Seems reductive.
Self sitting convenience.
Because, to put it mildly, they lack intelligence.
They need an arbitrary definition of separation, because otherwise they would easily be put in one pot.
Firstly - there is no workable “definition” of fascism that’s remotely useful. Not yet, anyway. It probably has something to do with the fact that fascism isn’t so much an ideology but more a function within the modern liberal nation state - ie, the people who perform the violent repression for the benefit of the rich elites at the top. Sometimes, the elites become so frightened that they will literally hand the very state over to these people in it’s entirety - as happened in Germany and Italy (and other places).
Secondly - these people calling themselves “conservatives” and/or “libertarians” don’t actually care much about labels. The fact that they actually call themselves “conservatives” (essentially a dead ideology they wouldn’t recognise if it bit them on their behinds) and “libertarians” (a term that originally described anarchist and other libertarian socialists) without having the foggiest clue what those terms really mean is a clue. The only thing they understand is that it’s a term they can throw at any people pushing back against their vile (and often fascist or fascist-adjacent) narratives.
That’s pretty much it.
Excuse me. If they a re not conservative what are they?
They’re conservatives. Regardless of what the word may have used to mean, it means this now. No matter how much people want that to not be true.
If they a re not conservative what are they?
What they are in reality is an extremist, fundamentalist and far-right strain of liberal. Liberalism has always really just been the fig-leaf ideology behind which capitalism hides… but these people calling themselves “conservatives” are really just capitalists that don’t see the need to bother with a fig-leaf at all. Simply consider the behaviour of people like Trump, Musk and all the other billionaires that barely hide their contempt for the working class. They are not true fascists, but I don’t see a problem with people calling them that - they certainly would like to be true fascists but lack the connection to the working class to actually do that like Hitler or Mussolini did. They are just extremely spoilt rich people living in bubbles of privilege… unlike the fascists of old.
Conservatism itself is essentially a dead ideology - the conservatives of Abraham Lincoln’s time would sound like radical leftists in comparison to the people using that label today.
Yeah and “Democrat” used to mean you liked slavery. The meaning of words (especially regarding political ideology) shift over time.
These people are conservatives.
they don’t care about the meanings of words, they only care about “winning” the conversation
They don’t. They play the victim a lot more ways than that.
For example: you don’t go to church. They think “Christian values are under attack.” You argue for civil rights. “The right of the White Man is under attack.” Shit like that. And they will call you a fascist, a socialist, a communist, everything but what you are, which is a nonconformist, for not doing exactly what they want you to do.
A conservative, by the simplest definition, is one who opposes change for the sake of change. The ideal of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” The problem is, while the system may not be broken for them (WASP), it needs work for people of colour, the LGBTQ+, Palestinians, and more. But they don’t want a world that works for the rest of us. They just want to maintain the status quo. A lot of them have much more complicated feelings and opinions than that, but that’s basically conservatism in a nutshell. Not extreme. Unfortunately very few conservatives are basic conservatives anymore.
which is a nonconformist
Thank you for this, it puts it in terms that make a lot of sense. This really helps explain a phenomenon I see so often. I know a few folks who are certainly not pro-trump, but are very anti-political. I’ve been told that I need to shut up, and things would be fine once the next election rolls around.
These folks might not like what’s happening, but they are fine conforming to it.
Maybe it’s a me problem, but I think it’s going to take a little more work than the bare minimum.
It’s a convenient place to rest the goalposts until they have to snatch them up and run away again.
Because they genuinely don’t know what the definition of fascism is
Or they do, but need to change it because it fits a little too well.
Fucking no one does. Right, left, you are all fucking morons, using the word as a buzzword because everyone else is. You are ALL calling each other fascists like kids call everyone over 18 “boomer”.
No, that is plainly incorrect. MAGA and the Project 2025 plan are an indisputable textbook example of fascism, complete with a dictatorial leader; nostalgic obsession for rebirth of a nation which is idealized to be of homogenous identity; consolidation of political, military, and industrial power; and cleansing of undesireables/foriegners.
Trump’s MAGA rhetoric; ICE deportaton raids targeting a perceived “other”; nationalizing companies like US Steel and Intel; wielding military powers like the national guard, as well as traditionally non-political institutions, against political enemies; targetted attacks on universities and law firms. They’ve literally checked every box and are following the fascist playbook step by step.
Historians and experts on fascism agree and have been warning this. https://time.com/7294056/signs-of-fascism-are-here/ https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/09/09/fascism-shattered-europe-a-century-ago-and-historians-hear-echoes-today-in-the-u-s/ https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000010157022/yale-canada-fascism.html
So, you’re actually the moron.
EDIT: Holy post history!!! Now it makes total sense why you’re attempting to muddy the waters with a false “both sides” narrative. Welcome to the blocklist, fascist.
EDIT: Holy post history!!! Now it makes total sense why you’re attempting to muddy the waters with a false “both sides” narrative. Welcome to the blocklist, fascist.
Isn’t it fun how there is guaranteed bad actors in every thing you read online?
False question fallacy.
Conservatives don’t solely define fascists as “being violent”, at least in my country.
I see it all the time. “A leftist was violent? See I told you they were fascist.”
Got any examples? Never seen any conservatives say that.
Im going to DM you because this is embarrassing for you.
I assume you think you’re talking to someone else right now……?
No you
Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.
They are by far the least emotionally accessible portion of the US populace. They are also very deliberately ignorant. They really don’t know what some of the words represent in full. They are put simply, stupid.
These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West.
You know, morons.
Gabby Johnson is right!
Damn, you really are the waco kid
They are genuinely bad with anologies and empathy. That’s how they got to be conservative. Everything taken at face value, nothing they haven’t experienced is real. Fascists are people named Mussolini. See? This isn’t 1930s Italy, so this isn’t fascism
It’s just sparkling authoritarianism.
Bad faith, nothing they say can be believed at face value, despite that being exactly what mass media trains people to do.
A core tenant of conservatism is extreme lack of education so…
so this is actually really interesting to me. it’s a willful ignorance that’s produced by their lifestyle but also their religion. killing people through legislation, depriving food/medicine, or with epidemics is a loophole that to them meets the requirements of “not physically attacking” someone.
so they actively choose not to believe any education they are given about how violence was done in the past or how it transcends physical accost. also when faced with undeniable violence, they can project the supernatural onto it and distance themselves from any sort of introspection.
just as a thought experiment, empty yourself of any preconceptions and simply observe what they do with this young Utah man. there’s a routine that everyone needs to observe them doing if you’re not caught up to speed on how they work.
Because otherwise they’d really have to struggle with some highly uncomfortable and inconvenient realizations.
That’s a kind way of saying some of them would have an aneurism thinking too hard. /s
They certainly do not strike me as people overburdened by introspection. Or ethics, decency, conscience and compassion for that matter.
Regrettably, they’re just smart enough to have stumbled upon the secret known to all psychopaths and sociopaths: That being an unmitigated asshole can be both liberating and profitable, so long as one can manage to dodge the consequences. It helps if other people - usually referred to as ‘victims’ - are too civil to apply the FAFO principle.
Instead of demonizing a class of person, perhaps you should select someone’s writing or speech and then make an argument about something someone actually said. Even better if you turn it into a conversation with two way discourse. Your question just alienates others.
You really dont have a problem with me honestly. You have a problem with the site format and moderation choices.
I would all day, but no community is set to do that and no one will engage.
