Bernadette Soriano

In a hyper-mediated age where ideologies are commodified and collapsed into soundbites, ideological literacy becomes urgent. Terms once charged with revolutionary weight have been aestheticized, weaponized, and—most insidiously—misunderstood.


Political “-isms”—nationalism, patriotism, socialism, communism, capitalism, fascism—are not rhetorical flourishes but structural codes: they shape access, mediate power, and inscribe the values by which societies order themselves. To grasp their distortions is not academic—it is civic armor.

I. Nationalism: The seduction of singular identity

Prevailing propaganda: “To critique the state is to betray the nation.”

Nationalism, often mistaken for cultural pride, exceeds mere love of country. As doctrine, it asserts state supremacy—frequently at the cost of diversity, cooperation, and truth. When fused with racial myth or revisionist impulse, it does not unite; it erases.

Example: Marcos Sr. wielded nationalism to legitimize martial law, branding dissenters as “destabilizers” and “communist subversives.” In Modi’s India, Hindu nationalism marginalizes Muslims and silences critical academics.

Nationalism has roused both liberation and ruin—fueling the Katipunan, yet enabling fascist terror. In its modern populist guise, it conceals not pride but power: surveillance, silence, and sanctioned harm.

Critical distinction: Authentic patriotism interrogates injustice; nationalism silences it.

II. Patriotism: An ethic of accountability, not obedience

Prevailing propaganda: “Support your leaders unconditionally.”

Patriotism is often mischaracterized as a blind compliance to state authority. However, genuine patriotism is less concerned with conformity than with principled critique. It entails an enduring commitment to the nation’s ideals, not its present leadership; it demands vigilance, not worship.

Example: The 1986 People Power Revolution was patriotism as resistance—millions rising not in submission, but to reclaim democracy from dictatorship.

To weaponize patriotism against dissent is ideological malpractice—fortifying state power while discrediting civic courage. True patriots do not flatter their nation; they hold it accountable, not from disloyalty, but from a radical faith in its unrealized promise.

III. Socialism: Toward structural equity, not entitlement

Prevailing propaganda: “Socialism rewards idleness and punishes success.”

This flattening of socialism erases its intellectual spine and material stakes. At core, socialism resists the commodification of labor and the enclosure of life’s essentials—arguing that health, housing, and education belong to the commons, not the market.

Example: Norway and Finland operate market economies yet embed socialist principles—universal education, public healthcare, and strong labor rights. They top global happiness and quality of life rankings, ergo, systemic equity—not “handouts”—underpins their success.

Socialism, often misread as mere “handouts,” instead dismantles the systemic ceilings that make mobility a myth. Its imprint lives in welfare states—where capitalist drive meets equitable redistribution.

Ideological fallacy: To cast socialism as contradictory to freedom is to ignore the structural unfreedoms of unchecked capitalism.

IV. Communism: Theory misapplied, legacy misrepresented

Prevailing propaganda: “Communism is synonymous with tyranny.”

Marxist communism envisions a classless endgame—abolishing private property and the state itself. Yet no regime has realized this. So-called “communist” states often replicate the hierarchies they vowed to erase, consolidating power and quashing dissent.

Example: Stalin’s Soviet Union veered from Marxist vision, becoming an authoritarian regime defined by purges, censorship, and personality cults. Conversely, grassroots movements such as the Hukbalahap in the Philippines embodied communist principles to resist imperialism and elite rule.

Despite failures in practice, communist theory’s insights on labor, alienation, and capitalist contradiction endure in critical discourse. Its legacy persists in grassroots movements championing land reform, labor rights, and anti-imperialism.

Discursive manipulation: Equating all progressive critique with rebellion is a purposeful tactic of delegitimization, often enacted through red-tagging and political repression.

V. Capitalism: The mythology of meritocracy

Prevailing propaganda: “Those who succeed do so by virtue of individual effort.”

Capitalism masquerades as meritocracy, yet in truth, it entrenches inequality through wage suppression, speculative finance, and wealth concentration. The myth of upward mobility endures by obscuring exploitation and inherited privilege.

Example: In the Philippines, tycoons monopolize industries as workers endure contractual precarity. Across the U.S., Jeff Bezos’ ascent is lauded, yet built on Amazon’s exploitative labor and tax avoidance.

In late capitalism, commodification permeates health, education, time, and identity, transforming individuals from agents of freedom into profit instruments. Neoliberalism deepens this by casting systemic failure as personal fault.
False binary: To critique capitalism is not to advocate authoritarianism; it is to demand economic democracy and collective dignity.

VI. Fascism: The aestheticization of violence and order

Prevailing propaganda: “We need a strong leader who will restore order.”

Fascism is no mere relic; it recurs as a political logic that feeds on myth, scapegoats outsiders, exalts militarism, and sacrifices truth for spectacle. Today, it emerges not only in overt violence but through legal erosion, disinformation, and staged populism.

Example: Duterte’s drug war, rife with extrajudicial killings and unchecked impunity, mirrored fascist tactics. Likewise, Bolsonaro’s Brazil weaponized militarized rhetoric to quell Indigenous and activist dissent, all under the pretext of “order.”

Its appeal rests in the illusion of order amid chaos, control amid disorder. Beneath this gloss, fascism erases dissent, difference, and democracy itself.

Present danger: Fascism is less likely to announce itself with a salute than with a smile—and a slogan.

Epilogue: Ideology as practice, not branding

Ideological illiteracy is no mere ignorance; it is engineered to uphold power imbalances. Uncritical acceptance of political “-isms” surrenders meaning to those who profit from confusion.

In confronting the slogans, hashtags, and half-truths that dominate our public discourse, we must ask:

Whose interests are being protected?

Whose histories are being erased?

What futures are being foreclosed?