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>I don’t call them fascists baselessly – someone who speaks out in support of and expresses solidarity with fascists, or who uses fascists dog-whistles or promo

>I don’t call them fascists baselessly – someone who speaks out in support of and expresses solidarity with fascists, or who uses fascists dog-whistles or promotes fascist ideology and talking points, or boosts fascist conspiracy theories – well, they’re a fascist Or this is just a circular argument, since you first labeled everything you don't like in politics or ideology as "fascist", "a fascist dog whistle", a "fascist conspiracy theory", etc, so then it's easy to mark any person who approves of any of those things as someone who "speaks out in support of and expresses solidarity to fascism", thus also a fascism. There's no shortage of mere conservative or even leftist ideas or practices that have been labelled "fascist" in modern discourse. It's fascism-ception. There are some negative developments, as there have been in previous administrations as well (from McCarthyism and Hoover era political meddling, to the post 9/11 establishment of black sites, the normalization of torture, the Patriot Act, and many other things, including the government's promoting "fact-checking" and funding "independent" organizations that spread throughout the media). Under the current US administration there's the stomping of the right to protest when it comes to Israel, ICE revamp, deporting without due process to places like El Salvator, and other issues. But until people can criticize political developments like adults, and not with knee-jerk "fascist" / "communist" / "evil" accusations against the other side, political discourse will be worse than Reddit comment sections.

tonetegeatinst 1y ago
Agree. Terms like "fascist" and "right wing" have lost a lot of meaning since 2015. The left and right party have both changed in many ways....make of that what you want. But if we can't handle opposed viewpoints and opinions without resorting to violence or forcing our ideas on others then we are not being civil but rather pushing other groups that appose ones views towards extremist options like radical stances or violence.

tonetegeatinst 1y ago

Agree. Terms like "fascist" and "right wing" have lost a lot of meaning since 2015. The left and right party have both changed in many ways....make of that what you want. But if we can't handle opposed viewpoints and opinions without resorting to violence or forcing our ideas on others then we are not being civil but rather pushing other groups that appose ones views towards extremist options like radical stances or violence.