I get the sense these people revel in being called things like ‘fascist’ for 2 reasons:
getting lumped into a certain group just strengthens their feelings of group solidarity (however misguided it appears from the outside)
most of these folks couldn’t accurately define term like fascism if you asked (perhaps more a failing of public education)
So yeah - I think that calling politicians names is important if only it reminds onlookers there are other perspectives, but it could also be counterproductive in that it adds to the gang mentality.
Fascism should never be considered just “one perspective” among many in our ideas about politics… it’s a violent worldview that we know leads directly to genocide.
You call that shit out, loudly, whenever you see it. you work to hoist it out of the public square, as it does not belong among an acceptable spectrum of political views. What you DO NOT do is pretend it’s an acceptable part of our political spectrum.
And counting oneself as a fascist is already embracing the “gang mentality.” It is all absolute worst aspects of modernity distilled into a genocidal political ideology, built on lies and an embrace of violence as not only okay, but morally righteous. The only way to deal with people who have gone full on fascist is to make sure that they do not have a space in the political dialogue as long as the embrace fascism, and to deal with them when they do resort to violence (arrest them and prosecute them), and to push to strengthen structures that protect historically vulnerable groups, and ensure a good, clear-minded education that centers reality and looks at the past with clear eyes, rather than via a myopic nationalist lens.
This isn’t calling politicians names, this is stating a fact. DeSantis is a fascist and refraining from calling him such is trying to water down the truth, which I don’t think has ever been a helpful strategy for anything other than letting them get away with things.
Agree on all points.
But - as you know there are misguided people out there who will actively embrace whatever terms their perceived enemies cast upon them - as a point of pride almost. I see it in my own area with our version of ‘gun-toting rednecks’.
So - to these folks I imagine being called ‘fascist’ would elicit a reponse anywhere between “that’s just your perspective” to a “hell ya!”.
Again probably pointing to a failure of public education (incl post secondary), inequality and inequity, and post-industrial society in general.
People who willing embrace the term fascists can fuck right off. If they embrace it, knowing what it means, then why the fuck should I care about them and being inclusive of them.
Okay? And? See above.
Or, now stay with me here, maybe they believe in fascism, and think it’s the correct way to run the world. I think we need to stop thinking it’s ignorance or “economic anxiety” or whatever and just accept that some people believe in this shit and want to see it prevail.
I don’t really care if he likes or dislikes being called a fascist. he needs to be called a fascist because he is a fascist. It’s the correct word to use.
