Postwar syndrome - a phenomenon in Western culture after World War II, defined by characteristics opposite to those of Fascism. Postwar syndrome theory explains many traits of modern Western Left, but it holds to a lesser degree for leftism in post-communist and developing countries. A spiritual home for the mindset based on postwar syndrome is California. The syndrome involves not only politics, it also strongly influences popular culture. Its influence is also visible in the Catholic Church, especially during the papacies of John Paul II and Francis.
Contrary to some theories popular on the Right, the modern Left is not direct heir of Marxism and contradicts it in some ways (e.g. it denies the superiority of modern West over traditional societies). Social movements with those characteristics started developing among intellectuals in the 1950s, briefly after WW2, so it seems very likely that they arose under the influence of a collective trauma. A source of such trauma was not only Fascism but also Stalinism and nuclear attack on Hiroshima. All those atrocities brought the idea of progress into question.
The views of modern Left are a reversal of Fascism in three ways:
1. Fascism extolled the „master race” and more broadly Western civilization, modern Left claims that all cultures are equal. Furthermore, it posits that all worldviews and lifestyles are equal (inclusivism). Such view can result in:
- rejection of European cultural heritage as fouled by totalitarianism
- fascination by spirituality of Eastern and indigenous cultures (e.g. hippies, New Age, certain ecumenical currents within Catholicism)
- moral and cognitive relativism (the idea of objective truth is rejected as totalitarian)
- radical environmentalism
- fondness for uncivilized aesthetics (e.g. hip-hop subculture, tattoos)
- support for national liberation movements in the Third World, despite their often murderous character
- a positive side of this trend is criticism of modernist obsession with technology and consumption
2. Fascism promoted iron discipline and absolute subordination of the individual to the collective, modern Left promotes frivolous self-expression, with sexual liberation as its most vivid form. This trait is seen in popular media, and also in more scientific form in so-called self-actualization psychology. It is manifested by:
- escape from stability in life (e.g. beatniks, digital nomads)
- stronger influence of entertainers on the attitudes of mainstream society
- less modest clothing styles, like the bikini and miniskirt
- belief in unlimited human potential, restrained only by authoritarian society (e.g. New Age)
- escapist „spirituality”, focused only on personal mystical experiences, but avoiding moral demands
3. Fascism exalted ruthlessness, modern Left exalts saccharine empathy, with the following symptoms:
- pacifism
- equating animal rights with human rights
- in the Church – excessive worship of Mercy
- dislike for masculinity (though even very warlike attitudes are accepted among enemies of the West)
- abolition of the death penalty
- „stress-free” upbringing
- aggressive indignation at any instance of discrimination of minorities such as gays and blacks, regardless of their behaviour
It was difficult to find proponents of such set of views before WW2. Certain sects of Victorian Protestantism showed really sentimental empathy and so did Tolstoyans in pre-revolutionary Russia, but sexual liberation and cultural relativism were completely alien to them. On the other hand the Decadents promoted absolute freedom of the individual, but were not interested in empathy at all.
According to proponents of the postwar syndrome theory moderation in the best, while excessive slant towards either Fascism or the postwar Left is always harmful to humanity.
There are historical analogues to postwar syndrome. Popular culture of the post-WW2 era displays some Baroque traits:
- showing the world as hostile to man (e.g. threatening with an atomic apocalypse)
- art which creates seductive fantasies or bewildering concepts (e.g. the science fiction boom)
- psychological approach
- mixing artistic genres (postmodernism)
These are probably symptoms of decline of rationality and optimism typical of the early 20th century, in the same way as Renaissance rationality and optimism declined in the Baroque Era.