4 ms·

No, it's Christian facism or were you joking?

lolinder 3y ago
> It will be seen that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else. > ... Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym for ‘Fascist’. That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come. > But Fascism is also a political and economic system. Why, then, cannot we have a clear and generally accepted definition of it? Alas! we shall not get one — not yet, anyway. ... All one can do for the moment is to use the word with a certain amount of circumspection and not, as is usually done, degrade it to the level of a swearword. -- George Orwell, What is Fascism?, 1944 https://orwell.ru/library/articles/As_I_Please/english/efasc https://orwell.ru/library/articles/As_I_Please/english/efasc
- tomrod 3y ago
  Decry the use of an accurate term, but recognize that the use of the state to control society is what folks are describing as fascism. I'd argue in Utah it's just plain Ole theocracy.
  - lolinder 3y ago
    > the use of the state to control society is what folks are describing as fascism The vast majority of people who casually throw around the word "fascist" are very happy to have a large, interventionist state that controls society. All "fascist" seems to mean here is that the interventions chosen don't align with the speaker's values. > I'd argue in Utah it's just plain Ole theocracy. I can definitely go for theocracy as an accurate description.
    - tomrod 3y ago
      > The vast majority of people who casually throw around the word "fascist" are very happy to have a large, interventionist state that controls society. All "fascist" seems to mean here is that the interventions chosen don't align with the speaker's values. Respectfully, I think this is overly reductionist. Words have meanings, and in many cases I believe "fascism" to be the appropriate classification for a number of hard-right moves in recent years, such as womens health rights and restrictions among other political bombs.
      - lolinder 3y ago
        Respectfully, equating the belief that abortion is murder with the belief that slaughtering Jews isn't murder is completely counterproductive. Words have meanings, and this isn't it.

> It will be seen that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else. > ... Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym for ‘Fascist’. That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come. > But Fascism is also a political and economic system. Why, then, cannot we have a clear and generally accepted definition of it? Alas! we shall not get one — not yet, anyway. ... All one can do for the moment is to use the word with a certain amount of circumspection and not, as is usually done, degrade it to the level of a swearword. -- George Orwell, What is Fascism?, 1944 https://orwell.ru/library/articles/As_I_Please/english/efasc https://orwell.ru/library/articles/As_I_Please/english/efasc

tomrod 3y ago
Decry the use of an accurate term, but recognize that the use of the state to control society is what folks are describing as fascism. I'd argue in Utah it's just plain Ole theocracy.
- lolinder 3y ago
  > the use of the state to control society is what folks are describing as fascism The vast majority of people who casually throw around the word "fascist" are very happy to have a large, interventionist state that controls society. All "fascist" seems to mean here is that the interventions chosen don't align with the speaker's values. > I'd argue in Utah it's just plain Ole theocracy. I can definitely go for theocracy as an accurate description.
  - tomrod 3y ago
    > The vast majority of people who casually throw around the word "fascist" are very happy to have a large, interventionist state that controls society. All "fascist" seems to mean here is that the interventions chosen don't align with the speaker's values. Respectfully, I think this is overly reductionist. Words have meanings, and in many cases I believe "fascism" to be the appropriate classification for a number of hard-right moves in recent years, such as womens health rights and restrictions among other political bombs.
    - lolinder 3y ago
      Respectfully, equating the belief that abortion is murder with the belief that slaughtering Jews isn't murder is completely counterproductive. Words have meanings, and this isn't it.