Seems reductive.
Because they’re literal fascists, by definition, and are trying to convince others that they are not.
Fascists always attempt to change the definition of words to suit their narrative.
Don’t let them.
Because conservatives don’t argue in good faith and at this point the only way you should communicate with them is with bricks
Because it suits them to. That is really all there is to it. “Fascism” got such a universally bad name, that even (almost all) fascists dont want yo call themselves such. Instead, they try to use this negatively associated word to describe the people fighting against them.
Some dont
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
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?
Fascism is about killing as many people you don’t like as possible, while the richest people in the land consolidate power, and lying about everything to make it possible. It tends to last for decades and destroys the nation that embraces it.
You are all the good things and your enemies are all the bad things. There is no value in truth or rationality.
Good luck.
Because, to put it mildly, they lack intelligence.
Possibly more precisely:
Self-Awareness.
The people at the bottom, yes, probably. But it bears mentioning that the world’s simpletons are just repeating rhetoric that was carefully engineered and fed to them by powerful people who are smart enough to know it’ll make them more powerful.
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.
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.
Damn, you really are the waco kid
Gabby Johnson is right!
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.
There are two things you should read.
The Authoritarians by Dr. Bob Altemeyer
To summarize, they do not use any genuine definition of fascism or any other word they wield as a pejorative. Words are weapons that mean whatever they want them to mean. At the same time, the fascist/authoritarian control scheme requires the nurturing of a fear of violence. This fear is irrational, but at the cycle continues and escalates to real violence - particularly among radicalized rightists - it is used to reinforce the fears, which are carefully directed toward the desired out-groups. For example, jews, minorities, immigrants, queer people, and “leftists.”
To summarize further, they are terrorists.
They need an arbitrary definition of separation, because otherwise they would easily be put in one pot.
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 the dishonest fucks only engage in bad faith arguments.
Because they don’t know what words mean they just know if it makes them feel good or bad based on who it’s directed at.
Self sitting convenience.
