Fascism, Herpes, and the Paradox of Cure: A Visceral Theory

The urgency of an uncomfortable diagnosis

Forgive my frankness. Sometimes political philosophy is too polished, too academic. It gets lost in the living rooms while reality unfolds on the streets.

I was reflecting on the recent controversies surrounding anti-fascist movements, those blacklisted by American anti-terrorism agencies, and I began to think we were taking the wrong approach. We're pondering Karl Popper's "Paradox of Tolerance," wondering whether it's permissible to tolerate the intolerant, and getting lost in ethical disquisitions.

I have a different theory. A down-to-earth theory, perhaps vulgar, but I think it's tremendously effective.

Extremist ideologies (all of them, without exception) are like genital herpes.

Now I'll explain this metaphor, which I'm sure is making you frown. But perhaps it's the only one that truly explains the history of the twentieth century and its implications up to the present day.

Latency: The Virus That Sleeps in Your Nerves

If you have had the opportunity to study the thought of Umberto Eco, you will know that he spoke of “Ur-Fascism”, the Eternal Fascism. While Primo Levi, that he saw hell from inside, he spoke of a “bacillus” that never dies.

Now, I certainly don't want to compare these two giants, but rather to combine the concepts and translate them from a... biological perspective. The point is this: you know you have it.
It's there. Perhaps it remains dormant for years, decades. Society seems healthy, democracy works, we all feel civilized and vaccinated. But the virus hasn't gone away. It's simply hidden in society's nervous system. It slumbers in our fears, our selfishness, our ignorance.

Tolerating it at this stage isn't an ethical choice: it's a physiological necessity. You can't completely "eradicate" it without killing the host, without establishing such totalitarian control over your thoughts that you yourself become the evil you fight.

So you live with it. You know it's there, and you hope it doesn't wake up.

The “Trigger”: When Defenses Collapse

But herpes doesn't come out randomly. It comes out when you're weak.
When society is under stress, when the economy collapses, when distrust in institutions reaches rock bottom, our immune defenses weaken.

This is where the virus “sticks its head out”.

It ceases to be a latent idea and becomes a physical symptom: violence, oppression, squadrism. Whether it's dressed in black, red, or any other color, the biological mechanism is the same.

Bertolt Brecht said that "the womb that gave birth to the unclean beast is still fertile." He was right. The womb is us when we stop reasoning and start to fear.

Shock Treatment: Why Tolerance Has a Limit

And this is where my theory slips away on the Popper's paradox with the pragmatism of someone who has to solve a problem.

If you tolerate the latent phase (because you have no choice), you can't afford to tolerate the acute phase.

As soon as the virus appears, as soon as it becomes a plague, you have to fight it. Right away!

You can't say, "Well, it's just a little bubble." Because that bubble is contagious. If you let it grow, it becomes necrotic. It can lead to the death of the democratic organism.

At that moment, tolerance is complicity. At that moment, we need antivirals, we need bitter medicine. We must intervene before it becomes an epidemic.

Let's keep our defenses up

Is this view cynical? Perhaps.

However, I would like it to be a call to responsibility. Let's stop seeking absolute purity; it doesn't exist. There are only organisms with good immune systems and immunocompromised organisms.

Anti-fascism, the real kind, isn't a flag to be waved only on special occasions. It's the daily hygiene of democracy. It's eating healthily, sleeping well, and not stressing the social body. It's culture, it's memory, it's beauty.

I look for beauty everywhere, and if I don't find it, I create it.. But I also know that ugliness is a virus that never truly sleeps. It's up to us to decide whether to let it win or keep it at bay, day after day.