Is 'Fascism' the Key to Writing Success?

Well, I was quite proud to have written the number one article on LewRockwell.com for 2006. I say "was," because then Bob Murphy let the air out of my balloon by directing me to the list of top articles for 2005 and noting the key word in both the title of that year’s number one and mine: "fascism." Bob even offered a prediction for what article would score a number one in 2007: "David Beckham: Football Fascist."

This made me realize that a sleazy writer, who was only interested in success and not substance, has available a cheap trick for getting the number one spot on LRC for 2007: just keep mentioning the words "fascist" and "fascism" again and again in his articles. An article might not even have anything of substance to say about "fascists" or "fascism," and yet those two words – "fascist" and "fascism" – would appear again and again.

Now, mind you, my goal here comes from the saying "forewarned is forearmed" (something Americans should have remembered when they faced the threat of fascism in the 1930’s!): I want to short circuit the attempt by any lazy, unprincipled SOB to garner the glory that should go to us hard-working hacks by repeatedly invoking the specter of fascism. Readers who see an article ceaselessly repeating the words "fascist" and "fascism" should, henceforth, be aware they are having a fast one pulled on them.

And let this serve as a warning to other writers who might be tempted to sprinkle "fascist" and "fascism" through one of their articles with the goal of getting a high ranking in the LRC 2007 top ten: Now that I have noted the possibility of someone pulling this stunt, I expect this to be the last article on LRC that uses the words "fascist" or "fascism" so much as once, at least until it’s time for Lew to publish this warning again, in 2008.