Thread necromancy-2.2-liberal airhead. (In my stupider days I was like 3.8 or something)
But the notable thing here, and the reason for my post is this set of factors to look for in fascism.
Conventionalism: Rigid adherence to conventional, middle-class values.
Authoritarian Submission: Submissive, uncritical attitude toward idealized moral authorities of the ingroup.
Authoritarian Aggression: Tendency to be on the lookout for, and to condemn, reject, and punish people who violate conventional values.
Anti-intraception: Opposition to the subjective, the imaginative, the tender-minded.
Superstition and Stereotypy: The belief in mystical determinants of the individual's fate; the disposition to think in rigid categories.
Power and "Toughness": Preoccupation with the dominance-submission, strong-weak, leader-follower dimension; identification with power figures; overemphasis upon the conventionalized attributes of the ego; exaggerated assertion of strength and toughness.
Destructiveness and Cynicism: Generalized hostility, vilification of the human.
Projectivity: The disposition to believe that wild and dangerous things go on in the world; the projection outwards of unconscious emotional impulses. 18,
Sex: Exaggerated concern with sexual "goings-on."
Unsurprisingly, this describes Abrahamic religious fanatics to the T. More surprisingly, the Tory and Repuglican (as well as new-right European) parties share a lot of common characteristics here.
Perhaps fascism then tends to our most innate and natural primate and animalistic instincts and it takes some level of logic and intelligence to overcome such instincts?