Defining Fascism

[DanaC]

What American dictionary are you referring to?

The one Griff quoted from (American heritage dictionary). I have no idea how representative that is of other American dictionaries though.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Ah, gotcha. Brit version is worded a little more conservatively but the same theme.

No dictator, no fascism.

That's not what the dictionary(s) says. Besides, if it acts like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's at least a wannabe.

[Griff]

I'd say the attribute would be a desire for dictatorship rather than a functional one. H*t**r was a fascist before the fire. A big fly in the ointment is that we can't look inside their heads, when they are not forthcoming enough to write a Mein Kampf.

Where does the Islamofascist label fit in? Is there a document of intention or is it just a catchy label? The islamist movement, to me, looks more decentralized and tribal..? al Sadr might have the potential though?

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

In this case, let's call it "defining fascism down".

Mussolini and Franco rigidly controlled all media, films, and arts for propaganda purposes. But Bush is a fascist!

Pinochet ordered a death squad called the "Caravan of Death" to execute 71 of his biggest enemies in the Army, even though they were already under arrest. But the PNAC, they're fascists!

Suharto killed up to a million members of the opposition political party. But Bush...!

(H*tl*r shall remain unmentioned due to Godwin's Law.)

YET!

The Bushies have tried to control the media, and their secrecy doesn't allow us citizens to know much of what they're doing. Something tells me that Bush would love to send many Democrats on a quail hunting trip with BIG DICK.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

It's merely garden-variety right-wing policy combined with incompetency. To go further than that is simply Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.

If he's not a fascict, why is his picture next to the definition?

fascism
/fashiz’m/

• noun 1 an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government. 2 extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.


— DERIVATIVES fascist noun & adjective fascistic adjective.

— ORIGIN Italian fascismo, from fascio ‘bundle, political group’, from Latin fascis ‘bundle’.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Something tells me that Bush would love to send many Democrats on a quail hunting trip with BIG DICK.

Do you mean the one that shoots from the shoulder; or shoots from the hip?

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by Ibram

I didnt make the art, I'm only advertising.

It finally occurred to me why the art is precisely wrong:

In a fascist regime, it would not be permitted. Its mere existence, its creation without fear of penalty, your advertisement of it and my hosting a forum where it can be seen - are certain proof that we are not in a fascist state.

But you can't deny bush and his regime fits into most of the catagories, albeit not NEARLY to the terrible extremes of the 'real' fascist dictators.

We're always on the slippery slope, except it's not so slopey and we aren't really slipping. In 2008 there will be an election. It won't be canceled and Bush will no longer be President.

It's also a function of what information is reported and what information is shared. We have perfected the ability to find and share the very worst take -- as well as the very best, depending on which side you're on. Sitting in the middle, things aren't so very alarming.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

I'll call him good, and just, and not remotely a proto-fascist anything. He's doing what I'd do -- shooting at the actual fascists, on their home territories -- and his doings are all just what a Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces would be doing in prosecuting a war started by coercion-minded nasties possessed of and by an idea so unpopular that the one way they can get it to prevail is by savagery. That's the functioning definition of "terrorists." Countervailing violence to suppress such as these is thus moral.

Your views, Ibbie, are both less than seasoned -- a bad thing in a democracy's politics -- and second- to third-hand, owing to your geographical remoteness. What you think you see from the island of Taiwan is not something seen by those of us here on the ground.

The totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century (and the two or three surviving regimes thereafter) relied even more on control of information available to their subject populations than on their armies and police. One may for convenience call such regimes "information dictatorships." In the era of the Internet, an information dictatorship becomes less viable by the day -- anyone foresee any final success for the Great Firewall Of China? The capabilities of technology are once again outpacing the capabilities of government.

About those comics: it most regrettably cheapens anti-fascism when anti-patriotism tries to cloak itself in anti-fascism. And the fools can't get it that we can see through them? Not too bright, are they? And Spexx, darling: Ann Coulter laughs at those so abysmally credulous as to suck in the conspiracy theories the Left is peddling, simply because our commonsensical President has Republican after his name. They were at this from early '01 and have been pushing the manure enthusiastically ever since.

Man, I am never voting Democratic. They even belie their own party name, with their softness on despots! Yuck! Harry Reid needs some foreign-policy Viagra! Or maybe Cialis for longer lasting effect.

[Ibby]

Wow, so now i'm not just an ignorant teenager, but an ignorant fe'rgner too?

[xoxoxoBruce]

He didn't say you are a foreigner, he said you watching from the cheap seats.

[Ibby]

Nowadays, it's not six months by boat for my mail and the news. It's six-tenths of a second. Anyone anywhere can know what's going on, so he's doing nothing but bullshitting once again.

Thankfully, he's even more of a joke than merc - I'm not offended, only amused.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Six months or 6/10 of a second you're still on the other side of the world where it's safe.
You don't have to check under the bed at night, in the backseat of your car coming out of the mall, or the kitchen of the restaurant, to make sure terrorists aren't going to rush out and saw your head off, like UG does.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Ibram

Thankfully, he's even more of a joke than merc - I'm not offended, only amused.

Spoken like a true teen...

[Griff]

Fascism made easy...


1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
3. Develop a thug caste
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law

-Naomi Wolf

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Six months or 6/10 of a second you're still on the other side of the world where it's safe.

You are being wry here, right? Sorry if my wrymeter needs calibrating...