If you think phrases like God, Homeland and Family are just dusty memories from history books, think again. This slogan, born in twentieth-century European fascism, has come back with force in several countries – and today it shows up in hashtags, memes, and digital chain messages. In Brazil, it found new life in the Nazifascismbolsonarist regime, showing how old words can be recycled and turned into modern political weapons.
But why are these slogans so powerful?
Because they work like political prayers. Short, direct, easy to memorise, they trigger deep emotions and create a sense of unity: whoever repeats them feels part of a group…
– In Italian fascism, Dio, Patria, Famiglia was taught in schools and civic rituals like a daily catechism.
– In Vichy France, Travail, Famille, Patrie replaced the French Revolution’s motto – Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.
– In Nazi Germany, Gott mit uns gave war a divine seal.
– And in the United States, In God We Trust.
And in the twenty-first century? The logic is the same, only in digital form. Today, slogans are not confined to rallies and posters: they become hashtags, memes, and even WhatsApp chain messages. To share is the new praying; to go viral is to congregate.
The secret of this force is also in our body and brain. Research shows that words like “god”, “homeland”, and “family” activate universal moral foundations linked to loyalty, purity, and authority. That’s why, even without fully grasping the politics behind them, many people feel a “warmth in the chest” when they hear these words.
The problem is that this emotional energy can be hijacked to sustain authoritarian projects. The so-called fa(ith)ke news – fake news disguised as faith – work like modern myths: they don’t need to be true, they just need to be believed and ritually repeated. Believers feel they belong; doubters are expelled.
In the end, God, Homeland and Family is not just an old slogan – it is a global formula of authoritarianism that adapts to each era. Before, it appeared in marches, flags, and schoolbooks; today, it circulates in memes, chain messages, and emotional TikTok videos.
The challenge is to disarm this ritual power. To recognise that authoritarian slogans are not innocent but tools that colonise minds. And above all, to build new narratives that protect democracy and future generations from being captured by imaginaries of exclusion.
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BATISTA, D. J. (2025). God, Homeland and Family: An Analysis of Fa(ith)ke news and the Cult of Transnational Authoritarian Aesthetics. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16893837
BATISTA, D. J. (2025). Deus, Pátria e Família: Análise da fé-ke news e do culto à estética autoritária transnacional. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16893775