Governments are inherently fascistic entities. Ruling by so-called democratic majority excludes too many, even when you pretend that the way propaganda works doesn’t completely extinguish the concept of democracy. We are all living in a conservative socioeconomic reality that for the most part has many many, many many fascistic elements.
No. States are inherantly authoritarian entities, but authoritarianism is not simply a synonym for fascism. Authoritarianism is essential to fascism and fascism is always authoritarian, but not all forms of authoritarianism are fascist.
If you strip them down to their base mechanics and throw in bigotry and elitism, then yeah, but that’s not what governments are. It’s like calling all people spooky pale skeletons. When you remove someone’s bones and dry them out they are, but inside a living person they are pink and only a part of the whole. Fascism refers to a particular state that a government can be in, but does not apply to all governments.
Fascism is at its core about maintaining societal heirarchy. Bigotry and elitism naturally follow from the belief in heirarchies.
It’s no surprise that Mussolini advocated for “class collaboration” (and also coined the term himself), in direct opposition to the fundamentally leftist concept of class struggle.
The bigger issue is that the term fascism becomes less useful when applied to all governments, especially because fascism exists outside of government in religious institutions and in culture more broadly. Hell, if you think about it, anyone using violence to achieve a goal are using similar methods to fascists and therefore are fascists. Kind of breaks down when you focus on the mechanism rather than the intent. Government is just a mechanism of authority that can be used to enforce or reject fascism as history has shown.
I disagree, it is very useful to show how the tentacles of it are actually everywhere. It is the mechanism of it that is the bigger problem. The mindset of action disconnected from philosophy is the true battleground, before intent is even part of the conversation. I believe the whitewashing of fascism is a much bigger problem than the efficacy of the term; people understand they don’t want fascism in their lives, so if you point out and are able to show how insidious and ever pervasive it is in their own lives, and how they probably have been educated to overlook it; it is very useful. A bunch of scoffing conservatives and their apologists should not dictate the language used.
Authoritarianism is not always fascism, even if I did accept your premise. Fascism isn’t just “governments I don’t like.” Perhaps read some political philosophy before coming in with metaphorical guns blazing?
Governments are inherently fascistic entities. Ruling by so-called democratic majority excludes too many, even when you pretend that the way propaganda works doesn’t completely extinguish the concept of democracy. We are all living in a conservative socioeconomic reality that for the most part has many many, many many fascistic elements.
No. States are inherantly authoritarian entities, but authoritarianism is not simply a synonym for fascism. Authoritarianism is essential to fascism and fascism is always authoritarian, but not all forms of authoritarianism are fascist.
If you strip them down to their base mechanics and throw in bigotry and elitism, then yeah, but that’s not what governments are. It’s like calling all people spooky pale skeletons. When you remove someone’s bones and dry them out they are, but inside a living person they are pink and only a part of the whole. Fascism refers to a particular state that a government can be in, but does not apply to all governments.
Fascism is at its core about maintaining societal heirarchy. Bigotry and elitism naturally follow from the belief in heirarchies.
It’s no surprise that Mussolini advocated for “class collaboration” (and also coined the term himself), in direct opposition to the fundamentally leftist concept of class struggle.
So in reality they inherently have many fascistic elements that are unavoidable is what you’re actually saying. On paper everything looks like roses.
The bigger issue is that the term fascism becomes less useful when applied to all governments, especially because fascism exists outside of government in religious institutions and in culture more broadly. Hell, if you think about it, anyone using violence to achieve a goal are using similar methods to fascists and therefore are fascists. Kind of breaks down when you focus on the mechanism rather than the intent. Government is just a mechanism of authority that can be used to enforce or reject fascism as history has shown.
I disagree, it is very useful to show how the tentacles of it are actually everywhere. It is the mechanism of it that is the bigger problem. The mindset of action disconnected from philosophy is the true battleground, before intent is even part of the conversation. I believe the whitewashing of fascism is a much bigger problem than the efficacy of the term; people understand they don’t want fascism in their lives, so if you point out and are able to show how insidious and ever pervasive it is in their own lives, and how they probably have been educated to overlook it; it is very useful. A bunch of scoffing conservatives and their apologists should not dictate the language used.
Authoritarianism is not always fascism, even if I did accept your premise. Fascism isn’t just “governments I don’t like.” Perhaps read some political philosophy before coming in with metaphorical guns blazing?
Here’s a link to Ur-Fascism, to start. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism
You’re splitting hairs and missing the point, your reading comprehension seems to be wanting and you are condescending as fuck.
I’m only condescending to people who deserve it. And language shapes cognition; it’s not my fault you don’t understand that.
Ah, an inferiority complex That explains it.