What is Fascism?

Perhaps this picture explains it best.

I was reading an article about the Nazis and the Second World War, etc., when this word Fascism leaped out at me. Everyday I come across many words that I do not understand, but I work out some kind of meaning based on the sentence, get some context, and move on. Some times I check in on a Thesaurus to know that word better. Today, I wanted to learn what Fascism means. And perhaps use it in conversations to impress the other mortals. So I Googled it. And since Wikipedia is the mother of all encyclopedias I clicked on that first.

So, what is Fascism? Let's see what these sites have to say.

Wikipedia:

"Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek rejuvenation of their nation based on commitment to an organic national community where its individuals are united together as one people in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood through a totalitarian single-party state that seeks the mass mobilization of a nation through discipline, indoctrination, physical education, and eugenics."

Really, Wiki? This is the definition you give to a person with little or no knowledge of this word?!

Lower your voice, you!

Urban Dictionary:

Fascism: The Bush administration 

I loved this one! :P

Dictionary.com:

A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

Okay, quite easy to understand.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

A political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

Hmm.

I should now confess I already used Fascism in a conversation today. With a straight face.