Similar to Fascism, although derived specifically around the belief 
that the ASCII character set is theoretically perfect and an ideal 
standard for written communication.

* fASCIIsm does not approve of HTML e-mail or any other kind of
  styled e-mail.
* fASCIIsm does not endorse the replacement of emoticons with 
  pictorial icons.
* fASCIIsm is mono-spaced.
* fASCIIsm holds the idea of ASCII characters as the highest ideal 
  of communication, there has never before in human history been 
  a more pure expression of letters.

While fASCIIsm believes design is relevant and essential to the
communication of information, fASCIIsm sets aside design as a 
stage of interpretation or service to the reader, content itself
exists as a combination of conceptually ideal letter-symbols. 

Those who believe in fASCIIsm are called fASCIIsts. 

It is exhibited primarily by so-called Americans, whom the A in "ASCII" stands for, so they feel obliged. These unsophisticated people believe that 128 symbols is quite enough for any possible communication where humans are involved. Inhabitants of the other parts of the world proved this false long ago*; the most aspiring ones went so far as to invent up to five machine character sets for a single alphabet, all incompatible with each other.

As most of the obscurantist, flat-earth doctrines before it, fASCIIsm is doomed. It's going to succumb to the new world order of Unicode and XML.


* At least not later than 1000 BC.

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