Tag Archives: Fascism

Should We Cancel This Children’s Classic?

By Robin Bates | Published: April 4, 2021

Should we cancel “Little Black Sambo,” which I loved as a child. I wrestle with the question here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged cancel culture, free speech, Helen Bannerman, Little Black Sambo | Comments closed

Novels That Predicted a Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: August 30, 2020

Lewis’s “It Can’t Happen Here” and Roth’s “Plot against America” do a very good job of predicting a Donald Trump.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged authoritarianism, Donald Trump, It Can't Happen Here, Plot against America, Sinclair Lewis | Comments closed

Is Golding’s Novel True? Sadly, Yes

By Robin Bates | Published: May 11, 2020

A recent Guardian article about actual shipwrecked boys raises doubts about the psychology of “Lord of the Flies.” Sadly, the book is still true.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged authoritarianism, Donald Trump, Lord of the Flies, Rutger Bregman, William Golding | Comments closed

Feeding on Beauty in the Midst of Horror

By Robin Bates | Published: May 4, 2020

If music sustained camp prisoners during the Holocaust, as Rita Dove describes in this poem, the arts can sustain us during our current pandemic.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Transit", Alice Herz-Sommer, concentration camps, Holocaust, Music, Nazis, Rita Dove | Comments closed

Iago, White Supremacist

By Robin Bates | Published: March 30, 2020

To understand Iago’s motivations, think status anxiety–the fear of losing cultural and social dominance over “the Other.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Othello, racism, status anxiety, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

“Rhinoceros” and Trump’s GOP Takeover

By Robin Bates | Published: September 8, 2019

Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros” brilliantly captures how creeping authoritarianism works. It’s only too relevant.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged conformity, Donald Trump, Eugene Ionesco, GOP, Rhinoceros, Trumpism | Comments closed

Why Fascists Obsess about Invasions

By Robin Bates | Published: August 5, 2019

Tuesday In an important article, Washington Post’s Phil Rucker pointed out how the El Paso shooter’s diatribe, in which he talks of a “Hispanic invasion of Texas,” mirrors Donald Trump’s language. Rucker reminds us of what we’ve been hearing from our president: President Trump has relentlessly used his bully pulpit to decry Latino migration as […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged El Paso shooting, Klaus Theweleit, male fantasies, white supremacy | Comments closed