ROME — Italian voters appeared to shatter several precedents Sunday, backing parties that are now set to form the country’s farthest-right government since the fall of Mussolini, led by its first-ever female prime minister.

As always, a complimentary link

[wapo.st]

Crap.

Worked out so well the last time.

[allthatsinteresting.com]

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Her coalition partners Berlusconi and Salvini are backers and pals of Putin. She isn't. They both want to be in charge, so look for rough times.

Nationalism is appealing to a lot of voters in every country. The fascist wing of nationalists usually consider themselves to be ethnic nationalists. Religious nationalists have a big role, too, but lot of religious nationalists also consider themselves to be ethnic nationalists.

I consider myself to be a cultural transnationalist and, unfortunately, that puts me at odds with many nationalists at a fundamental ideological level. How do you convince a nationalist that nationalism is a myopic way of looking at us bands of great apes cooperating like crazy to build wonderful things and make our lives better (many of us anyway) and we could keep building but instead we let nationalist impulses lead to massive destruction of human life and beneficial structures and machines.

Sorry for that rant. So anyway, yeah, ethnic nationalism is especially active in Italy and that is disheartening.

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e pluribus unum



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2022 07:19AM by Ted King.

I wonder how much indirect funding (Like the Putin to NRA to Republicans) is coming from Putin.

Paid off handsomely in the USA.

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham 1981

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise" - Barry Goldwater

What did Facist do for Italy in the past? What is wrong with people?

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samintx
What did Facist do for Italy in the past? What is wrong with people?

The trains ran on time...


Fascism arises out of fear. People want it easy, they want neighbors who look and act like them, they fear the change and want to blame outsiders. In Germany, it was the Jews. Today in Europe it is the refugees. In the US it is Hispanics and of course the deep divide in politics.

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

Quote
Ombligo

Quote
samintx
What did Facist do for Italy in the past? What is wrong with people?

The trains ran on time...


Fascism arises out of fear. People want it easy, they want neighbors who look and act like them, they fear the change and want to blame outsiders. In Germany, it was the Jews. Today in Europe it is the refugees. In the US it is Hispanics and of course the deep divide in politics.

Well put. Fascism arises out of fear. I think a lot of the fear comes from economic uncertainty or at least the perception of economic uncertainty as well as from a sort of feeling of existential threat to their cultural identity.
And you are spot on about fascists using those fears to generate blame aimed at those that are "different".

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e pluribus unum



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2022 08:06AM by Ted King.

Italy has had a conservative streak for a while. Berlusconi was Trump before Trump.

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Didn't Italy also have the greatest amount of refugees coming from Africa?

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The arts are not luxuries but assets that give way more than they cost.
--Ronald Tucker on YouTube

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open.
--Frank Zappa

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Ombligo
The trains ran on time...

Nopes says Snopes

[www.snopes.com]

Paul

My cousin In Italy said this: ho gia i nomi per il governo. deve solo aspettare che li scarcerino.

Which Google translates to: I already have the names for the government. She just has to wait for them to be released.

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voodoopenguin

Quote
Ombligo
The trains ran on time...

Nopes says Snopes

[www.snopes.com]

Paul

Well of course it isn't a fact, but it is a rationalization that has been used for decades to justify the early support for Mussolini and his government. But it is the view through rose colored glasses just like that of those in the US who look back to the 1950s as a wonderful time. It may have been if you were white, middle class and male, not so much for others.

It may have been if you were white, middle class and male,

isn't that all that matters these days?
</sarcasm>

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Sam3
Didn't Italy also have the greatest amount of refugees coming from Africa?

Yep. Boatloads.

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Sam3
Didn't Italy also have the greatest amount of refugees coming from Africa?

Yes. And apparently a significant increase in crime.