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Comment on We don't use the word 'fascist' because we wish harm on anybody. We use it because words mean things.

You ever heard the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf?

I kinda think that’s what’s happening here. Leftists and Liberals have been calling Republicans (and especially Trump) fascist since AT LEAST the 2016 election campaign, and they’ve been doing it consistently ever since. People just got tired of hearing it, I guess. Especially since he really didn’t do that much fascist stuff during his first term, and even ended up handing over the office (mostly) peacefully, which isn’t exactly something that actual fascists are known for.

I’m sorry to say this, but the term simply has been overused to the point of meaningless in the past decade. Perhaps it’s time to face reality and come up with a new plan, because this clearly isn’t working.

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Typhoon@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
We called fascists “fascists” 10 years ago because they were fascists then, and they’re still fascists now. It’s not difficult to understand.

Stop sanewashing his first term. He tried to do all kinds of fascist stuff during his first term, but the checks and balances were still intact and stopped the worst of it. Being a powerless fascist doesn’t mean you’re not a fascist.

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FreeMindFreeAss@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
The only reason he didn’t go full fascist the first time is because he had somewhat competent people who wouldn’t let him. Read books from his former cabinet if you actually care. He ordered his people to shoot protestors in the legs. The order was refused because he had an actual American working for him.

He had an entire false set of votes ready to be confirmed in 2020, his VP refused. His mob attempted an armed insurrection. He pardoned them all. But that’s different from fascism for some reason? Fuck that, words mean things and I’ll be damned if I let the dumbest group of people that America has ever puked out tell me what it means. The “peaceful” (are you for real?) transfer of power happened AGAINST his orders and wishes, not because he was such a nice and non-fascist politician. I don’t think you’re stupid, stop with the bad-faith “acksuallyy” nonsense. Be an adult.

Do you actually think like that, or do you just like the guy so you cherrypick “facts” to fit your narrative. Enjoy it broski, they’ll come for you. They always do. I’m willing to bet you’ve already thought twice about saying certain things in public. In America. They hate you as much as they hate immigrants. Hope you wake up in time, if for no other reason then for your own sense of dignity.

Now this is just me, but I have never said “You guys have called me gay like 45 times so maybe I’ll just go blow dudes since the word is losing meaning!”.

Fascists are gonna do fascist shit no matter what we say, but they NEVER get to steal words. Fascism has a definition. Please, look it up, study it, and come back here talking about how using the term fascism is an overreaction. Please. I would love to have that talk. We can go point by point.

You must have a safe and comfortable life, with friends who have never been threatened by this system. Enjoy that, but allow the creeping realization that it is temporary gnaw at your mind. Listen to that voice. You’re not special. You’ll get to see the inside of a black-site soon enough. They’ll find a reason, some shit you said in 2015, doesn’t matter. They’ll just do it. You think this is a joke? You think America could just never?

We have a fascist government currently which is increasing in its scope daily. Talk shit about Israel, talk shit about that piece of shit that got got in Utah, see how unfascist we are currently. Only until you inconvenience the system, then you’re fucked. Maybe you like living in perfect line with arbitrary rules. Maybe you should go work for them. Congrats on not having loved-ones in direct danger from it. Say it with your chest if you disagree, none of that mealy-mouthed semantics BS. Or support it with your chest. But enough of this “You can’t call everyone fascists durrrrrr” bullshit. Ya, we fucking can when they behave as fascists. Mussolini was voted in. Hitler was elected. Know how many people talked about “overreacting” and using words which are too severe. Enough to get them elected. You. Are. Not. Special. And neither is your country. Act like a grown-up and stand on what you believe. Either put on the gray hugo boss suit or actually work to affect change with the rest of us. Your choice, but it’s one you’ll have to live with forever.

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HarneyToker@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
While that is the narrative Fox and friends would like you to believe, never forget WHY we called him fascist.

Many fascist regimes take decades to creep into full effect. The warning signs 10 years ago were apparent. Sorry you can’t understand that, but it’s why we’re closer to full blown fascism than ever.

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Visstix@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Handed over the office peacefully lol. He claimed it was rigged and cheered on the people trying to overthrow the government. He might not have been a successful fascist but he was certainly trying.

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- MacNCheezus@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Did he end up handing the presidency over or did he not?
  
  This sort of argument is exactly what I’m talking about – you guys wanted so badly to keep calling him a fascist even when he did things that no fascist in history has ever done.
  
  Claiming that the election was rigged isn’t particularly new. Hillary did the same after losing in 2016, and Al Gore did as well after he lost to Bush, so it’s not like Democrats would never do such a thing.
  
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Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Which version of The Boy Who Cried Wolf did you have growing up? The one where Peter cries wolf and there’s a wolf but it’s in the woods so the townsfolk do nothing, then the townsfolk call Peter a wolf, and then when the wolf arrives in the village and starts taking people and Peter cries wolf the townsfolk say the word “wolf” is so overused it doesn’t mean anything anymore?

Because I don’t remember that version.

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- MacNCheezus@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I think you might be confusing two different stories here. The Boy Who Cried Wolf is one of Aesop’s Fables. Peter and the Wolf is a musical by Sergei Prokofiev. They both have a similar setup (in the sense that both involve a boy and a wolf) but they play out quite differently.
  
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  - Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    That’s fair. Explain how calling out fascists being fascists that haven’t yet realized there full potential is like The Boy Who Cried Wolf?
    
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Storm@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
The boy who cried wolf is a story where someone repeatedly makes incorrect warnings that the community acts on until they stop believing him. This is like the exact opposite. The left has repeatedly and accurately warned that a specific political movement is fascist and been ignored the entire time. The term was not “overused to the point of meaninglessness” people just dismissed the warning without thinking cause they didn’t understand the word and couldn’t be fucked to learn or listen

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- Quexotic@infosec.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  So, neither of you are wrong. It was used correctly and people are numb to it.
  
  Since they didn’t see stormtroopers at their doors, they figured there’s no real danger. They didn’t see that one group losing rights meant that they didn’t have rights either.
  
  The regime is doing a good job of not terrifying their base and at the same time keeping them brainwashed and inflicting harm on the various outgroups.
  
  What you’re seeing here, I think, is two echo chambers conflicting.
  
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  - faythofdragons@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    
    They didn’t see that one group losing rights meant that they didn’t have rights either.
    
    This is one of the areas that made me realize I was to the left of liberals. Too many people telling me to calm down, it won’t affect me, I’m a white woman, stop being dramatic. Like, bitch, I was raised in a red state, I know that being white won’t protect me when they come after women. Just like how being white and male won’t protect you when they come for the lower class.
    
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    Quexotic@infosec.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Dude I feel you it doesn’t take much to be left of the liberals in this country either cuz they’re just just conservativism light!
    
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- whereyaaat@lemmings.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  This is like the exact opposite.
  
  No it’s not. You get called a fascist for deadnaming transpeople.
  
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  - Storm@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    In real life? Or on twitter? This really just sounds like something that would be on a Facebook or TicToc cringe compilation
    
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- MacNCheezus@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Hindsight is 20/20. The boy in the story was ultimately correct too, wasn’t he? The problem was that the townspeople didn’t believe the earlier warnings because they seemed exaggerated and blown out of proportion.
  
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  - kahdbrixk@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    They actually believed the early warnings, that’s why they rushed to his rescue. but they were not exaggerated, they were lies. There were no wolves, he only wanted the attention.
    
    This is not what happened here with the word “fascist” or “Nazi”. These people were always fascists, but really intelligent ones so they knew how to gaslight anyone into thinking they weren’t. Maybe sometimes they didn’t know it till the end, but that doesn’t make them less fascist.
    
    So if you wanted to use an analogy, maybe you would say the boy in the story was attacked multiple times by wolves dressed like sheep. He cried for help and people rushed to his rescue. But the people always were really disappointed in him, cause there were never wolves, only sheep. And in the end everybody gets eaten, because the so called sheep actually were wolves.
    
    I mean don’t get me wrong, I know what you tried to say, but your analogy was technically wrong.
    
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    MacNCheezus@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    IDK man, do you think the story would have gone any differently if the kid HAD actually seen the wolf each time, but he always disappeared by the time the townsfolk arrived?
    
    And it’s not like people DIDN’T help IRL – after Trump’s first term, enough of his voters were dissatisfied enough with his performance that they voted for Biden instead. And everyone else in a position of power, from his own vice president, who refused to go through with Trump’s plan not to certify the vote, to all the judges presiding over the various voter fraud cases, all did their parts to ensure that he wouldn’t get a second term.
    
    But then Democrats kept up their witch hunt long after he had already stood down and given up all the election lawsuits, and even went so far as to mobilize the FBI and the DOJ in order to nail him on some legal technicalities, simply to ensure that he would never be president again. THAT’s when people started getting tired of the constant cries about Trump being a fascist, because weaponizing the state against your political enemies is pretty fascist in its own right, and if you can excuse that as long as your side is doing it, then fascism has already won.
    
    What they SHOULD have done is try to win people over with better policies and a return to sanity, but they utterly failed at that. Biden was extremely unpopular, and so was Kamala, and it’s really not that surprising people ended up voting for the wolf instead, because the alternative seemed just as bad (or perhaps even worse). After all, what is the point of defeating fascism if in the process, you become a fascist yourself?
    
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tomi000@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
What kind of argument is this? They werent fascists because they didnt do a hostile takeover of the government back then? Looks like all my relatives and friends cant be christians because they dont read the bible out loud right in front of me.

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- MacNCheezus@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Well, I’m pretty sure the Bible says that in order to be a Christian, you SHOULD go out and proclaim the word to all people, instead of just sitting at home and reading it in private.
  
  That said, there are a few more things that are required as well, so don’t make this the only criteria for judging their faith.
  
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kameecoding@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Lots of people simply don’t know what fascism even is, I would encourage watching this excellent video on it

youtu.be/5Luu1Beb8ng

Or you can go through this checklist and ask yourself how many fits onto the US, it’s at least 10

www.keene.edu/academics/cchgs/…/download/

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- renrenPDX@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  This one from the national archives is a great one.
  
  “ Don’t be a sucker” youtu.be/vGAqYNFQdZ4
  
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