Umberto Eco

Some notes on Umberto Eco's Ur-Fascism


1.
"...the word fascism became a synecdoche, that is, a word that could be used for different totalitarian movements."
"So we come to my second point. There was only one Nazism. We cannot label Franco’s hyper-Catholic Falangism as Nazism, since Nazism is fundamentally pagan, polytheistic, and anti-Christian. But the fascist game can be played in many forms, and the name of the game does not change. The notion of fascism is not unlike Wittgenstein’s notion of a game. A game can be either competitive or not, it can require some special skill or none, it can or cannot involve money. Games are different activities that display only some “family resemblance,” as Wittgenstein put it." Umberto Eco.

I feel like "Why Wittgenstein?"
If you're in need of some scientific justification, perhaps Wittgenstein is not the best idea.
He is like a boomerang.




"Zum Staunen muß der Mensch – und vielleicht Völker – aufwachen. Die Wissenschaft ist ein Mittel um ihn wieder einzuschläfern."

"Man – and perhaps nations – must wake up to be amazed. Science is a means of putting him back to sleep."

2.
I feel like the gamekeeper.
The gamekeeper who is walking all day long around the estate with his open rifle in the "elbow carry position". And when you have a closer look at the gun, it becomes obvious that there are no bullets in it.
I feel like the gamekeeper without ammunition.

3.
I feel like Wittgenstein.

"Humor ist keine Stimmung; sondern eine Weltanschauung. Und darum, wenn es richtig ist, zu sagen, im Nazi-Deutschland sei der Humor vertilgt worden, so heißt das nicht so etwas wie, man sei nicht guter Laune gewesen, sondern etwas viel Tieferes & Wichtigeres."  

"Humor is not a mood but a way of looking at the world. So if it is correct to say that humor was stamped out in Nazi Germany, that does not mean that people were not in good spirits, or anything of that sort, but something much deeper and more important."


4.
"Fascism became an all-purpose term because one can eliminate from a fascist regime one or more features, and it will still be recognizable as fascist." Umberto Eco.

I feel like:

5.
"But in spite of this fuzziness, I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism." Umberto Eco

I feel like the single man with a cardboard demonstrating in a huge crowd.
The cardboard says:
SAY NO TO CAPITALS.

6.
I feel like Nietzsche in "beyond good and evil" 294

"Jenem Philosophen zum Trotz, der als ächter Engländer dem Lachen bei allen denkenden Köpfen eine üble Nachrede zu schaffen suchte — „das Lachen ist ein arges Gebreste der menschlichen Natur, welches jeder denkende Kopf zu überwinden bestrebt sein wird“ (Hobbes) —, würde ich mir sogar eine Rangordnung der Philosophen erlauben, je nach dem Range ihres Lachens — bis hinauf zu denen, die des goldnen Gelächters fähig sind. Und gesetzt, dass auch Götter philosophiren, wozu mich mancher Schluss schon gedrängt hat —, so zweifle ich nicht, dass sie dabei auch auf eine übermenschliche und neue Weise zu lachen wissen — und auf Unkosten aller ernsten Dinge! Götter sind spottlustig: es scheint, sie können selbst bei heiligen Handlungen das Lachen nicht lassen."

"Despite the philosopher who, as a genuine Englishman, tried to bring laughter into bad repute in all thinking minds—"Laughing is a bad infirmity of human nature, which every thinking mind will strive to overcome" (Hobbes),—I would even allow myself to rank philosophers according to the quality of their laughing—up to those who are capable of golden laughter. And supposing that Gods also philosophize, which I am strongly inclined to believe, owing to many reasons—I have no doubt that they also know how to laugh thereby in an overman-like and new fashion—and at the expense of all serious things! Gods are fond of ridicule: it seems that they cannot refrain from laughter even in holy matters."

7.
From "fascism" to "Eternal Fascism".
I feel like:

8.
The biker is thinking about the essence of his bike.
Wheels, brakes, crank, frame, chain, seat, handle bars ...
I feel like "what's the use of a bike when you are swimming?"

9.
I feel like: "Irrationality? I don't know what that is."

10.
I feel like:  "Remember Jorge De Burgos".

11.
I feel like:
"Beware of being what you despise: a despiser."

12.
I feel like: "what's the family resemblance in all this?"
Think about it.
DEEPER!