Of Fascia and Fascism

I was reading an article on the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) in Rome, Italy, which became a symbol of Ancient Rome's Pax Romana or Golden Age in the first two hundred years A.D. In it, the author was describing how a lictor, or ceremonial bodyguard, was carrying the fasces, a bundle of sticks or rods, symbolizing  how unity brings strength. Fasces is derived from the Latin word for "bundle" and "band." Here is how the original fasces looked like:

Fasces from http://www.squidoo.com/mercurydime.

So fasces is the whole ensemble of the rods and the axe tied together by the band and the (red) band itself, which holds the separate parts together and gives them their unity and strength.

Fasces is where the word fascism comes from and Mussolini used the representation above as his party's symbol. Fascism is hard to define, not least because the word is so loaded in our everyday vocabulary and because it is often lumped with other authoritarian and totalitarian doctrines. That's not what I am concerned with here. I am mostly concerned with how language connects seemingly disparate or unrelated concepts through words and makes us think and explore our preconceptions and views. When I went to the etymology dictionary to check out fasces, the next two entries were fascist and fascia! So, these are at least etymologically related since they share the same origin--the fasces--discussed until now. This made me think and ask myself funny questions such as "Is fascia fascist? and "Is fascism fascial?"

Benito Mussolini chose this term and symbol deliberately. His philosophy rejected individualism (and liberalism) and glorified the state as all-embracing and above anything else. The individual was considered worthless and dispensable, collectivism was king. In "The Doctrine of Fascism" ("La dottrina del fascismo"), an essay attributed at least in part to Mussolini, the author states: "The fascist conception of the state is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, ... the fascist state—a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values—interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of a people."

What about fascia? Fascia was originally an architectural term and its anatomical use dates back to 1788. It also etymologically derives from fasces and means band, bandage, swathe. Fascia is the body's connective tissue and it is biochemically a colloid (as is Jell-O), in essence a suspension compound. It surrounds everything in the body: starting at the tiny cellular level to muscles, bundles of muscles, organs, bundles of organs, nerves, etc. As Jenny Otto once aptly said: "Imagine fascia as a whole body pantyhose." Fascia is fascinating because is provides an endless continuum for all tissue in the body and an infinite potential for movement. Here's a very short video which shows you how living fascia looks like. Fascia allows movement and at the same time preserves the integrity of bodily structures and lets them slide and glide. It acts as a buffer, an insulation and suspension mechanism, and literally gives us our shape posturally and functionally (in movement). Fascia remodels itself all the time and responds to how we use, misuse, or simply not use our body; fascia also responds to manipulation. See the the Fuzz Speech by the one and only Gil Hedley in defense of movement.

So can we describe fascism in terms of fascia? I think so... Fascism is the all-pervasive binding that connects society into a unitary collective, where every part of that collective is bound to the next and every other member by the structural integrity of the state, working together towards its resolution/perpetuation/goal. Whether that purpose is good or bad is beside the point.

Can we describe fascia in terms of fascism? I think so... The fascist/fascial conception of the body is all-embracing; outside of it, no organ, muscle, bone, or cell can exist, much less have any meaning or individual existence. Thus understood, the fascist/fascial body--a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all function and movement--interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of its parts."

Fascinating, n'est-ce pas?