Swastikas, Hypocrisy and Prince Harry

Right in the middle of the great Tsunami disaster, another disaster hits the global headlines: Prince Harry dressed up as a Nazi, and wearing a swastika arm band!

The world is aghast. The world is outraged. The world is full of shite.

The reason for the outrage, so we are told, is that Prince Harry has offended millions of people by thoughtlessly wearing the hated symbol of Nazism--that unique German manifestation of fascism and National Socialism. More particularly, he has offended world Jewry.

How can anyone be offended by a symbol--unless they are truly offended by what it represents? And what does the swastika represent? It is the symbol of tyrannical state power. The symbol of racial supremacy and racial persecution. The symbol of nationalism gone mad. The symbol of the corporate state. The symbol of aggressive war and foreign occupation. The symbol of mindless collectivism and statism. The symbol (to borrow a phrase from Orwell's 1984) of a boot stamping on the human face--forever.

Ultimately, it all boils down to one single word--fascism. And just in case you're not clear on the definition of fascism--it means the corporate state--the merging of state and corporate power. It means the nationalisation of property by alternative means--not by seizing it off individuals, but by controlling it. It means the merging of the *I* into the *We*.

The Nazis had it right when they labeled their brand of fascism as National Socialism. For that's what it is--socialism wrapped in nationalism. The final end point of a thoroughly evil philosophy.

My question is: How can a world bloated by fascist sympathies and inclinations be offended by seeing the symbol of its own basic political thinking? How can anyone who supports the philosophic premises of fascism be outraged by the globally-recognised symbol of it? Only if they are hypocrites or plainly ignorant.

And a second related question: Why do we remember, every year, the sacrifice of millions of young soldiers in WWII--in the cause of defending freedom against fascism--while we idly sit by and watch that freedom trashed day in and day out? We're being drowned by the very ideas WWII was supposed to have defeated.

Yes, I'm offended by the symbol of Nazism--because I understand what it really means. But for most people, it's a knee-jerk reaction fuelled by a stupid and anti-mind media--backed by the thoroughly fascistic state.

Am I offended by Prince Harry wearing a swastika at a fancy dress party? Not one bit. I'm offended by the fact we're living in an increasingly fascist world--and that barely anyone notices. I'm offended by the people who ARE fascists--not those who dress up as them. That's the real outrage--offence at the image, not the reality.

If I thought people's hysterical objections to this event were in any way a serious upsurge of antifascism, then I'd be cheering. But it isn't. Fascism is the order of the day. Fascism is the rising tide of modern political thought. Fascism is the new pop-philosophy.

You don't believe me? Well, consider this:

Under communism, your property is confiscated outright. Under fascism, you retain nominal ownership--but not control.

Want to allow smokers into your restaurant? Bad luck, you don't have control over your property. Want to drive without wearing a seat belt? Tough. How you use your body and your car is not for you to decide. Want to cut that tree in your back garden? Think again, it's not you who can make such decisions about your own property. Want to open a business in your basement? Not likely. Want to keep all the money you earn by your own hard work? Silly boy!

Under fascism, corporate power and state power merge seamlessly together. This is achieved by the state granting special privileges to certain companies--in return for favours. Consider Halliburton in the USA--granted lucrative contracts in Iraq, without having to contest such contracts by open tender. Consider all the companies that profit from war. Consider any and every monopoly you've every encountered--and understand that such a monopoly is a function of state sanction. And the state itself is the ultimate monopoly.

The war in Iraq is a naked act of fascist aggression against a country--previously impoverished by sanctions--that presented no provable threat to the USA. The German leaders were hauled before Nuremberg for their aggressive actions in WWII. George Bush just smiles inanely and never concedes mistakes--while millions of Americans voted him president again. Meanwhile, hapless US soldiers continue to die in what is becoming a military rout--not to mention the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians.

The list can go on and on. Pending National ID cards. Increasing loss of personal privacy. Money, your property, consumed by confiscatory taxes. Total loss of financial privacy. Soon, legislation to control your intake of vitamins and quite possibly the very food you eat. Pending national service and/or military draft. Rampant nationalism and flag waving. Imprisonment without trial. Torture in prisons. Mysticism and fundamentalism (yes, Hitler was a true mystic). Monopolised global propaganda. Embedded journalism. Global emotional outpouring due to massive media exposure of natural disasters--like the recent Tsunami--while at the same time, effective media blackout of the impact of man-made disasters like the war in Iraq. Loss of freedom of speech--due to insidious hate crime legislation. And, of course, The Department of Homeland Security. Or should I say *Fatherland*?

The fact is, Orwell's worst nightmare--1984--is coming true before our eyes. But our eyes are shut. They only open when some young lad from a supposedly royal family gets dressed up in a silly costume.

The very act of being offended by Prince Harry's antics--while being oblivious to REAL fascism--is an admission of moral bankruptcy and total ignorance of the highest order.

And that's the danger--a completely twisted and inverted sense of right and wrong, warped by decades of state-worship and mind control (read public education).

But it gets worse. Even supposed freedom-lovers are losing the plot and falling under the fascist spell. It's as if there is a latent human yearning, a fascist gene, for the type of world such a political arrangement can achieve. So much so, that previously sound-minded individuals lose control of their faculties, leap into jackboots and start goose stepping!

I'm not talking about *brown shirts* or white supremacists here, but some libertarians and Objectivists (followers of Ayn Rand)--people who should know a whole lot better.

There was a time when these folk were the staunch defenders of freedom. But the lure of fascism has got to some of them and put them under its evil spell. Now they too are cheerleaders for the state--turned into avid warmongers, some of whom literally want to nuke the entire Middle East. In the name of freedom, of course.

War is peace. Ignorance is knowledge. Lies are truth. Black is white.

You could be forgiven for thinking we live in a crazy world--for in many respects, we do. And coughing and spluttering about Prince Harry's private antics, while Rome burns, is just one indication.

But is the news all bad?

Fortunately, no. Amongst all this thuggery and demagoguery, there is a rising voice of reason--and some surprising new coalitions of those who truly value freedom.

As a regular reader of commentary on the web--from all political persuasions--I've noticed something quite extraordinary: A coalescing of certain elements of the so-called *right* with the so-called *left*.

The catalyst for this newly-emerging consensus has been the war in Iraq--which has overturned many embedded myths about the existing political spectrum.

When you start to read similar commentary on websites which previously were separated by apparently insurmountable philosophical differences, then you know something is up. And that's what's happening with regard to an awareness of the rise of fascism. It's being talked about.

I'm not sure if this new coalition will morph into a completely new form of philosophical opposition to the fascist state, but I do believe that (as Doug Casey the investment advisor says) "crisis equals opportunity."

We are headed for crisis on a number of fronts--economic, moral and political. This is all bad news on the face of it--but potentially good news in the larger scheme of things.

Finally, the recent tsunami illustrated something of profound significance: the ability of people to respond to misfortune, without government *assistance*--when they are confronted with the facts. And if we were confronted by the same facts and images of the total war state--and its fascist machinations, then I believe the state's number would be up. It would finally be exposed for what it truly is--the corrupter of human morals and decency.

Freedom is won one step at a time. To be free, you must live free--yourself. Don't wait for someone to hand it to you. It will never happen. Grab it yourself--and be part of the solution.