> So I guess I'm trying to understand what it is about fascism in particular that preoccupies us--why are we on such high alert for fascism specifically, but we

> So I guess I'm trying to understand what it is about fascism in particular that preoccupies us--why are we on such high alert for fascism specifically, but we don't seem to be concerned at all about other ideologies which incorporate many of the elements of fascism? Fascism attempted to exterminate races its adherents disapproved of and started a world war. It is perhaps unsurprising we view a combination of political philosophies and tendencies optimised towards achieving those goals as more alarming than other political philosophies which incidentally have a characteristic of fascism like preferring an economically self sufficient state or lacking some commitment to some aspect of liberal democracy. I'm not sure why you refer to the well established concept of horseshoe theory in the one breath and ponder the possibility you are the only person who sees things this way in the next. Though perhaps nobody else is prepared to take it to quite such reductio ad absurdum extremes. Sure, it is well established that Soviet communists who had gulags of their own were amongst the most vocal antifascists and the Nazis were amongst the most vocal anticommunists (except when partitioning Poland...) despite some similarities, but Soviet communists are not exactly a significant portion of the people criticising America in the last five years. If you genuinely are "trying to understand better and not offend", may I politely suggest you stop with ridiculous false equivalences like 'perhaps one could argue that "people of color" is their "master race"', as if somehow a bunch of mostly white people arguing some non-white people need some special protections is broadly similar to planning the systematic extermination of 'lesser' races.