Ryan Skinnell, San Jose State associate professor of rhetoric and composition, gave a hybrid presentation on rhetoric, fascism and truth at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library Wednesday at noon.
Skinnell, who has co-authored and edited 10 books on the subject, defined rhetoric as language and symbols that people use to persuade one another to think, believe and act in certain ways.
During his presentation, Skinnell gave examples of rhetoric which included campaign speech.
He said campaign speech is “inherently rhetoric” because it’s trying to influence the way people will vote.
Skinnell also said rhetoric includes the San Francisco Giants baseball team’s logo on his own mask he was wearing.
Symbols connect people with one another while excluding people viewed as hostile, people who are united under an opposing symbol the way Giants fans are united against Dodgers fans, Skinnell said.
“For example, the handsome person standing at the front of the room is a San Francisco Giants fan, which means that if you're a Giants fan, we're all in this together and if you're a Dodgers fan, we're not friends and can never be friends,” Skinnell said.
Rather than give a concrete definition of fascism, Skinnell said it’s played out in rhetoric and in symbols and gave several examples of fascist regimes including the Nazi Party, the America First Committee and the Proud Boys.
The Nazi Party was the only system of fascist authoritative government among Skinnell’s examples of fascist organizations.
The America First Committee was a far-right, anti-semitic organization led by influential figures including aviator Charles Lindbergh, who resisted U.S. entry into World War II and insisted that Jewish people were trying to lead the U.S. into war, according to a Jan. 21, 2017 article from The Atlantic.
Skinnell’s primary area of focus is 20th-century-fascist leaders including Italy’s Benito Mussolini and Romania’s Corneliu Codreanu.
“They were notorious liars,” Skinnell said. “They lied about everything, big things, little things. They lied, obviously, to people who knew they were lying. And yet people, millions of people, trusted them.”
Skinnell also quoted German American scholar Hannah Arendt’s book “The Origins of Totalitarianism,” saying “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false, no longer exists.”
Communication studies junior Bodhi Fiala said he believes people need to know right from wrong to combat fascism and part of this knowledge comes from discussions such as these.
“I think that the best way to avoid more people falling to fascist ideology is through more education,” Fiala said in an Instagram message. “What I’ve come to understand about fascism is that it happens when an opposing party is completely struck down. An important part of democracy [is] debating.”
Skinnell painted a picture of how an ordinary civilian could be easily persuaded to behave in a certain way, even when they knew they were being lied to by a charismatic dictator.
In this way, fascist leaders generate popular support, he said.
“The people who throw their lots in with fascists are not stupid, uneducated sheep,” Skinnell said. “They are not, for the most part, evil, conniving devils. They are not, for the most part, tricked or hypnotized. They are rather ordinary people seeking stability, safety and prosperity in uncertain times.”
Fascists exploit the fears of a certain group of people, and promise to create a better future for them through fascism and totalitarian government, Skinnell said.
They tell this group that they’re, in Skinnell’s words, a “chosen people” and fascism is the solution to their problems, he said.
Skinnell said fascists develop a strong nation based on the identity and superiority of this chosen group.
The performance of these lies is just as important, if not more important, than the lies themselves, Skinnell said.
The illusion of authenticity, the appearance of sincerity, is often what convinces the masses to rally behind a captivating fraud, he said.
Skinnell said fascist leaders are seen as believable because they perform their lies in animated, candid, eloquent and passionate manners.
On the other hand, democratic leaders who recite truths in ways that are boring, unappealing or dispassionate are seen as dishonest, or at the very least uninspiring, Skinnell said.
This thwarts attempts to correct fascism and restore democracy by replacing lies with truth, he said, adding that ultimately, if the lies are more compelling, people will dispense with the truth.
“In effect, the charismatic leader proves the feebleness of democracy by flouting its assumptions,” Skinnell said. “Lie big, refuse to be shamed for lying and then accuse liberal democrats of flouting their own values of free speech and tolerance of opposing views. The charismatic leader proves themself worthy by conspicuously exploiting democracy's weaknesses for everyone to see.”
Skinnell gave the example of Hans Frank, the Nazi governor of Poland during WWII, who helped institute Hitler’s final solution. He said Frank had been so impressed by Hitler’s earnestness and believed Hitler was trustworthy because he spoke with sincerity.
“Twentieth century fascists including Mussolini, Hitler and Codreanu contended that the only empirical truth worth adhering to was the social Darwinian principle of struggle, which is to say the strong should dominate, and if necessary, annihilate the weak,” Skinnell said.
The 21st century has seen its fair share of fascist leaders rise to power globally, some through democratic elections, he said.
Skinnell added that fascism is also a U.S. problem and is far from being a foreign issue.
“It's not just a distant phenomenon, either.” Skinnell said. “American fascism is and has long been thriving.”
Fiala said the U.S. government structure would prevent a fascist leader from taking power.
“I know a lot of people like to compare [former President] Donald Trump to fascist leaders like Hitler but our government is set up to help us prevent one person from completely taking over,” Fiala said.
Political science senior Katy Jensen said Trump’s leadership style had fascist undertones.
“One example of this is how Donald Trump practically encouraged the Jan. 6 insurrection,” Jensen said in a text. “His leadership style resembles fascist tendencies.”
Hundreds of people stormed the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6 to disrupt the Electoral College result certifications, according to a Jan. 7 New York Times article
Skinnell said the most famous and active neo-fascist group is the Proud Boys, but many others exist and thrive.
Identity Evropa was created by a San Jose native and the group is known for recruiting and proselytizing white supremacy on college campuses, Skinnell said.
Identity Evropa is designated as a white nationalist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Founded in 2016 by Nathan Damigo of San Jose, who bemoaned San Jose’s cultural diversity as his own “dispossession,” the group has since renamed themselves the American Identity Movement.
They were involved in orchestrating the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina, at which Ohio resident James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd of counter-protestors, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center website.
“These groups are filled with our neighbors, our colleagues, our friends, maybe even some of you,” Skinnell said, pointing to the small crowd of people who attended his presentation in person.
Skinnell ended the presentation by stating the importance of fighting fascism, stating that the end of 20th century dictators did not signal the end of fascism itself.
“So while the 20th century fascist leaders that I've been talking about today are long dead, Fascist rhetoric moves on,” Skinnell said. “Sometimes candidly, and sometimes it's obvious but quiet background noise. Consequently, it remains an urgent task for us to understand how those people recruit and attract followers, particularly in democracies without which they would wither and die.”
