this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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Seems reductive.

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[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

Because they're literal fascists, by definition, and are trying to convince others that they are not.

Fascists always attempt to change the definition of words to suit their narrative.

Don't let them.

[–] LuigiMaoFrance@lemmy.ml 16 points 3 days ago

Because conservatives don't argue in good faith and at this point the only way you should communicate with them is with bricks

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Because it suits them to. That is really all there is to it. "Fascism" got such a universally bad name, that even (almost all) fascists dont want yo call themselves such. Instead, they try to use this negatively associated word to describe the people fighting against them.

[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 days ago
[–] obsoleteacct@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 days ago

They don't. Any time a Democrat exercises the slightest bit of executive authority they scream fascism

They know the difference. They just play ignorant when it's convenient.

Tucker calls Obama a fascist

Biden got it from JD Vance

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Fascism is about killing as many people you don't like as possible, while the richest people in the land consolidate power, and lying about everything to make it possible. It tends to last for decades and destroys the nation that embraces it.

You are all the good things and your enemies are all the bad things. There is no value in truth or rationality.

Good luck.

[–] MisterOwl@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Because, to put it mildly, they lack intelligence.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Possibly more precisely:

Self-Awareness.

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[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

There are two things you should read.

Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco

The Authoritarians by Dr. Bob Altemeyer

To summarize, they do not use any genuine definition of fascism or any other word they wield as a pejorative. Words are weapons that mean whatever they want them to mean. At the same time, the fascist/authoritarian control scheme requires the nurturing of a fear of violence. This fear is irrational, but at the cycle continues and escalates to real violence - particularly among radicalized rightists - it is used to reinforce the fears, which are carefully directed toward the desired out-groups. For example, jews, minorities, immigrants, queer people, and “leftists.”

To summarize further, they are terrorists.

Because they don't know what words mean they just know if it makes them feel good or bad based on who it's directed at.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago

Because they're fascists.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

They need an arbitrary definition of separation, because otherwise they would easily be put in one pot.

It's a convenient place to rest the goalposts until they have to snatch them up and run away again.

[–] theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world 49 points 4 days ago (4 children)

Because they genuinely don't know what the definition of fascism is

[–] TheCriticalMember@aussie.zone 16 points 4 days ago

Or they do, but need to change it because it fits a little too well.

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[–] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

Self sitting convenience.

[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 4 days ago (1 children)

They don't. They play the victim a lot more ways than that.

For example: you don't go to church. They think "Christian values are under attack." You argue for civil rights. "The right of the White Man is under attack." Shit like that. And they will call you a fascist, a socialist, a communist, everything but what you are, which is a nonconformist, for not doing exactly what they want you to do.

A conservative, by the simplest definition, is one who opposes change for the sake of change. The ideal of "if it's not broke, don't fix it." The problem is, while the system may not be broken for them (WASP), it needs work for people of colour, the LGBTQ+, Palestinians, and more. But they don't want a world that works for the rest of us. They just want to maintain the status quo. A lot of them have much more complicated feelings and opinions than that, but that's basically conservatism in a nutshell. Not extreme. Unfortunately very few conservatives are basic conservatives anymore.

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[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 31 points 4 days ago (3 children)

They are by far the least emotionally accessible portion of the US populace. They are also very deliberately ignorant. They really don't know what some of the words represent in full. They are put simply, stupid.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 33 points 4 days ago (2 children)

These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West.

You know, morons.

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[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 22 points 4 days ago

Bad faith, nothing they say can be believed at face value, despite that being exactly what mass media trains people to do.

[–] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 22 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Because otherwise they'd really have to struggle with some highly uncomfortable and inconvenient realizations.

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[–] masquenox@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 days ago (69 children)

Firstly - there is no workable "definition" of fascism that's remotely useful. Not yet, anyway. It probably has something to do with the fact that fascism isn't so much an ideology but more a function within the modern liberal nation state - ie, the people who perform the violent repression for the benefit of the rich elites at the top. Sometimes, the elites become so frightened that they will literally hand the very state over to these people in it's entirety - as happened in Germany and Italy (and other places).

Secondly - these people calling themselves "conservatives" and/or "libertarians" don't actually care much about labels. The fact that they actually call themselves "conservatives" (essentially a dead ideology they wouldn't recognise if it bit them on their behinds) and "libertarians" (a term that originally described anarchist and other libertarian socialists) without having the foggiest clue what those terms really mean is a clue. The only thing they understand is that it's a term they can throw at any people pushing back against their vile (and often fascist or fascist-adjacent) narratives.

That's pretty much it.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

There has been a shinning example of Fascism in the US since it's creation. From genociding the Native Americans to over throwing countless democracies and installing fascist states.

Sure the founding fathers existed before fascism was envisioned, but they did real good checking off every box. We will call them the proto-fascists, they helped guide the creation of the most destructive fascist nation ever. The kind of nation that nurtured the Nazi movement after creating the the perfect storm by walking away from the aftermath of WWI.

The kind of nation that purged all its left wing back during the McCarthyism Era. A nation whose military complex is bigger and stronger than the rest of the world combined. A country created by the wealthy for the wealthy embracing the corruption of greed from the start to the end.

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[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

there is no workable “definition” of fascism that’s remotely useful.

It has been described and defined in great detail.

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism

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[–] devolution@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago

Because the dishonest fucks only engage in bad faith arguments.

[–] dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 12 points 4 days ago

Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.

[–] Zexks@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

A core tenant of conservatism is extreme lack of education so....

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