• germanatlas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      16 hours ago

      There is no definition of fascism that is exclusively that. Let’s take a list of key features defined by Umberto Eco, who was the expert on fascism and you can decide for yourself if Harris fits that:

      • The cult of tradition
      • The rejection of modernism
      • The cult of action for action’s sake
      • Disagreement is treason
      • Fear of difference
      • Appeal to social frustration
      • The enemy is both strong and weak
      • Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy
      • Contempt for the weak
      • Everybody is educated to become a hero
      • Machismo and weaponry
      • Selective populism
      • Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak
    • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      Sorry, liberals do that too! They’ve literally always done that, since like, the beginning. It’s always been a part of liberalism.

      Fascism isn’t just about being evil, but a particular type of evil. Liberalism is plenty evil in its own right. Saying that liberals are fascists gives both groups too much credit.

      Liberalism had a fucked up set of principles that were often ignored or bent, but kept at some level to allow cooperation. Fascism has no principles outside of whatever works for power. It’s why many understandings of fascism just describe common traits. Machismo and nationalism are strategies that work well, but not an inherent part of it. There have been fascists inspired by the Nazis that valued racial mixing instead of racial purity. No logic, only winning. No rules and customs, only the will to power.