An Exercise in Bombastic Buffoonery

Benito Mussolini is a blowhard. After reading his speech “Man of War” several times, I can think of no other way than to put it as succinctly as possible. On second thought- Mussolini was a blowhard- he's been dead since 1945. What is maddening is that he was an effective blowhard, as evidenced by the sheer volume of people that turned out to hear his speeches during World War II (see next blog post). What made "Il Duce" such an effective communicator? I identified several themes that Mussolini used in "Man of War"; I will highlight two of them.

Mussolini makes excellent use of nationalism in his speech, hailing his audience as “Blackshirts of Rome” and the “authentic, real, great Italian people”, while contrasting them with the English, who are made out to be liars and hypocrites. Appeals to nationalism is often effective in speeches, particularly in wartime, as it builds cohesion among the people and unifies them against a common enemy, in this case, the Allied powers. An unfortunate consequence of falling prey to nationalistic vitriol is that one very quickly accepts what the ruling party tells them, without critically thinking about the ramifications of doing so. Such folly was rife in Nazi Germany and led to the greatest genocide the world has ever seen. Speaker such as Mussolini are able to bypass the part of the mind that deals in reason and logic and appeal strictly to the emotions of the listeners. Falsehood can become truth when shouted loud enough and long enough.

I like absolutes. Absolutes provide a framework for humans to relate to their world in a concrete manner; the laws of logic, the scientific method, and, whether you like it or not, moral absolutes. Absolutes can also be manipulated or invented, particularly in language, so that a proposition becomes a certainty, and subjective opinions become dogmatic one way streets. “Man of War” is without exception: “We will crush...when and how we want” promised Mussolini, “the Italian people will have their day” (and they did, when they executed Mussolini), and, for some unfortunate souls, “history takes one by the throat and forces a decision”. Let it not be said that Mussolini lacked emphasis! In addition to dogmatism one can manufacture an air of authority simply by making declarative statements as though they were fact.

I found “Man of War” to be slim on substance, yet his followers undoubtedly did not. I couldn't help but feel as though Mussolini was patronizing his listeners with words of grandeur and cheap analogies, shouting in their collective ear “Victory, Italy, peace with justice among peoples!”.