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I'm pretty sick of the obsession with / . It really is a counterproductive debate. There basically are no actual Fascists these days, current political parties are organized differently, and the people who are actually part of Antifa groups have always been small isolated groups. The words have become meaningless and dangerous, like just "person who I think is bad". Using the terms dehumanizes the situation and makes political solutions much harder.

Putin constantly talks about fighting fascists because he specifically aims to dehumanize. He can say everyone Russia kills was a fascist, and people buy it. And so many people call protestors Antifa to dehumanize them, so they can justify treating them badly. And I heard too often from friends, things like "I don't advocate violence, but he's a fascist so he deserves it".

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@eighthave i do agree that the inflationary use of the term "fascist" or "nazi" is used a lot to label people with different opinions.
there are real fascists and nazis out there, even if they call themself "identitäre", "proud boys" or something else.

i have never been to an actual ANTIFA meeting of a small isolated group, yet i consider myself a 100% anti-fascist.

because fascism is not an opinion but a crime against humanity.

@overflo Call them Identitäre, Proud Boys, etc then. They are not calling themselves fascist. There were actual political parties that called themselves Fascist (e.g. Mussolini, Falangists, etc). I'm opposed to them. A Nazi is a member of the NSDAP. They are all long gone. Using these terms is a dehumanizing construct since it does not engage with the actual problematic ideas nor how people describe themselves. Actual Fascists promoted cars and highways, so are people driving cars fascist?

@eighthave fascists used to breath, so is air a fascist chemical that we should not consume?
this line of argument is not coherent.

and todays fascist might call them self fascists or not, but the IDEA of fascism is what makes them fascist, even if they label themself in other ways.

i am going to call a fascist a fascist and not an "identitärer" because i do not grant them the liberty to re-label those deadly ideologies in an attempt to make them salonfähig again.

@overflo Fascists did not invent air or breathing. Nazis did invent the Autobahn and VW. Henry Ford was a supporter of Hitler. Mussolini and Hitler were big supporters of their domestic car companies. Fascists changed laws to make things easier for car owners. Like in Austria, we still have a law from the Nazis that there must be a new parking place added for each new dwelling built.

@eighthave also die menschen die autos erfunden haben, waren nazis.
ok.
die autobahn ist eine hitlererfindung.
ok.
worauf willst du hinaus?
autofahrer sind faschisten?
ich denke nicht.
einige sicher, aber autofahren ist kein alleinstellungsmerkmal faschistischer ideologie.

hass auf menschen anderer herkunft, religion, sexueller ausrichtung, hautfarbe oder ideologie.
das ist faschismus.

aber ja.. ich sehe was du meinst und halte dich nicht für einen faschisten oder sympathisanten.

@eighthave What kind of political solutions do you have in mind?

@eighthave One could also say that the tight collaboration between the State and BigCo (BigTech, BigPharma, BigMedia,...) are very close to Fascism, or one could say "disguised fascism".

But you are right that the way the word is thrown around is absolutely counter-productive, and perhaps there is purpose in that. Who knows?

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