3 ms·

I see most tendency towards fascism coming from the ultra-progressives of late. The conformance to groupthink and the shutting down of speech which 'offends' a

I see most tendency towards fascism coming from the ultra-progressives of late. The conformance to groupthink and the shutting down of speech which 'offends' and 'othering' of people is not something to take lightly. Not that I'm excusing the far right, they do it too but not so broadly. The bigger problem I see really is the pointing of fingers at 'the other team' as the fascists, rather than addressing it and working against it wherever it appears. Everyone has rights or no one has rights.

blueflow 5y ago
You can flip the "being offended" coin around and see its individuals with no resilience. Dissent makes them uncomfortable, so they form self-affirming groups and fight the others. This whole situation also makes sense, people dont "learn" resilience when they live a easy life, and life in the western world has been very easy and comfortable for the last 20-30 years.
Eddy_Viscosity2 5y ago
The conservatives just recently fired a teacher in Mississippi because he read a funny book with the word 'butt' in it. Republicans have already passed laws in several states that ban the teaching of material that could make people feel uncomfortable (e.g. that slavery was a thing). And for an example of groupthink, look no further than Qanon to really see some textbook behavior. Ultra-progressives are bad for this, but the ones doing the most and have the most power to do the most are regular conservatives.
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marginalia_nu 5y ago
Fascism isn't the correct word, totalitarianism is a lot more appropriate, in the Arendt sense of the word. The hallmarks of such totalitarianism is an aggressive internal witch hunt enforcing acceptable thoughts, ideas, behaviors. There is only one correct ideology, and while nobody is quite sure what that is today, the only thing you do know is that you really do not want to be out in the cold, so you better show you are on the right side by gathering a mob of other likewise scared people and lynching someone accused of disloyalty to the cause. It's important to realize that this isn't some power trip, everyone involved in this sort of dynamic is steeped in profound isolation and terror. They know they may be next. The dynamics are fairly similar that of religious a cult only at a much larger scale.
marcus_holmes 5y ago
The desire to control other people is not fascist vs communist, left vs right, but authoritarian vs libertarian. See the Political Compass [0] for a way better explanation than I have. There are authoritarians on both left and right. Shutting down speech is authoritarian, so there are people doing it for both progressive and nationalist reasons. [0] https://www.politicalcompass.org/ https://www.politicalcompass.org/
hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
Although I agree that the radical left is probably on a par with radical right in their "if your're not with us, you're against us" attitude and deafness to any criticism, the correct work here is not fascism, even though some of these attitudes were common to fascists.

blueflow 5y ago

You can flip the "being offended" coin around and see its individuals with no resilience. Dissent makes them uncomfortable, so they form self-affirming groups and fight the others. This whole situation also makes sense, people dont "learn" resilience when they live a easy life, and life in the western world has been very easy and comfortable for the last 20-30 years.

Eddy_Viscosity2 5y ago

The conservatives just recently fired a teacher in Mississippi because he read a funny book with the word 'butt' in it. Republicans have already passed laws in several states that ban the teaching of material that could make people feel uncomfortable (e.g. that slavery was a thing). And for an example of groupthink, look no further than Qanon to really see some textbook behavior. Ultra-progressives are bad for this, but the ones doing the most and have the most power to do the most are regular conservatives.

deleted 5y ago
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marginalia_nu 5y ago

Fascism isn't the correct word, totalitarianism is a lot more appropriate, in the Arendt sense of the word. The hallmarks of such totalitarianism is an aggressive internal witch hunt enforcing acceptable thoughts, ideas, behaviors. There is only one correct ideology, and while nobody is quite sure what that is today, the only thing you do know is that you really do not want to be out in the cold, so you better show you are on the right side by gathering a mob of other likewise scared people and lynching someone accused of disloyalty to the cause. It's important to realize that this isn't some power trip, everyone involved in this sort of dynamic is steeped in profound isolation and terror. They know they may be next. The dynamics are fairly similar that of religious a cult only at a much larger scale.

marcus_holmes 5y ago

The desire to control other people is not fascist vs communist, left vs right, but authoritarian vs libertarian. See the Political Compass [0] for a way better explanation than I have. There are authoritarians on both left and right. Shutting down speech is authoritarian, so there are people doing it for both progressive and nationalist reasons. [0] https://www.politicalcompass.org/ https://www.politicalcompass.org/

hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago

Although I agree that the radical left is probably on a par with radical right in their "if your're not with us, you're against us" attitude and deafness to any criticism, the correct work here is not fascism, even though some of these attitudes were common to fascists.