Fascism. Fascist. Loaded terms. Most people associate fascism directly with the Nazis, but you don’t need a swastika on your arm to be a fascist. Some people are maybe a little too liberal with the term. Fascism is not a useful catch-all for disagreeable conservatives, though I am sure certain conservatively-minded people would agree with Hitler on a few things if they didn’t know who they were talking to. In 2019, the term means too much and very little at the same time. Fascists like this confusion very much, I imagine.
Perhaps our American public education system is to blame. In the ceaseless drive to make the most political subject ever safe for suburban consumption, the high school history curriculum can become a bit compartmentalized. I loved my history teachers and I know they meant well, but when Fascism is only taught as an artifact of WWII—a thing for Musolinis and Hitlers—it is easy to think that the whole mess was solved after the war ended. There were fascists before Hitler, and there have been fascists since. No, fascism did not die in 1946. It just got quiet. We all get quiet sometimes, right?
So what is facism? How do we discern fascists from the uncultured and dated old people? We could trade academic definitions all day, but wouldn’t it be nice if somebody could give us a picture of fascism? Maybe a series of pictures, like some kind of comic? Better, a Japanese comic? Yes, a Japanese comic exploring fascism would be awesome.
Enter Mob Psycho 100. In simple terms, Mob Psycho is a manga (and now a hit anime) about a middle schooler with psychic powers. If you remember what it was like to be an unpopular middle schooler in the 21st century or have seen Eighth Grade, then you probably have some idea of what’s at stake here. Mob, the protagonist, is a frail kid with a bad haircut going through puberty. He wants to ask Tsubomi Chan on a date, but crippling social anxiety and a lack of self confidence prevent him from doing so. Strong emotions overwhelm him and cause his powers to surge. He tragically rejects emotion and begins the manga in a state of neutral stagnation.
The reader quickly asks, “Why doesn’t Mob just use his psychic powers to become the coolest kid in Salt Middle School?” The whole series is a meditation on this question. Mob is like Superman, but his kryptonite is his own intense moral compass and aversion to exploitation. As the story advances, Mob is forced to confront other psychics that use their power to manipulate and dominate those around them. Eventually, a criminal syndicate of psychics known as “Claw” is introduced, whose stated goal is “World Domination.”
While overt terms like “fascism” are absent from the text, it is pretty clear that Claw is supposed to be a parody of organized hate. The organization is divided pyramid-style with non-psychics on the bottom (working under false promises of power) and a few extremely powerful psychics at the top. At one point, the boss of Claw claims to be the “protagonist” of the world and declares himself “a completely different species” from everybody around him. Stripped of racial scapegoating and political circumstances, the heart of the fascist ideology is exposed for what it really is: A conglomerate of infirm bodies attempting to place themselves above others through brute strength.
Mob, whose psychic powers are conveniently magnitudes more powerful than those of anyone else on the planet, forces his antagonists to accept that hierarchical power is unsustainable. A bigger fish will always come around. Many of Mob’s enemies realize that the middle schooler’s powers are too great for them and vow to change their ways. One individual is so ingrained in his ideology that he chooses to destroy himself rather than admit that he is not “special.” The whole thing is obtusely moral but consistently so. The effect doesn’t detract from the meaning. You really have to read it yourself.
Mob doesn’t leverage his powers because he knows deep down that learning to socialize and build strong relationships with many different people is important to not becoming a dysfunctional supervillain-idolizing, cult-organizing fascist. Or an incel. Or a loser. Is that what a fascist is? A poorly socialized individual that uses power to make up for shortcomings in character? I wish somebody told me this stuff seven years ago.
Unfortunately, we don’t all have psychic powers. Our only hope is to prevent the empowerment and proliferation of those nebulous flaws that lead one to become a fascist.
Mob Psycho says you’ll know it when you see it.
