Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: Stop using the term fascist! Today!
If I were to have a child I would name her Megan. That’s not really true. Any future girl child will be saddled with Billie and a boy Ulysses; however, today I’m all about Megan. Specifically Megan McArdle.
McArdle went after our love for the word fascism, especially when describing those on the opposite end of the political aisle. Whether it’s conservatives crying that everything President Barack Obama does has a fascistic bent (morning Glenn Beck), or liberals convinced that to be a Republican is to have an affection for black boots (hey there Keith Olbermann).
As Atlantic blogger McArdle points out using the term for politics you don’t approve of is silly, hyperbolic, and ahistorical.
“Fascism is a particular thing, not the amalgam of everything you happen not to like. ”
Ahh, but what better way to get our choirs all ginned up, nodding their heads in righteous indignation?
Wanting a moratorium on the f bomb does not mean political disagreements have gone the way of the do-do; however, persuasion does not come about by calling your opponent as a black boot thug.
Look at the long Senate career of Edward Kennedy. No one would question his liberal street cred; however, did he ever demean his Republican foes with the f epithet? Probably not because he understood you can’t insult an opponent on one day and work with her the following.
Please do me a favor? Don’t leave any comments about how you are a “student of history” and how the fascism charge sticks because of X,Y, or Z reason. Using the word without talking about the real ones, shows how you and history have never been close friends.
RIP Dominick Dunne.
The use of the term Nazi is over the top in most situations today. I thought it poorly used on Seinfeld when he referred to the “Soup Nazi.” To use that term without referring to the thugs of Germany circa 1930s demeans the people who suffered their fate at the cruel hands of the real Nazis.
However, fascism is an extreme right wing movement. It fundamentally believes in the taking away of civil liberties and restricting the rights of the people. One might refer to Mussolini as a fascist, but the label could just as easily apply to Dick Cheney who relished in the passage of the PATRIOT Act. Yes, it is hyperbole, and yes, it is over the top. However, if the pump fits, ladies…
Lunara: Kindly stop “blessing” us in the name of your imaginary goddess… or any imaginary deity for that matter. It’s a little bit offensive when people impose their religion on others by “blessing” them. We don’t want people doing what Mormons do, baptizing people after they’re dead. Don’t bless us either.
I agree. Can we add “Nazi” to the prohibition of over-the-top political rhetoric?
what, this fascist thinks he can tell me what to do? no way buddy. No Way.
Obama is not a socialist. Obama isn’t even a liberal! Obama is one of the most middle of the road do nothings that has been in power since I’ve been born (which was only about 20 years ago, admittedly) so now tell me, what has centrism gotten us? What has bipartisanism got us? Obama only seems like a liberal because he’s going up against the uber extremist right wing bible thumping wackjobs. A real liberal would slash DOMA and DADT in half with a single stroke of the pen. A real liberal would say ‘F*ck bipartisanship and republican obstructionism, we’re getting healthcare done NOW.’ A real liberal would have gotten us the hell out of Iraq. In general, a liberal would be working to advance liberal goals without making excuses. He’s backpedaled on nearly every piece of progressive legislation that I’ve heard of so far. People don’t like change, that’s true. But this country needs a major overhaul to yank it out of the conservative cesspit it’s been driven into. We didn’t vote for Obama to see him walk the middle road, we voted for Obama to get things done. There is currently no extreme leftist base with any form of political power whatsoever to balance the right. We need to change this if we want to see the change we’ve been hoping for, because until then everyone will just crumble under the unbelievable power of ignorance and stupidity emanating from the republican leadership.
The ones in the middle DON’T DO ANYTHING!
You hem and haw and shuffle and duck and go about every day as if it’ll all just fix itself, bitching about the “loonies” who take and took to the streets to secure the security and FREEDOM you enjoy while tsk tsk-ing those of us out there FIGHTING FOR YOU.
MIddle of the road never did anything but DIVIDE THE HIGHWAY!
You’ve done this before. Stated something completely outrageous and then pleaded with people who know more about the subject than you to not write a comment correcting you.
But this time, to add to the insult, you insist that anyone who DOES know more than you simply doesn’t.
THAT, m’dear, is fascism.
I am right because I say I’m right and ANYONE who does not agree with me must be IGNORANT and completely devoid of any intellectual acuity on the subject whatsoever.
THAT is fascism.
You attempt to impose YOUR *OPINION* about something onto others. Period.
Everybody with a computer has access to a dictionary, dipwad.
fas⋅cist /ˈfæʃɪst/ Show Spelled [fash-ist] Show IPA
Use fascist in a Sentence
See web results for fascist
See images of fascist
–noun
1.a person who believes in or sympathizes with fascism.
2.(often initial capital letter) a member of a fascist movement or party.
3.a person who is dictatorial or has extreme right-wing views.
DID YOU READ NUMBER THREE?
Move your lips if it helps.
E*X*T*R*E*M*E RIGHT WING RIGHT WING RIGHT WING RIGHT WING
Did you get that it says “RIGHT WING”?
V*I*E*W*S
AND
D*I*C*T*A*T*O*R*I*A*L
As in: My opinion is the only one that counts because I say so so don’t bother posting anything that disagrees with what I’ve said, because you’re still wrong anyway.
*IF* you had the power to actually enforce your dictum regarding whether we can reply or not or how we reply, then you’d have your own little F*A*S*C*I*S*T state going, wouldn’t you?
Just like the last administration had when it SCREENED THE (p)RESIDENT’S AUDIENCES TO MAKE SURE THERE WOULD BE NO VOICE OF DISSENT.
I think, doll, you’d better brush up on your dictionary before you try this again, okay?
Your OPINION regarding what is fascism and what is not fascism is simply WRONG.
A left-winger CANNOT BE A FASCIST by DEFINITION.
Twit.
Here’s a suggestion, before writing a column about how people misuse a word (in this case fascism) how about showing at least a Wikipedia-level knowledge about that word. Fascism doesn’t really fall on a left-right continuum, it has to do with the establishment of a strong national authority which can restrict property rights, individual rights, and can control a broad swath of people’s life, but falls short of totalitarianism. Fascism rejects both individualism, and communism.
Because it is such a nebulous concept with little real definition it could presumably apply to both a right winger like Bush, or a left winger like Obama. But instead of doing that its far more productive to talk about the merits or costs of specific policy.
While our opponents may not be persuaded by being called nasty names, the Right has recognized name calling as an effective technique to persuade the masses that something is dangerous, odious, valueless, or subhuman. Just look at Limbaugh, Coulter, corporate sponsored political ads, or anything coming from Fox “News” as examples. While we on the left sensibly notice the respectiblity of properly using words and also recognizing the rules of civility, the relentless and fascist-like Right continues to thrash at our jugular and laugh all the way back to the polls.
The Cold War allegedly ended under Reagan’s presidency, but I can’t shake the feeling that all of this “socialist,” “fascist,” “marxist” and “Nazi” crap is just a throwback from the days of the Cold War: if you don’t like it, throw an evil sounding name at it.
The fringe groups on the Left and Right are not the ones in the majority. The majority of people are in the middle of the road and it is high time we remembered that. If we in the middle actually used the numbers we have, we would be the ones with the voice over those on the fringe who seem to be spewing the most rhetoric and misguided misinformation. In my opinion, these are the most disgusting things these fringes do to the masses and most, not all, has come from teh Right and thier “Death Panels”, “War on Christmas”, “Death Book”, etc, etc, etc.
WE, those in the middle, could actually make the pendulum stop in the middle and no longer have is swinging from the Right or Left.
May Goddess Bless Those Who Learn and Grow!
Blessed Be,
Rev. Draigh Lunara
Right-wing loonies and left-wing loonies. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get rid of both? The last time I checked neither the left nor the right had all the right answers; although to hear them tell it, each thinks that they do.
Agreed. I didn’t even like it when people did it to Bush. No one would argue that the Nazis and their actions were irredeemably evil, and to compare something you don’t like to them is a cheap argument tactic. What you’re saying is that you’re totally closed to discussion on the matter because they could do no good in your eyes. In that case what’s the point in debating at all if you’re not willing to listen?
Sociafascianazilisticmarxpialidocious!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXKtiSu6aTo
I thought it ironic that the right-wing loonies went from calling the President and his plan to fix healthcare “Socialism” to branding him a “Fascist” and his healthcare plan reminiscent of the Nazi “Facists.” That just told me they didn’t know what they were talking about … and further damages their credibility.