Fascism In The Flesh

I really didn't want to do this, but it has to be said: Kanye West is living proof of the fact that conservatism is adjacent to fascism. We can observe how one man goes from flirting with conservatism to becoming a full-blown neo-Nazi.

_{source: YouTube}

I have to start with a big caveat; although he denies it, people close to Ye, formerly Kanye West, have hinted at the possibility that he suffers from a mental affliction, and that he refuses to take medication. So, I'm not here to make fun of Ye, as mental illness is no laughing matter. What I want, is to use his journey, his very public journey that ended up with him falling out of grace with everyone but the most extreme alt-right neo-Nazis. In this journey we see, in my opinion, a condensed and crystallized version of the wider road towards fascism we've seen unfold before our eyes these past decades.

If you've read my post Extremist Billionaires, you'll already have a suspicion of where this is going, and you'll agree that Ye belongs in the group of people who are "Too Far Gone", people who can't be reasoned with anymore because they've fallen down the rabbit hole of unsubstantiated conspiracies and wacky ideas. There are many reasons why conservatives are more likely to fall for which can be summarized by a relative lack of curiosity. Conservatism promotes the idea of hierarchical society where people on the lower rungs are used to getting their beliefs (and orders) from higher-ups. Also religiosity is more common among conservatives; they have faith, which is belief without evidence. These traits don't always have to be bad, but they do indicate a willingness to accept claims without evidence. It's not a coincidence that many forms of science-denial are are found predominantly in the political right-wing.

I won't cover Kanye West's entire history; if you're interested to hear more about his early life and career, watch the included video above. I will say that Kanye used to be more progressive and sympathetic to marginalized demographics, having defended gay people in a 2005 MTV interview by speaking out against homophobia in rap music. Kanye West's star rose quickly, first as a musical genius and later as a fashion designer, and he built a reputation as a public figure who was willing to say the quiet part out loud. Lately though, there's been an increasing amount of cracks in his shiny career; it started, for me at least, in 2018 when he said that 400 years of slavery was a choice in an interview with radio host Charlamagne Tha God. He tried to backtrack that statement afterwards, but the damage had been done.

To many of his fans Kanye was a prophet of sorts, the celebrity who wasn't afraid to speak his mind on often sensitive and loaded subjects. The unsympathetic explanation for this behavior is that he understands the power and influence this behavior grants him. Much like Elon Musk and Donald Trump, Kanye craves the spotlights and wants power. This drive towards self-aggrandizement culminated in his 2020 bid for the presidency. There's just no denying that Kanye has an unhealthy dose of narcissism when we hear him say during his erratic 2020 campaign:

"Everybody wants to know what I'd do if I didn't win... I guess we'll never know."

We then see him get close to Trump, wearing his MAGA cap at every public appearance. From fighting for minorities, to calling slavery a choice, to becoming friends with Candace Owens, to making shirts with "White Lives Matter" and ending up where he is now, able to embarrass even Alex Jones himself by openly declaring love for Adolf Hitler. Like I said at the start; Kanye is probably mentally ill ad has no filter. He's always said the quiet part out loud, and now that he's ended up on the extreme far right, this rhetorical candor is too much for the alt-right extremists he fraternizes with, forcing them to denounce him publicly. Watch the below linked video and you'll see some of the reactions Kanye's got on his Alex Jones interview; not saying that he was wrong, but that he should have kept quiet about his love for Hitler and Nazis. Anyhow, watch both videos to fully understand how one man descends from only flirting with conservative ideas, gaining "outrage-celebrity" from that flirtation, into full-blown fascism. And then realize how this works almost exactly the same for society as a whole.

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