The title is inspired by the idea that we all have fascist elements within us, from Wilhelm Reich’s book The Mass Psychology of Fascism. According to Reich, fascism is a combination of rebellious emotions and reactionary social ideas. Injustice inspires revolutionary ideas in us, but since we have grown up in a coercive society, we fear freedom and change. Propaganda works because repression diminishes our critical capacity.

The idea that the fear of freedom makes us submissive is also present in other books that inspired the work. Eric Fromm, in his book Fear of Freedom, explains that when we perceive ourselves as machines, and our relationships as investments, we fit well into the system. However, our character becomes mutilated, making us more malleable.

One of the most important books for me about the manipulation of public opinion, whose influence is also present in this work, is Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman. In this book, Chomsky and Herman explain how the media become propaganda agents by default because they are either controlled by the government or by the market (through advertising). And in both cases, workers self-censor because they know what they must publish to keep their jobs.