the amount of fucking dog whistles and esoteric Nazi symbols we need to keep track of is mind blowing.
agreed, though i wouldn't call the fasces esoteric. it's kinda the original fascist symbol used by the very first fascist party. it's right up there with the swastika as the most well known symbols of fascism. And much like the swastika it's a very old symbol that has pre-fascist meaning as well. it technically dates to Etruscan monarchies before Rome existed. The fasces was also used by Republicans (i.e. bourgeois nationalists) in the 1700s and 1800s. Both the French revolutionary movement and the American independence movement were fond of fasces. You can see the fasces in the house of representatives on either side of the speaker's chair.
(not trying to give you a hard time, just providing some extra historical context for it)
No, I get it. This one was on my lack of knowledge. But in my defence, I was not taught any of this.
I also find it interesting that some people get pressed about other cultures continuing to use the Swastika (as it was originally intended, not the tilted version ofc), especially when people from those cultures immigrate to the West and demand they get rid of it because "of what it means in Western history" but no one seems to care that this seemingly equally big symbol is being trotted around in the fucking Congress with no issues.
Anyways, thanks for educating me on the history. I'll keep this one in mind, if I ever see it (esp. the explicitly fascist one) in any media I consume. I think I've seen the OG one floating about in some parts but I can't quite recall.
Well... that's sort of a chicken-egg question. I'm not betting that fascist tendencies in social circles post-dated the allegory of the Fasces. I'm sure you can find them going back thousands of years.
Having to put up with socieities that are on The Riddler levels of "slap symbols everywhere for the hell of it" bullshit sucks. Fucking pattern-brained great ape pieces of shit