Seth Cotlar: It’s only fascism if it’s exactly like 1930s Europe, otherwise it’s just sparkling far right, hyper-nationalist populism that deploys antisemitic & racist propaganda in defense of a nostalgic concept of the traditional patriarchal family supposedly besieged by culturally-foreign & degenerate others.

It’s only fascism if it’s exactly like 1930s Europe, otherwise it’s just sparkling far right, hyper-nationalist populism that deploys antisemitic & racist propaganda in defense of a nostalgic concept of the traditional patriarchal family supposedly besieged by culturally-foreign & degenerate others.

To truly be fascism, it would also have to be eager to use paramilitary violence to precipitate a crisis driving traditional conservatives to accept the extra-constitutional rule of a strongman in the name of preserving order and defeating a perceived communist threat.

It would also have to be powered by fantastical, emotionally-charged conspiracy theories with no basis in fact that depict the 'lying press' and other 'enemies of the people' as a criminal threat to the property of the petit bourgeoisie and their pure, innocent, and vulnerable women and children.

So clearly, it’s hard to understand why anyone would use the word “fascism” to describe an American context that bears no resemblance to the above description.

If they don't use the exact phrase "poisoning the blood of our country," it's not fascism, folks

That's exactly what Donnie has been saying. Pay attention, fools.

That’s the joke. Don’t be a jerk.

He's also German

Yeah, it's so far removed it's laughable. No analogies at all.

Greetings from Germany, we have our own little problems here because the main tactic our political parties is to just propagate the fascist views s but more eloquent so the rest won't have to vote for the "true Nazis". Please get your shit together, before it's too late again.

"Aber wir müssen doch nur im großen Stil abschieben" (But we only have to deport on massive scale), then the AfD will vanish into thin air ...

And cut on social welfare, medic aid and by the way it's only the criminal lazy parasites that kill our society, impregnate our women and infect us with wokeism what is in no way similar to the "old values" our ancestors* taught us. (The once that had/were also a fascist problem)

Think of how many NOT NAZI penises would have to stay flaccid in America if there were fascists right fucking now?

I feel the sarcasm

Same in the UK 😎

Ok but there are still meaningful differences between 1930s fascism in Europe and what’s happening today, like attitudes towards markets and the role of the state, that are foundational to the 1930s era but not so much by the MAGA crowd…and that’s a pretty big difference!

And I don’t say this as a “gotcha” or that we’ve got nothing to worry about (because we do!) but if we’re trying to understand what’s going on now and trying to make parallels with what came before then it’s important to identify those differences if we’re trying to figure out where this all goes

I agree...American fascism was always far more pro-free market (while actually being in favor of the state advancing the economic interests of white property owners) and its authoritarianism was always more localistic than it was centralized.

Yeah, hooge!

Yep, the primacy of state power should be pretty integral to any definition of fascism

It's only fascism if they're literally tying bundles of sticks together.

I think a bundle of sticks is a different f-word.

Or possibly a very closely related f-word!

Now, see? Once again you’ve changed facts to fit your narrative. It specifically has to be “lügenpresse” or else it’s just sparkling …

Your definition is too narrow, I define fascism as being when the nanny state makes me wear a motorcycle helmet

This reminds me of Kevin passmores book underlining how it’s not that useful to debate whether current far right movements are fascists when they’re horribly bad without the label

It's a way of signaling that the GOP is rapidly moving outside the boundaries of what most Americans have thought of as "normal politics," but yes, what we call it is far less important than what it is.

I believe the fairytale of Rumpelstilzchen holds a lesson here. The evil gnome is banished and loses his power, as soon as the Queen speaks his true name. Or, with Goethe, concepts matter, for where a concept lacks, soon a word will be found. Fascism is a concept with bite, where correctly applied.

It is that fascism (a definition I share) that has fully earned its very bad reputation.

Perhaps you missed the part where Donnie plans to invoke the Insurrection Act and declare martial law. Why do you think he watched the riots for 3+ hours while members of Congress and his staff were begging him to call off the mob? He was waiting for a counter protest so he could do just that.

Listened to his gut rather than advisors. There was scant intel of counter protests other offhand comments from RW talking heads.

> Listened to his gut rather than advisors. That pretty much describes his life. He certainly doesn't listen to his lawyers.

This is apparently a great test to see how finely people's sarcasm detectors are calibrated

A few years ago I began to fear that a great deal of WWII era American hatred of fascism may have been actually internalized by Americans as wartime propaganda against Germans

Of course it was. Lots of Americans loved fascism before we got into WWII. Franco couldn't have won the Spanish Civil War without US help.

And I still remember Pat Buchanan expressing his admiration of Franco. fair.org/press-releas...

Pat Buchanan in His Own Wordsfair.org Here is a sampling of Buchanan's views: On African-Americans After Sen. Carol Moseley Braun blocked a federal patent for a Confederate flag insignia, Buchanan wrote that she was "putting on an act"...

I danced naked in my bedroom for one hour when Buchanan died. To celebrate! 🤪😂😂😂

In "The U.S. and the Holocaust" they show a lot of Americans either OK or actively supporting the Nazis until Pearl Harbor.

you can only be a nazi if you were a card-carrying member of the nsdap from 1920-1945 nevermind those swastika-waving ss-tattoo having guys that are expanding their public presence feeling emboldened to do so day by day

Well you see you’ve got to use that bundle of sticks as a symbol.

No fasces, no fascism, QED.

Oh no, who is denying it now . . .

No one in particular, but lots of people in general.

this was my question exactly

My thoughts on the situation here in the UK. johnhuwevans.wordpress.com/2023/12/05/c...

What’s in a Name?johnhuwevans.wordpress.com What's in a name? That which we call a middenBy any other name would smell as foul; Wilhemina Shakesword I ask this question a lot on Social Media: Many people reply “NONE”, but there are differen...

Are you being ironic? It's hard to tell. If you are being serious then why would you expect the re0-emergence of fascism to be the same?

It also has to occur within 100 km of the Alps

don't forget the promise of purges and the shirt movement that tried to overthrow the government to install an unchallenged Sovereign

Wut?? myferretsatepepethefrog.blogspot.com/2024/01/said...

Said The Spider To The Fly (American Revelation XV, Seven.)myferretsatepepethefrog.blogspot.com My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite. I said I wouldn't dammit: No tears. I'm stone. I'm flesh. My clouded reflection eyes m...

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