chapotraphouse

More serious, though, I kinda think this demonstrates how unhelpful "fascist" is as a political description in the 21st century. Like, what makes you something, what makes you a liberal or a socialist or a conservative or a fascist isn't just what you think or believe. It's how you act, what you do, that actually makes you something. So, if you look at most US americans... they aren't really anything more than Workers on the clock and Consumers off the clock. They believe and think all sorts of things (fully contradictory things, often enough), but until any of those thoughts or beliefs translate to real action, they may as well not exist.

But when we talk and type about these things, there's often a more relaxed threshold; "a communist believes in more bigger government", "a libertarian is someone who thinks you should be allowed to indentured servitude your offspring". (I think, for the english speaking world, it's partly do to an ingrained Protestant culture - what makes you a Christian isn't necessarily what you do or the community you keep, it's the personal thoughts and intentions you have that God is always keeping tally of.) If our criteria for "fascist" is simply "thinks/believes X, Y, and Z" then we're going to be including far more people in that category than if it were action-dependent, like "acts to harm marginalized communities".

It doesn't help that the word is being thrown about with a lot more abandon. Liberals will call anyone who votes for Trump fascist. And, like, sure, voting is an action (barely). But I don't really think my well meaning neighbors who are (rightly) frustrated with the state of things belong in the same political category as skinheads and klan members just because they voted for the funny orange man or repeat some vile talking points they got from cable television.