics and traces their inspirations and funding back to some of the most dangerous ideas of human history. He shows that hearts and minds are won in our elementary schools, high schools, and universities—and that governments are currently ill-prepared to do the work of uprooting fascist policies being foisted upon our children through school boards, in courtrooms, and in the boardrooms of the companies trusted to train our teachers and create the materials they’ll share with their students. Deeply informed and urgently needed, this book is a vibrant call to action for lovers of democracy worldwide.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2024
754 people are currently reading
15766 people want to read
About the author
Jason F. Stanley
7books504followersJason Stanley is the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. He is the author of five books, including How Propaganda Works, winner of the Prose Award in Philosophy from the Association of American Publishers, and How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, about which Citizens author Claudia Rankine says: “No single book is as relevant to the present moment.� Stanley serves on the board of the Prison Policy Initiative and writes frequently about propaganda, free speech, mass incarceration, democracy, and authoritarianism for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Boston Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Guardian.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 369 reviews
January 30, 2025
I want to be reading smut and romance, but this shitty conservative government has me out here reading about fascism. I refuse to ignore what's happening in our country.
October 6, 2024
Democracy is on the ballot this year in the USA, and that's what I'm voting for.
October 23, 2024
“Whether we call them fascist or not, there is widespread agreement that the social and political movements we are witnessing today employ many of the same political tactics and rhetorical techniques that past fascist movements have � conjuring of violent vigilante mobs to threaten those who oppose them, stacking courts with loyalists to a leader or a party, directing hatred against immigrants and LGBTQ citizens, dismantling, reproductive rights, and using education to indoctrinate the young in a narrative of national greatness, rooted in a glorious past.�
“� fascist education works by strategically erasing accounts of history and current events that include a diversity of perspectives, narrowing the scope of what can be taught until students are presented with a single viewpoint, which is formulated specifically to justify and perpetuate a hierarchy value between groups. This narrowing is inconsistent with multi-racial democracy, antithetical to egalitarianism, and carries a possibility of conjuring mass violence.�
“Besides lying, those in power can ban concepts necessary for understanding the world we inhabit, such as structural racism, and institutions, such as the Gulag. They can ban concepts such as human rights or the equality of humankind. They can ban inquiry into the human caused climate change. Those lacking such essential concepts, or knowledge of essential facts, will respond differently to events. Unaware of the range of explanations and options, they can easily be manipulated.�
You would have to be intentionally blinkered to avoid recognizing the fascist-leaning elements in the current United States. Such elements are also alive and well in other parts of the world. This book helps identify the methods employed by fascists. Fascism thrives on ignorance and misinformation. Knowledge is power. This is a useful book. Although short, it is well researched and covers a lot of history. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Dion Graham. He did an excellent job as always.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
“� fascist education works by strategically erasing accounts of history and current events that include a diversity of perspectives, narrowing the scope of what can be taught until students are presented with a single viewpoint, which is formulated specifically to justify and perpetuate a hierarchy value between groups. This narrowing is inconsistent with multi-racial democracy, antithetical to egalitarianism, and carries a possibility of conjuring mass violence.�
“Besides lying, those in power can ban concepts necessary for understanding the world we inhabit, such as structural racism, and institutions, such as the Gulag. They can ban concepts such as human rights or the equality of humankind. They can ban inquiry into the human caused climate change. Those lacking such essential concepts, or knowledge of essential facts, will respond differently to events. Unaware of the range of explanations and options, they can easily be manipulated.�
You would have to be intentionally blinkered to avoid recognizing the fascist-leaning elements in the current United States. Such elements are also alive and well in other parts of the world. This book helps identify the methods employed by fascists. Fascism thrives on ignorance and misinformation. Knowledge is power. This is a useful book. Although short, it is well researched and covers a lot of history. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Dion Graham. He did an excellent job as always.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
March 11, 2025
The Memory Hole Project
Ignorance is Power
Creating a strong sense of grievance with an enemy to blame, and vengeance to gain, is essential to a fascist movement. A common or shared reality must be destroyed and replaced with willful stupidity as freedom from reality itself is the ultimate payoff. The authoritarian project provides a false history or reality by erasing real history and reality. Erasing history is like burning books. Erasing events and deleting words rather than faking events and making up words is more difficult to detect. It is much more difficult to see the real that has been removed than it is the fake that has been added. This absence (a negation) creates a new way of pseudo- knowing (an affirmative). The erasing of history, the negation of reality, and the creation of lies are part of the same fascist project. Changing the well accepted and well understood meaning of words and grammar is part of the revisionist history project. Without a clear and honest understanding of history, reality, and language we cannot understand the world as it exists today.
America The Beautiful
The U.S. population is willingly choosing fascism and authoritarianism without there being an external threat forcing such a choice on the voting public. This is collective willful stupidity sanctified by Christianity. Rage, anger, and despair are just excuses for the willfully stupid racism, misogyny, and bigotry upon which rolling fascism thrives. We see this in the myths created by Vance, the lies told by Musk, and the scapegoating done by Trump. In our current political moment, erasing history has translated into the deleting of government web pages with information on vaccines, veterans care, scientific research, healthcare options, etc. What is left unsaid becomes the main means of manipulation. Another example is the instant deletion of DEI, now consigned to the trash bin, this is disguised as efficiency. Efficiency becomes its own tyranny just as power needs no reason and becomes its own justification. Next, a constitution in crisis will become a constitution erased. Not only do the victors get to write history, but they also get to erase it. For example, the founding of America based on slavery and geocide sanctified by Christianity is not acknowledged. There is an obvious straight-line relationship between fascism and colonialism in that both are dehumanization and genocidal projects just as there is a straight-line relationship between American exceptionalism and American Christian fascism. We now have Christian capitalism sanctifying exploitation and oppression. American fascism is composed of the unique combination of right-wing libertarianism + neoliberalism + social conservatism + religious fundamentalism. The clue to an anti-reality false history narrative is its mythic quality combined with its anti-intellectual methodology and the misconceptions used to reinforce, normalize, and whitewash history which reads like heroic fiction. Totalitarian, authoritarian, fascist, and communist history is characterized by its simplified unitary account of events. Education becomes religious indoctrination or bare bones vocational training. Another obvious example is to erase the history of racism, so nothing needs to be done about racism in the present. History is erased and replaced by invented constructions of history to serve the interests of those who do the erasing and rewriting. An example is erasing the history of the American labor movement resulting in the eight-hour day, the weekend, and living wages. The willing acceptance of lies makes people easy to manipulate and creates a willing acceptance of tyranny and corruption as empowerment.
The Holy Land
Just like its mentor state The U.S., Israel is the very model of a modern major colonial-settler state. Cruelty and colonization are travelling companions and the enemies of democracy and the rule of law. The advancement of civilization becomes the justification for savagery. The Zionists who came to Palestine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century represented it as an empty land that they had the moral right to occupy based on their religious mythology. The religious mission is always part of the sanctification of any colonial project. The savagery of the colonizers is justified by their religious (Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu) mission. Also, paramount to the colonial project is the erasure of the history and language of the people to be colonized followed by the replacement of each with the colonizer’s history and language. It is much easier to justify the colonization of people with no history and the expropriation of land that is empty. The Israeli strategy in Palestine, and The U.S. did the same with the native American population, is to remove or kill the native population and then represent the land as unoccupied. Having no history is then presented as having no legitimate claim on the present. There is a straight-line from the practices of 19th Century imperialism to 20th Century genocide in Palestine by the Zionist fascists. Colonialism, fascism, nationalism, Zionism, and American exceptionalism are about myth making, same as religion and totalitarianism.
The Dilemma
As Professor Stanley points out, history is about multiple perspectives on the past. I see this as becoming a misused justification for the authoritarian rewrite of history. It is presented as just another reflection or reimagination of the received narrative based on new ‘evidence� and new ideas. The totalitarian history is justified as just another alternative perspective, or as getting back to the original meaning, but it is the one that erases all other perspectives leaving it as the only authoritative history. That is, the defense of history as consisting of multiple perspectives on the past opens the door for the totalitarian rewrite and erasure of history as just another perspective deserving of equal consideration until it takes over as the only authorized perspective. The idea that history is not static, that it is dynamic and subject to update is an idea defended by Professor Stanley, but this provides the conceptual opening for the dishonest rewrite and erasure of history.
Ignorance is Power
Creating a strong sense of grievance with an enemy to blame, and vengeance to gain, is essential to a fascist movement. A common or shared reality must be destroyed and replaced with willful stupidity as freedom from reality itself is the ultimate payoff. The authoritarian project provides a false history or reality by erasing real history and reality. Erasing history is like burning books. Erasing events and deleting words rather than faking events and making up words is more difficult to detect. It is much more difficult to see the real that has been removed than it is the fake that has been added. This absence (a negation) creates a new way of pseudo- knowing (an affirmative). The erasing of history, the negation of reality, and the creation of lies are part of the same fascist project. Changing the well accepted and well understood meaning of words and grammar is part of the revisionist history project. Without a clear and honest understanding of history, reality, and language we cannot understand the world as it exists today.
America The Beautiful
The U.S. population is willingly choosing fascism and authoritarianism without there being an external threat forcing such a choice on the voting public. This is collective willful stupidity sanctified by Christianity. Rage, anger, and despair are just excuses for the willfully stupid racism, misogyny, and bigotry upon which rolling fascism thrives. We see this in the myths created by Vance, the lies told by Musk, and the scapegoating done by Trump. In our current political moment, erasing history has translated into the deleting of government web pages with information on vaccines, veterans care, scientific research, healthcare options, etc. What is left unsaid becomes the main means of manipulation. Another example is the instant deletion of DEI, now consigned to the trash bin, this is disguised as efficiency. Efficiency becomes its own tyranny just as power needs no reason and becomes its own justification. Next, a constitution in crisis will become a constitution erased. Not only do the victors get to write history, but they also get to erase it. For example, the founding of America based on slavery and geocide sanctified by Christianity is not acknowledged. There is an obvious straight-line relationship between fascism and colonialism in that both are dehumanization and genocidal projects just as there is a straight-line relationship between American exceptionalism and American Christian fascism. We now have Christian capitalism sanctifying exploitation and oppression. American fascism is composed of the unique combination of right-wing libertarianism + neoliberalism + social conservatism + religious fundamentalism. The clue to an anti-reality false history narrative is its mythic quality combined with its anti-intellectual methodology and the misconceptions used to reinforce, normalize, and whitewash history which reads like heroic fiction. Totalitarian, authoritarian, fascist, and communist history is characterized by its simplified unitary account of events. Education becomes religious indoctrination or bare bones vocational training. Another obvious example is to erase the history of racism, so nothing needs to be done about racism in the present. History is erased and replaced by invented constructions of history to serve the interests of those who do the erasing and rewriting. An example is erasing the history of the American labor movement resulting in the eight-hour day, the weekend, and living wages. The willing acceptance of lies makes people easy to manipulate and creates a willing acceptance of tyranny and corruption as empowerment.
The Holy Land
Just like its mentor state The U.S., Israel is the very model of a modern major colonial-settler state. Cruelty and colonization are travelling companions and the enemies of democracy and the rule of law. The advancement of civilization becomes the justification for savagery. The Zionists who came to Palestine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century represented it as an empty land that they had the moral right to occupy based on their religious mythology. The religious mission is always part of the sanctification of any colonial project. The savagery of the colonizers is justified by their religious (Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu) mission. Also, paramount to the colonial project is the erasure of the history and language of the people to be colonized followed by the replacement of each with the colonizer’s history and language. It is much easier to justify the colonization of people with no history and the expropriation of land that is empty. The Israeli strategy in Palestine, and The U.S. did the same with the native American population, is to remove or kill the native population and then represent the land as unoccupied. Having no history is then presented as having no legitimate claim on the present. There is a straight-line from the practices of 19th Century imperialism to 20th Century genocide in Palestine by the Zionist fascists. Colonialism, fascism, nationalism, Zionism, and American exceptionalism are about myth making, same as religion and totalitarianism.
The Dilemma
As Professor Stanley points out, history is about multiple perspectives on the past. I see this as becoming a misused justification for the authoritarian rewrite of history. It is presented as just another reflection or reimagination of the received narrative based on new ‘evidence� and new ideas. The totalitarian history is justified as just another alternative perspective, or as getting back to the original meaning, but it is the one that erases all other perspectives leaving it as the only authoritative history. That is, the defense of history as consisting of multiple perspectives on the past opens the door for the totalitarian rewrite and erasure of history as just another perspective deserving of equal consideration until it takes over as the only authorized perspective. The idea that history is not static, that it is dynamic and subject to update is an idea defended by Professor Stanley, but this provides the conceptual opening for the dishonest rewrite and erasure of history.
March 31, 2025
“Battles over education are battles over freedom.�
October 11, 2024
If you’re going to write about the fight for Palestine’s liberation the least you can do is denounce Israel’s horrible regime and be clear about Palestinian oppression. The author kept talking about October 7 as if that was the beginning of this genocide. Yes, he talks about the Nakba but emphasizes october 7 so many times that he makes it seem as if that is the reason for the current situation in that region� be fr Jason
December 2, 2024
an informative and eerily timely read. the material is accessible and does a fantastic job at drawing parallels between states that have seen the rise of fa$cism, and how multiple perspectives in history is a corner stone of democracy.
July 22, 2024
Thoroughly researched, Jason Stanley presents a book with the possibility of an authoritarian regime in America. He shows how omitting critical parts of shared history in schools and universities is a strategy developed by leaders in the world who have been able to manipulate and control societies.
I thought: “What can he say that I don’t know already?� A lot. He educates the reader with what has happened in the world with countries such as China, India and Russia that are controlled by authoritarians. Some examples were noted with Hitler’s movement during WWII, McCarthy era in America and Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Stanley provided steps that authoritarian governments have used to change democracies with examples from Project 2025. There were classifications that were new to me such as Supremacist Nationalism. It was distressing to read: “America’s greatness stems from both its whiteness and its Christianity� knowing that my ancestor, Thomas Harris, nearly escaped after refusing to join the religious group at a placed called the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600s. I learned more about Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán recent speech at a Dallas, TX political event attacking the idea of a mixed race. This book revealed historical accounts of the Native Americans and Black slavery that is an important part of our past.
The truth can be overwhelmingly depressing. This book entails a lot of information that can hit hard with reality that made me pause with my own questions. How do we fight back for public education and free-speech at universities? The author said American style liberal arts colleges do not exist in authoritarian countries.
Stanley was raised with ancestors who suffered greatly from Hitler and Stalin. He has spent years studying the effects of an authoritarian government and has presented a solid analysis of his findings in this book. He provides evidence of what’s happening in America and helps the reader to understand how we are moving in a direction of Christianity in southern schools and erasing parts of history that can later be manipulated.
The author has continued the work of his late father, Manfred Stanley, a Syracuse professor who taught about the meanings of democratic citizenship. Our world is changing with Artificial Intelligence and the massive amounts of internet news along with the bias news from the media. It’s important that we keep informed with the truthful past and present.
My thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of September 10, 2024.
I thought: “What can he say that I don’t know already?� A lot. He educates the reader with what has happened in the world with countries such as China, India and Russia that are controlled by authoritarians. Some examples were noted with Hitler’s movement during WWII, McCarthy era in America and Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Stanley provided steps that authoritarian governments have used to change democracies with examples from Project 2025. There were classifications that were new to me such as Supremacist Nationalism. It was distressing to read: “America’s greatness stems from both its whiteness and its Christianity� knowing that my ancestor, Thomas Harris, nearly escaped after refusing to join the religious group at a placed called the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600s. I learned more about Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán recent speech at a Dallas, TX political event attacking the idea of a mixed race. This book revealed historical accounts of the Native Americans and Black slavery that is an important part of our past.
The truth can be overwhelmingly depressing. This book entails a lot of information that can hit hard with reality that made me pause with my own questions. How do we fight back for public education and free-speech at universities? The author said American style liberal arts colleges do not exist in authoritarian countries.
Stanley was raised with ancestors who suffered greatly from Hitler and Stalin. He has spent years studying the effects of an authoritarian government and has presented a solid analysis of his findings in this book. He provides evidence of what’s happening in America and helps the reader to understand how we are moving in a direction of Christianity in southern schools and erasing parts of history that can later be manipulated.
The author has continued the work of his late father, Manfred Stanley, a Syracuse professor who taught about the meanings of democratic citizenship. Our world is changing with Artificial Intelligence and the massive amounts of internet news along with the bias news from the media. It’s important that we keep informed with the truthful past and present.
My thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of September 10, 2024.
January 11, 2025
Disappointingly for a book about how history and written narratives can support or reinforce genocidal ideas, this book is surprisingly unable to name the genocide in Palestine or to do anything other than note that Israel’s actions were “arguably genocidal� without actually taking a stance. Somehow manages to spread the myth that there is a war, not a genocide, taking place and that the conflict began on Oct 7 2023, while also mentioning the Nakba (although it states that this is the term the Palestinians use and it is originally referred to as “Israel’s war of independence.� Not bad on a craft level, fairly interesting, and containing a lot of useful information that I enjoyed, but correctly labeling all the other genocides mentioned in the book other than the one occurring in Palestine really dulled my enjoyment of the book. Had it not literally been a book about fascism and history with a big focus on education and reading materials I would’ve had more grace for it, but the fact that it was such an integral part of of the content led to me giving it a 2 instead of a 3- Had it properly named the genocide, I probably would’ve given it a 4.
September 7, 2024
The book is Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future by Jason Stanley. The book is scheduled to be published on September 10.
I know that certain factions have insisted on a revised of history. It never made any sense to me. But that is probably because I am an American. The government could insist that something was true and maybe even force the education department to go along with it.
But in a democracy there would always be a those who voiced another opinion. And as Americans we would be free to decide who to believe. But what if we were not be free to disagree with the government version of history. There was only 1 acceptable version. And that was designed to make us believe what the government wants us to believe.
In Erasing History, Jason Stanley discusses how and why rewriting history is part of authoritarian and fascist governments method to gain power and eliminate democracy. This has happened in many counties around the world. So now I understand why they want us to believe their version of history and how they use it to enhance there power over the people,
It is happening in the United States and must be stopped if we would like to remain a free country.
Several years ago I reviewed a book called The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic by Benjamin Carter Hett.
I was stuck in particular by the statement:
“among the Weimar Republic’s more fatal defects was that millions of its people deeply believed things that were verifiably untrue.�
This is true in America today. I closed my review by asking:
Is history repeating itself? It is not exactly the same but some things seem pretty close.
I know that certain factions have insisted on a revised of history. It never made any sense to me. But that is probably because I am an American. The government could insist that something was true and maybe even force the education department to go along with it.
But in a democracy there would always be a those who voiced another opinion. And as Americans we would be free to decide who to believe. But what if we were not be free to disagree with the government version of history. There was only 1 acceptable version. And that was designed to make us believe what the government wants us to believe.
In Erasing History, Jason Stanley discusses how and why rewriting history is part of authoritarian and fascist governments method to gain power and eliminate democracy. This has happened in many counties around the world. So now I understand why they want us to believe their version of history and how they use it to enhance there power over the people,
It is happening in the United States and must be stopped if we would like to remain a free country.
Several years ago I reviewed a book called The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic by Benjamin Carter Hett.
I was stuck in particular by the statement:
“among the Weimar Republic’s more fatal defects was that millions of its people deeply believed things that were verifiably untrue.�
This is true in America today. I closed my review by asking:
Is history repeating itself? It is not exactly the same but some things seem pretty close.
March 5, 2025
An educational, credible and well-researched resource to explore the concepts of fascism, how it works, how it develops, and ways to combat it. I learned an extraordinary amount from this book, and I encourage everyone to read it, now more than ever. Regardless of your feelings on the topic, this movement is prevalent today around the globe. Understanding it through learning, discussion, and research is the most effective and powerful way to clarify personal views, find the courage to challenge modes of thinking and recognize -as well as resist- the presence of these ideals in the modern world. Education is the most powerful thing we can do for ourselves. Let's utilize it. Read this book, and expand yours.
April 11, 2025
This book was fantastic! You should read it. Yes, you!
September 17, 2024
an incredible weirdo
honstly he gets more and more unspooled with every book
I have this theory that he is going to write in his next book that Biden is secretly in control of the world's Oxygen Supply like Blofeld, and that his plan is to throw the election on purpose, and let Trump win, because secretly Biden and Trump are working together, and Trump will pass all of the woke agenda, terrifying the world.
.............
Finally a comfortable low oxygen mask for voting
now available in 24% 28% and 35% concentrations
Mix-O-Masks are packed 12 in a carton of one concentration.
Skull Systems Incorporated Billboard
America 2025
............
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST FOLKS
Get your message across, screams the friendly neighbourhood fascist next to me, watching me writhe with ill-disguised excitement. I think I see a stain on his crotch but it might just be my eyeballs puking. In any case, the term 'bowel movement' attains symphonic intensity. I am drawn and quartered like some Kraft cheese that got left out on the moon too long.
SCRIBE JFS
...........
To imagine Donald Trump in his prime, divering himself by feeding goldfish into a stapling machine or putting firecrackers into a paraplegic's colostomy bag, made you feel that whatever gene pool this crafty cretin derived from only had a deep, dark end
SCRIBE JFS
............
The Amazing Stanley or the Amazing Chriswell?
We think of cannibalism as a thing of the past practiced only in the wildest jungles far from our civilized way of life. However even today cannibalism is practiced in our own society but acts of such savagery are kept hidden from the public. I predict an outburst of Cannibalism that will terrorize the population of one of the industrial cities in the state of Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh!
Our entire nation is dotted with experimental laboratories which are kept under constant guard and operated in complete secrecy. Little is known about these many plants and laboratories for the experiments they conduct would startle and shock the entire world. Extreme precautions must be taken for the safety of every employee but quite often there are accidents which cannot be avoided. Naturally these accidents are hushed for word of them would violate the secrecy which is so essential. However I predict one terrible accident which will become known for it will be impossible to keep it within the confines of the walled and carefully guarded laboratory. I predict that one of the largest experimental laboratories in Pennsylvania will have a sudden release of gas from a large chamber which will be swept through every sector of the installation. I predict that these fumes will enter the ventilation system carrying to every corridor of the laboratory and will effect thousands of employees. This gas will have been developed by a scientist who is working on nerve gases that affect man's mentality. This unfortunate scientist will be the victim of a fatal heart attack and his sudden collapse will permit the dangerous fumes to be released and swept through the entire laboratory. The effects of this gas will be ghastly for it will create in man a desire for raw flesh and it will be an uncontrollable hunger and lust. Men employed in the laboratory will seek to quell their appetites and the acts they commit within the confines of these walls cannot be told. I predict many of them will satisfy unspeakable urges there but others will leave the laboratory and search elsewhere to appease their maddened crazed hunger. No one outside the laboratory will know what happened behind its guarded walls and the public will receive no warning until it is too late. I predict that over one thousand flesh mad and blood crazed men will wander through the streets suddenly attacking unsuspecting victims, I predict that many of these animal like men will be captured but others will seek hiding places and elude the authorities. Countless numbers of men, women and children will be kidnapped suddenly disappearing and will never be found. The state of Pennsylvania will go all out in an effort to stop this horrible mass murder and will begin the greatest man hunt the country has ever known. I predict that hundreds of terrorists will be found and imprisoned but they will have had a chance to bring death to a great many innocent victims. Each and every day more bodies will be found. Their flesh torn from their bones in a hungry manner. Many others will be found stripped of their clothing, bound and gagged in cellars and attics meeting a most horrible and foul death. I predict that the wife of a government official fortunately will be rescued and she will tell the most horrifying tale ever to be released to the public. She will relate in detail the actions of three crazed men who abducted her and threw her into a cellar with many others, all of whom were tied and gagged and half-eaten. This poor woman will reveal that the clothing was ripped off her body and she was pushed into a corner with several male victims who were also stripped. She will tell how one by one the helpless captives were brought to the center of the cellar and while still alive they were attacked by three mad men who tore the flesh from their writhing and tormented bodies. I predict that this woman's story will be anonymously recorded and it will later be found that she is the wife of the Governor of Pennsylvania. I predict the citizenry of Pennsylvania will demand added police and military protection and a curfew will be enforced. I predict no one will be permitted to enter the streets at night and during the day everyone will be ordered to travel in pairs. However at night husbands will return home to find their wives and children missing. Clerks will disappear from shops and empty trucks will be found on road ways. People will refuse to leave their homes. Business will shut down and a state of terror will reign. Policemen will disappear from their corners and post office employees will suddenly be gone. I predict that many innocent men will be accused of cannibalism and dragged away by angry mobs and put to death. I predict that the number of missing people will be frightfully high but many will later be found unharmed. This horrible orgy will continue for several weeks until the last crazed man is found and only then will the shocked and terrorized city return to normal. Mass mournings will be held for the victims. A smile will be unknown. The fate of this city of Pittsburgh, Penn., will never be forgotten and I predict that added safety measures will be taken in all chemical laboratories to make certain there is no similar accident.
YOU BE THE JUDGE
..........
Publishers Weekly
This warns of an imminent fascist future but doesn’t delve far enough into how to stop it.
honstly he gets more and more unspooled with every book
I have this theory that he is going to write in his next book that Biden is secretly in control of the world's Oxygen Supply like Blofeld, and that his plan is to throw the election on purpose, and let Trump win, because secretly Biden and Trump are working together, and Trump will pass all of the woke agenda, terrifying the world.
.............
Finally a comfortable low oxygen mask for voting
now available in 24% 28% and 35% concentrations
Mix-O-Masks are packed 12 in a carton of one concentration.
Skull Systems Incorporated Billboard
America 2025
............
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST FOLKS
Get your message across, screams the friendly neighbourhood fascist next to me, watching me writhe with ill-disguised excitement. I think I see a stain on his crotch but it might just be my eyeballs puking. In any case, the term 'bowel movement' attains symphonic intensity. I am drawn and quartered like some Kraft cheese that got left out on the moon too long.
SCRIBE JFS
...........
To imagine Donald Trump in his prime, divering himself by feeding goldfish into a stapling machine or putting firecrackers into a paraplegic's colostomy bag, made you feel that whatever gene pool this crafty cretin derived from only had a deep, dark end
SCRIBE JFS
............
The Amazing Stanley or the Amazing Chriswell?
We think of cannibalism as a thing of the past practiced only in the wildest jungles far from our civilized way of life. However even today cannibalism is practiced in our own society but acts of such savagery are kept hidden from the public. I predict an outburst of Cannibalism that will terrorize the population of one of the industrial cities in the state of Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh!
Our entire nation is dotted with experimental laboratories which are kept under constant guard and operated in complete secrecy. Little is known about these many plants and laboratories for the experiments they conduct would startle and shock the entire world. Extreme precautions must be taken for the safety of every employee but quite often there are accidents which cannot be avoided. Naturally these accidents are hushed for word of them would violate the secrecy which is so essential. However I predict one terrible accident which will become known for it will be impossible to keep it within the confines of the walled and carefully guarded laboratory. I predict that one of the largest experimental laboratories in Pennsylvania will have a sudden release of gas from a large chamber which will be swept through every sector of the installation. I predict that these fumes will enter the ventilation system carrying to every corridor of the laboratory and will effect thousands of employees. This gas will have been developed by a scientist who is working on nerve gases that affect man's mentality. This unfortunate scientist will be the victim of a fatal heart attack and his sudden collapse will permit the dangerous fumes to be released and swept through the entire laboratory. The effects of this gas will be ghastly for it will create in man a desire for raw flesh and it will be an uncontrollable hunger and lust. Men employed in the laboratory will seek to quell their appetites and the acts they commit within the confines of these walls cannot be told. I predict many of them will satisfy unspeakable urges there but others will leave the laboratory and search elsewhere to appease their maddened crazed hunger. No one outside the laboratory will know what happened behind its guarded walls and the public will receive no warning until it is too late. I predict that over one thousand flesh mad and blood crazed men will wander through the streets suddenly attacking unsuspecting victims, I predict that many of these animal like men will be captured but others will seek hiding places and elude the authorities. Countless numbers of men, women and children will be kidnapped suddenly disappearing and will never be found. The state of Pennsylvania will go all out in an effort to stop this horrible mass murder and will begin the greatest man hunt the country has ever known. I predict that hundreds of terrorists will be found and imprisoned but they will have had a chance to bring death to a great many innocent victims. Each and every day more bodies will be found. Their flesh torn from their bones in a hungry manner. Many others will be found stripped of their clothing, bound and gagged in cellars and attics meeting a most horrible and foul death. I predict that the wife of a government official fortunately will be rescued and she will tell the most horrifying tale ever to be released to the public. She will relate in detail the actions of three crazed men who abducted her and threw her into a cellar with many others, all of whom were tied and gagged and half-eaten. This poor woman will reveal that the clothing was ripped off her body and she was pushed into a corner with several male victims who were also stripped. She will tell how one by one the helpless captives were brought to the center of the cellar and while still alive they were attacked by three mad men who tore the flesh from their writhing and tormented bodies. I predict that this woman's story will be anonymously recorded and it will later be found that she is the wife of the Governor of Pennsylvania. I predict the citizenry of Pennsylvania will demand added police and military protection and a curfew will be enforced. I predict no one will be permitted to enter the streets at night and during the day everyone will be ordered to travel in pairs. However at night husbands will return home to find their wives and children missing. Clerks will disappear from shops and empty trucks will be found on road ways. People will refuse to leave their homes. Business will shut down and a state of terror will reign. Policemen will disappear from their corners and post office employees will suddenly be gone. I predict that many innocent men will be accused of cannibalism and dragged away by angry mobs and put to death. I predict that the number of missing people will be frightfully high but many will later be found unharmed. This horrible orgy will continue for several weeks until the last crazed man is found and only then will the shocked and terrorized city return to normal. Mass mournings will be held for the victims. A smile will be unknown. The fate of this city of Pittsburgh, Penn., will never be forgotten and I predict that added safety measures will be taken in all chemical laboratories to make certain there is no similar accident.
YOU BE THE JUDGE
..........
Publishers Weekly
This warns of an imminent fascist future but doesn’t delve far enough into how to stop it.
March 17, 2025
Jason Stanley is shaping up to be my favorite historian and modern day philosopher. Grand educator may be my prime term for him. I have listened to two of his books back to back and have found them to be scary, yes, with how accurately they reflect the current state of America, a country I grew up believing would never fall to fascist ideology, but also incredibly informative and important. Knowledge is going to be our weapon in the years to come. Knowing what we’re up against and how the other side wields fear and manipulation as theirs helps us get an idea of just how we need to fight back, and how we need to retain the knowledge of all that has come before. Excellent book. I know I am not the one who should be making this comment, but after these two books, Jason Stanley HAS to be invited to the cookout, right?
June 13, 2025
This is about such an important topic and I felt like I learned a lot!
I’m taking a star off though due to the author calling the genocide of the Palestinian people a “war� but simultaneously acknowledges that Israel uses fascist tactics that harm (and kill) Palestinians. The author acknowledges other genocides, like the u.s genocide against the indigenous population, but not the current genocide Israel is conducting against Palestinians�
I’m taking a star off though due to the author calling the genocide of the Palestinian people a “war� but simultaneously acknowledges that Israel uses fascist tactics that harm (and kill) Palestinians. The author acknowledges other genocides, like the u.s genocide against the indigenous population, but not the current genocide Israel is conducting against Palestinians�
March 17, 2025
This was a surprisingly quicker read than I expected! I definitely have a better understanding of fascism and fascist education than before reading this, so I say that’s a win! It was more biased than I had hoped for, but I could’ve researched that more before jumping in. Overall, I enjoyed reading this one.
September 17, 2024
e-ARC provided by Atria Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
ERASING HISTORY should occupy the same shelf space as books such as Ibram X. Kendi’s and Ijeoma Oluo’s . In terms of being an introduction to how fascism works and where we can see examples of fascism in our history and current events, it’s successful. I did wish, however, that it could have committed to a more discerning definition of fascism, as well as focused more on rising fascism in the US.
Jason Stanley is a professor specializing in philosophy of education, so he has the depth and breadth to write about this subject. In ERASING HISTORY, Stanley first gives us an overview of the reasons why fascists are threatened by a democratic, pluralistic view of history: because understanding that there are multiple perspectives on history is tantamount to admitting that different perspectives, and therefore different people, are valuable, and fascism is all about controlling the narrative for the powerful to maintain their influence.
Things that made me think from reading ERASING HISTORY include:
- Settler colonialism using the erasure of indigenous history and culture to justify implanting their superior culture on an “unclaimed� land;
- “Civilization savagism� as the act of rendering the local population deserving of being colonized or ruled by the colonizing nation’s universally superior cultural norms;
- The need for “supremacist nationalism� to justify their manifest superiority by portraying themselves in only a good, pure, and innocent light, e.g. the way in which US conservatives have tried to rewrite the US� history with slavery and the actions of the Ku Klux Klan as being beneficial to Black people;
- The five themes of fascist education being national greatness, national purity, national innocence, strict gender roles, and vilification of the left;
- The susceptibility of populations educated with myths of national supremacy to the Great Replacement Theory (or the fear that their position of influence in their society will be replaced by invading foreign stains), because their nationhood is predicated on the belief that they are superior to others.
Stanley pulls on historical examples from Nazi Germany, India, Hungary, Russia, and more to support his arguments. All of this is fascinating, but I found myself wishing he would stick more to analyzing historical and current US events, as ERASING HISTORY inadvertently gives off the impression that “Well, the US may be bad in some ways, but at least we’re not Nazi Germany!� which is not really the message that we need right now.
Indeed, one could argue that Stanley is so quick to assign the label of fascism to contemporary societies that it starts to lose its impact. In taking a broader view in his analysis, the book could end up confusing or misleading readers into thinking that fascism is less a threat to the US than it really is, because he switches from talking about non-US examples of fascism to US examples in a way that sort of obfuscates the seriousness of the rise of fascism in the US.
Finally, I wasn’t that impressed that, for someone so quick to throw out the labels of fascism and genocide (he calls what Russia is doing to Ukrainians a genocide, or at least a “cultural genocide�), Stanley delicately yet noticeably avoids labeling Israel’s actions against Palestinians as a genocide. Every time Israel is brought up as an example, the book is careful to preface it by saying that Israel acted in response to a “horrific� terrorist attack by Hamas, whereas Israel’s actions are only “arguably genocidal�. Interesting because on his social media he DOES call a genocide a genocide, but limitations were placed on this book? Shrug.
As far as literature on fascism is concerned, I’m not sure if ERASING HISTORY breaks any new ground, but it is a good summary of the concept for those who are, perhaps, just beginning to un-learn the things that we had been taught. A more specific focus on the US and more actionable measures that we can take against fascism would have made it a stronger read for me.
ERASING HISTORY should occupy the same shelf space as books such as Ibram X. Kendi’s and Ijeoma Oluo’s . In terms of being an introduction to how fascism works and where we can see examples of fascism in our history and current events, it’s successful. I did wish, however, that it could have committed to a more discerning definition of fascism, as well as focused more on rising fascism in the US.
Jason Stanley is a professor specializing in philosophy of education, so he has the depth and breadth to write about this subject. In ERASING HISTORY, Stanley first gives us an overview of the reasons why fascists are threatened by a democratic, pluralistic view of history: because understanding that there are multiple perspectives on history is tantamount to admitting that different perspectives, and therefore different people, are valuable, and fascism is all about controlling the narrative for the powerful to maintain their influence.
Things that made me think from reading ERASING HISTORY include:
- Settler colonialism using the erasure of indigenous history and culture to justify implanting their superior culture on an “unclaimed� land;
- “Civilization savagism� as the act of rendering the local population deserving of being colonized or ruled by the colonizing nation’s universally superior cultural norms;
- The need for “supremacist nationalism� to justify their manifest superiority by portraying themselves in only a good, pure, and innocent light, e.g. the way in which US conservatives have tried to rewrite the US� history with slavery and the actions of the Ku Klux Klan as being beneficial to Black people;
- The five themes of fascist education being national greatness, national purity, national innocence, strict gender roles, and vilification of the left;
- The susceptibility of populations educated with myths of national supremacy to the Great Replacement Theory (or the fear that their position of influence in their society will be replaced by invading foreign stains), because their nationhood is predicated on the belief that they are superior to others.
Stanley pulls on historical examples from Nazi Germany, India, Hungary, Russia, and more to support his arguments. All of this is fascinating, but I found myself wishing he would stick more to analyzing historical and current US events, as ERASING HISTORY inadvertently gives off the impression that “Well, the US may be bad in some ways, but at least we’re not Nazi Germany!� which is not really the message that we need right now.
Indeed, one could argue that Stanley is so quick to assign the label of fascism to contemporary societies that it starts to lose its impact. In taking a broader view in his analysis, the book could end up confusing or misleading readers into thinking that fascism is less a threat to the US than it really is, because he switches from talking about non-US examples of fascism to US examples in a way that sort of obfuscates the seriousness of the rise of fascism in the US.
Finally, I wasn’t that impressed that, for someone so quick to throw out the labels of fascism and genocide (he calls what Russia is doing to Ukrainians a genocide, or at least a “cultural genocide�), Stanley delicately yet noticeably avoids labeling Israel’s actions against Palestinians as a genocide. Every time Israel is brought up as an example, the book is careful to preface it by saying that Israel acted in response to a “horrific� terrorist attack by Hamas, whereas Israel’s actions are only “arguably genocidal�. Interesting because on his social media he DOES call a genocide a genocide, but limitations were placed on this book? Shrug.
As far as literature on fascism is concerned, I’m not sure if ERASING HISTORY breaks any new ground, but it is a good summary of the concept for those who are, perhaps, just beginning to un-learn the things that we had been taught. A more specific focus on the US and more actionable measures that we can take against fascism would have made it a stronger read for me.
February 2, 2025
kinda anxious ngl
April 24, 2025
”The goal of anti-education is not only to render a population ignorant of the nation’s history and problems but to also fracture those citizens into a multitude of different groups with no possibility of mutual understanding, and hence no possibility of mass action. As a consequence, anti-education renders a populace apathetic- leaving the task of running the country to others, be they autocrats, plutocrats, or theocrats.�
This right here is the crux of this book. As a teacher this is 100% spot on and reading this finally gave a voice to why I’m frustrated and tired. This quote kinda blew my mind.
This right here is the crux of this book. As a teacher this is 100% spot on and reading this finally gave a voice to why I’m frustrated and tired. This quote kinda blew my mind.
May 9, 2025
A good overview of tactics used by fascist movements to gain power. Best in providing historical context for modern day right-wing politics. Arguments in the last 2 chapters were harder to follow and felt less researched/structured.
December 28, 2024
The book connects a lot of dots in a compelling way, but most of the people reading it won’t be surprised by it, and most of the people who should read it won’t.
March 31, 2025
„Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future� de Jason Stanley (2024)
Tulburătoare, clară și acuzatoare, această carte începe cu un citat din Putin: � Profesorii sunt cei care câștigă războaiele.� Iar tema principală a cărții este bine încadrată de acest citat, pentru că Stanley vrea să explice de ce școlile şi universitățile umaniste devin ținte preferate ale regimurilor autoritare.
Stanley nu scrie ca un istoric, ci ca un avertizor moral � iar ceea ce avertizează este nu doar trecutul falsificat, ci și viitorul amenințat de acest falsuri recente. El dă exemple din India, Ungaria, Rusia, Israel şi, desigur, SUA.
Titlul duce imediat cu gândul la Ministerul Adevărului lui Orwell: „Ștergerea istoriei�. Cum se face această ștergere? Cu narațiuni „alternative�, manuale revizuite, monumente distruse sau fabricate, eroi aleși convenabil și fapte inconfortabile aruncate în tăcere. Profesorul de filosofie american, copil ai supraviețuitorilor Holocaustului , susține � cu o claritate neliniștitoare � că fascismul nu se instaurează printr-un singur eveniment violent, ci printr-o lentă reconfigurare a memoriei colective.
Pe măsură ce parcurgi capitolele, simți cum se leagă exemplele: naționalismul extremist, nostalgia pentru un trecut „glorios� (de fapt mitologizat), dezumanizarea minorităților, atacul asupra instituțiilor media, erodarea educației umaniste � toate converg spre o formă de autoritarism în care adevărul devine o construcție de putere. Și istoria, odată rescrisă, devine armă.
„Fascismul nu începe cu lagărele. Începe cu resentimentul colectiv și cu povestea unei măreții furate.�- iată cum falsul transformă complexul de inferioritate în ideal identitar.
Mai departe, Stanley scrie: „Cei care controlează trecutul, controlează prezentul. Dar cei care șterg trecutul, pregătesc un prezent fără vinovăție și un viitor fără rușine.�
M-a înfiorat această frază, pentru că m-am gândit la toate sistemele educaționale care se tem de adevăr, pentru că adevărul cere răspundere.
Am citit cu un amestec de fascinație și groază pasajele despre cum regimurile totalitare � nazist, sovietic, dar și contemporane � au manipulat memoria istorică pentru a justifica crime, marginalizare și opresiune. Ce mi-a rămas în minte a fost observația despre cât de periculos devine un popor convins că istoria lui e lipsită de greșeli. Că nu a greșit, deci nu are ce repara. Că doar ceilalți greșesc.
Mi-am amintit, pe parcursul lecturii, de tăcerile din manualele noastre de istorie din liceu- ce știam noi în copilarie despre crimele comunismului, despre închisorile politice sau despre victimele de la canal? Și m-am întrebat câte alte goluri istorice purtăm fără să le simțim, dar care ne modelează tăcerile din prezent.
„Adevărul nu dispare. Doar devine imposibil de recunoscut când e acoperit cu suficiente mituri.� � scrie Stanley. Aceasta nu e doar o carte despre istorie. Este, în mod tăios și urgent, o carte despre ce îi facem istoriei și, astfel, ce-I facem lumii în care vor trăi copiii noștri şi ai altora.
Tulburătoare, clară și acuzatoare, această carte începe cu un citat din Putin: � Profesorii sunt cei care câștigă războaiele.� Iar tema principală a cărții este bine încadrată de acest citat, pentru că Stanley vrea să explice de ce școlile şi universitățile umaniste devin ținte preferate ale regimurilor autoritare.
Stanley nu scrie ca un istoric, ci ca un avertizor moral � iar ceea ce avertizează este nu doar trecutul falsificat, ci și viitorul amenințat de acest falsuri recente. El dă exemple din India, Ungaria, Rusia, Israel şi, desigur, SUA.
Titlul duce imediat cu gândul la Ministerul Adevărului lui Orwell: „Ștergerea istoriei�. Cum se face această ștergere? Cu narațiuni „alternative�, manuale revizuite, monumente distruse sau fabricate, eroi aleși convenabil și fapte inconfortabile aruncate în tăcere. Profesorul de filosofie american, copil ai supraviețuitorilor Holocaustului , susține � cu o claritate neliniștitoare � că fascismul nu se instaurează printr-un singur eveniment violent, ci printr-o lentă reconfigurare a memoriei colective.
Pe măsură ce parcurgi capitolele, simți cum se leagă exemplele: naționalismul extremist, nostalgia pentru un trecut „glorios� (de fapt mitologizat), dezumanizarea minorităților, atacul asupra instituțiilor media, erodarea educației umaniste � toate converg spre o formă de autoritarism în care adevărul devine o construcție de putere. Și istoria, odată rescrisă, devine armă.
„Fascismul nu începe cu lagărele. Începe cu resentimentul colectiv și cu povestea unei măreții furate.�- iată cum falsul transformă complexul de inferioritate în ideal identitar.
Mai departe, Stanley scrie: „Cei care controlează trecutul, controlează prezentul. Dar cei care șterg trecutul, pregătesc un prezent fără vinovăție și un viitor fără rușine.�
M-a înfiorat această frază, pentru că m-am gândit la toate sistemele educaționale care se tem de adevăr, pentru că adevărul cere răspundere.
Am citit cu un amestec de fascinație și groază pasajele despre cum regimurile totalitare � nazist, sovietic, dar și contemporane � au manipulat memoria istorică pentru a justifica crime, marginalizare și opresiune. Ce mi-a rămas în minte a fost observația despre cât de periculos devine un popor convins că istoria lui e lipsită de greșeli. Că nu a greșit, deci nu are ce repara. Că doar ceilalți greșesc.
Mi-am amintit, pe parcursul lecturii, de tăcerile din manualele noastre de istorie din liceu- ce știam noi în copilarie despre crimele comunismului, despre închisorile politice sau despre victimele de la canal? Și m-am întrebat câte alte goluri istorice purtăm fără să le simțim, dar care ne modelează tăcerile din prezent.
„Adevărul nu dispare. Doar devine imposibil de recunoscut când e acoperit cu suficiente mituri.� � scrie Stanley. Aceasta nu e doar o carte despre istorie. Este, în mod tăios și urgent, o carte despre ce îi facem istoriei și, astfel, ce-I facem lumii în care vor trăi copiii noștri şi ai altora.
May 7, 2025
Essential reading for our times. Read a history book. Fight fascism.
June 5, 2025
I listened to this on audio and I’m very tempted to purchase a few copies and place in LFLs around my town in hope people wake up
May 21, 2025
Well this was an unfortunate but really good read. Very short, exceptionally impactful. I'm haunted by the fact that the author isn't even teaching in the US anymore and fled to Canada. Every single thing discussed being things I see weekly or daily in the current political reality of the US was haunting. A must read for those wanting to remain conscious and strive for change.
May 2, 2025
god it's way worse than we think. audiobook and nonfiction i don't think are for me however, still working on it!
October 16, 2024
This is one of the worst ones I've read in a while. Stanley is so myopic he's a character in the Odyssey.
He's not all wrong about the things he says and there were one or two facts I appreciated but he only looked at the issue from one side. Of course, it those were his parameters it would be an alright nook. But he moves on from describing just fascism and contends that anyone who doesn't take a liberal arts approach to education is a fascist. Moreover, he refuses to admit that anyone else ever uses the education system to force their message on youths. In fact he categorically denies it. I don't take a side here but if you think one side is pure evil and one side is angelic in their altruism, you're not really thinking critically.
It's a blindly one sided view and it drifts from facts and figures to wild allegations and baseless accusations. Just a testament to a non-scientific approach politics and political thinking.
Do not bother with this, you won't learn anything and unless you ascribe exactly to Stanley's worldview, you'll be bored and annoyed.
He's not all wrong about the things he says and there were one or two facts I appreciated but he only looked at the issue from one side. Of course, it those were his parameters it would be an alright nook. But he moves on from describing just fascism and contends that anyone who doesn't take a liberal arts approach to education is a fascist. Moreover, he refuses to admit that anyone else ever uses the education system to force their message on youths. In fact he categorically denies it. I don't take a side here but if you think one side is pure evil and one side is angelic in their altruism, you're not really thinking critically.
It's a blindly one sided view and it drifts from facts and figures to wild allegations and baseless accusations. Just a testament to a non-scientific approach politics and political thinking.
Do not bother with this, you won't learn anything and unless you ascribe exactly to Stanley's worldview, you'll be bored and annoyed.
April 4, 2025
الكتاب الأحدث للكاتب والمفكر الأمريكي جيسون ستانلي ذي الأصول اليهودية ، والذي يعتبر من فلاسفة الليبرالية المعتدلين نوعا ما - على طريقة أؤمن بحق إسرائيل في الوجود لكني ضد القمع والإرهاب والتطهير العرقي الذي تمارسه- .
تناول في هذا الكتاب كيف يقوم التوجه الفاشي الذي يجتاح العالم بإعادة كتابة التاريخ باستخدام أدوات معينة وطرق مختلفة واجراءات متنوعة لتعزيز السلطة الحالية وبناء القوة الفاشية المستقبلية .. وفي الحقيقة كان الكتاب جيدا بصورة عامة وبلغة أكاديمية راقية وإن غاب عنه التنظيم الواضح و الغوص في التفاصيل بصورة عميقة ، وهذا لا يعتبر خللا في الكتاب فهو عبارة عن صرخة تحذير لمجابهة هذه التحركات الفاشية المضرة بالفعل الحضاري والتي باتت تلقى قبولا كبيرا عند عامة الناس ، كما أن الكتاب لبنة في تآليف الكاتب التي تتناول التوجهات الفاشية الحديثة والتي بمجموعها يأمل أن تقدم تصورا دقيقا لهذه الظاهرة وما يتعلق بها .
من المهم هنا التوضيح أن ما يحذر منه الكاتب هو منتج حداثي وأن هذه التبعات ما كانت لتتمدد بهذه الصورة لولا الحداثة الغربية وتمظهراتها الوحشية ، فمن المهم الإدراك أن الفاشية والشوفينية والقومية بل والوطنية تقود بالضرورة للممارسات التي يحذر منها الكاتب في ظل الأنظمة الشمولية والحكم الديكتاتوري سواء أكان حكما فرديا أو حزبيا أو حتى متعدد الأحزاب كما هو حاصل في الغرب اليوم ، فبغض النظر على أن النظم الحاكمة في الغرب اليوم تتمظهر بمظهر النظم الديمقراطية في الأعم الأغلب إلا أنها في القضايا ذات التقاطعات الثقافية والمصالح الاستراتيجية تتحول فجأة لنظم قومية شوفينية متعصبة ينبثق عنها بالضرورة تمظهرات فاشية واضحة ، وخذ مثالا حيا من تعامل الحضارة الغربية مع القضية الفلسطينية خصوصا بعد أحداث غزة الأخيرة ، فعند التماس الثقافي و المصالحي الاستراتيجي يتكشف الوجه الحقيقي للحضارة الغربية باعتباره حقلا متوحشا للممارسات الفاشية والرؤى الشوفينية والتماهي القومي المكذوب والوطني المزيف ..
ولكن لنعد لصلب الموضوع ، فإعادة كتابة التاريخ أو التحكم بالعقل الجمعي خصوصا للعامة من الناس ممارسات مرتبطة بالضرورة بالحكم الديكتاتوري كما فصلناه ، فما تقوم به الطغم العربية الحاكمة - وهي نظم حداثية بامتياز- ��ن تشويه للتاريخ والحاضر لضمان مستقبل يخدم مصالح هذه النظم ظاهر للعيان والإعلام المصري والسعودي يمارسون الفاشية في صورها الوحشية بسلاسة و أريحية ، وهم هنا لا يختلفون عن ممارسات الإعلام الأمريكي أو البريطاني والفرنسي في العديد من القضايا ، الفرق فقط هو في ديناميكية المجتمعات الغريبة التي لا زالت تجد مساحة من الحرية وتحارب بمثل هذا الكاتب وغيره لدحض هذه الممارسات .
الكلام يطول جدا إذا ما توجهنا لمناقشة ما تضمنه الكتاب لكن الحر تكفيه الإشارة ، وقراءة الكتاب ستقدم لك الكثير مما يعتبر رافدا ثقافيا في هذه المستنقعات التي نعيشها اليوم.
تناول في هذا الكتاب كيف يقوم التوجه الفاشي الذي يجتاح العالم بإعادة كتابة التاريخ باستخدام أدوات معينة وطرق مختلفة واجراءات متنوعة لتعزيز السلطة الحالية وبناء القوة الفاشية المستقبلية .. وفي الحقيقة كان الكتاب جيدا بصورة عامة وبلغة أكاديمية راقية وإن غاب عنه التنظيم الواضح و الغوص في التفاصيل بصورة عميقة ، وهذا لا يعتبر خللا في الكتاب فهو عبارة عن صرخة تحذير لمجابهة هذه التحركات الفاشية المضرة بالفعل الحضاري والتي باتت تلقى قبولا كبيرا عند عامة الناس ، كما أن الكتاب لبنة في تآليف الكاتب التي تتناول التوجهات الفاشية الحديثة والتي بمجموعها يأمل أن تقدم تصورا دقيقا لهذه الظاهرة وما يتعلق بها .
من المهم هنا التوضيح أن ما يحذر منه الكاتب هو منتج حداثي وأن هذه التبعات ما كانت لتتمدد بهذه الصورة لولا الحداثة الغربية وتمظهراتها الوحشية ، فمن المهم الإدراك أن الفاشية والشوفينية والقومية بل والوطنية تقود بالضرورة للممارسات التي يحذر منها الكاتب في ظل الأنظمة الشمولية والحكم الديكتاتوري سواء أكان حكما فرديا أو حزبيا أو حتى متعدد الأحزاب كما هو حاصل في الغرب اليوم ، فبغض النظر على أن النظم الحاكمة في الغرب اليوم تتمظهر بمظهر النظم الديمقراطية في الأعم الأغلب إلا أنها في القضايا ذات التقاطعات الثقافية والمصالح الاستراتيجية تتحول فجأة لنظم قومية شوفينية متعصبة ينبثق عنها بالضرورة تمظهرات فاشية واضحة ، وخذ مثالا حيا من تعامل الحضارة الغربية مع القضية الفلسطينية خصوصا بعد أحداث غزة الأخيرة ، فعند التماس الثقافي و المصالحي الاستراتيجي يتكشف الوجه الحقيقي للحضارة الغربية باعتباره حقلا متوحشا للممارسات الفاشية والرؤى الشوفينية والتماهي القومي المكذوب والوطني المزيف ..
ولكن لنعد لصلب الموضوع ، فإعادة كتابة التاريخ أو التحكم بالعقل الجمعي خصوصا للعامة من الناس ممارسات مرتبطة بالضرورة بالحكم الديكتاتوري كما فصلناه ، فما تقوم به الطغم العربية الحاكمة - وهي نظم حداثية بامتياز- ��ن تشويه للتاريخ والحاضر لضمان مستقبل يخدم مصالح هذه النظم ظاهر للعيان والإعلام المصري والسعودي يمارسون الفاشية في صورها الوحشية بسلاسة و أريحية ، وهم هنا لا يختلفون عن ممارسات الإعلام الأمريكي أو البريطاني والفرنسي في العديد من القضايا ، الفرق فقط هو في ديناميكية المجتمعات الغريبة التي لا زالت تجد مساحة من الحرية وتحارب بمثل هذا الكاتب وغيره لدحض هذه الممارسات .
الكلام يطول جدا إذا ما توجهنا لمناقشة ما تضمنه الكتاب لكن الحر تكفيه الإشارة ، وقراءة الكتاب ستقدم لك الكثير مما يعتبر رافدا ثقافيا في هذه المستنقعات التي نعيشها اليوم.
October 7, 2024
A fast paced and engaging crash course on how far right (and you could give it to any political or ideological movement that goes too far to a extreme) politics erase critical parts of history to benefit themselves and create a very narrow view of the truth, making people more suceptible to believe and elect them, with the charade of fair democracy. As Jason Stanley says, there are five major themes in fascist education:
-National greatness
-National purity
-National innocence
-Strict gender roles
-Vilification of the left
Be honest, how many goddamn podcast have you heard with these five items, or at least some of them, repeated again and again?
It gives different examples in history like Nazi Germany, England's erasure of the Kikuyu in Kenya, the Gulags, and put them into perspective with Donald Trump and Maga, and Putin. I had a little trouble with some concepts or frases sometimes, they appeared very lefty ivy league American college to me, but it wasn't intrusive to the argument, or it wouldn't even be an argument if it was. But it gives a clear understanding of what fascists movements do to education and why. It's scary, and it's happening right now all over the world, and we are to blame when we elect them. Just look at my dear Argentina and now Germany, and we'll see what happens in the USA.
In other words, if there is no state to support citizens in need, they will be obliged to fall back on their families and religious communities for support. This has the effect of reinforcing traditional social values, since it puts these families and communities in a position to condition their support on the rejection of certain beliefs, identities, or ways of life that they may find objectionable. A robust system of public goods gives citizens the necessary support structures to make their own choices - and to take full advantage of democracy's freedoms. And this is exactly why social conservatives and libertarians alike find democratic forms of education so threatening.
-National greatness
-National purity
-National innocence
-Strict gender roles
-Vilification of the left
Be honest, how many goddamn podcast have you heard with these five items, or at least some of them, repeated again and again?
It gives different examples in history like Nazi Germany, England's erasure of the Kikuyu in Kenya, the Gulags, and put them into perspective with Donald Trump and Maga, and Putin. I had a little trouble with some concepts or frases sometimes, they appeared very lefty ivy league American college to me, but it wasn't intrusive to the argument, or it wouldn't even be an argument if it was. But it gives a clear understanding of what fascists movements do to education and why. It's scary, and it's happening right now all over the world, and we are to blame when we elect them. Just look at my dear Argentina and now Germany, and we'll see what happens in the USA.
In other words, if there is no state to support citizens in need, they will be obliged to fall back on their families and religious communities for support. This has the effect of reinforcing traditional social values, since it puts these families and communities in a position to condition their support on the rejection of certain beliefs, identities, or ways of life that they may find objectionable. A robust system of public goods gives citizens the necessary support structures to make their own choices - and to take full advantage of democracy's freedoms. And this is exactly why social conservatives and libertarians alike find democratic forms of education so threatening.
April 22, 2025
A real eye-opening book about how whoever controls education controls the past and whoever controls the past controls the future. Refusing to accept the realities of the past is dangerous path for countries to fall back into those ideals.
I don’t have the word for word quote but my biggest takeaway quote form this book was something about how the portrayal of the US as inherently exceptional and morally superior (chosen by god) can make it susceptible to authoritarian ideologies because the assumption that democratic institutions are unbreakable create a false sense of security of the “America can do no wrong� mindset.
I don’t have the word for word quote but my biggest takeaway quote form this book was something about how the portrayal of the US as inherently exceptional and morally superior (chosen by god) can make it susceptible to authoritarian ideologies because the assumption that democratic institutions are unbreakable create a false sense of security of the “America can do no wrong� mindset.
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