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Dropping the Political F-Bomb
Foreign Policy ^ | MARCH 14, 2014 | CHRISTIAN CARYL

Posted on 03/14/2016 7:34:11 PM PDT by Sawdring

Words are weapons. And when you’re taking aim at a political enemy, the word "fascist" is the equivalent of a howitzer. In the post-Auschwitz era, accusing someone of "fascism" is just about the most devastating charge you can make.

Yet rarely has the word experienced a comeback on the scale we’re seeing today. Godwin’s Law — which says that every exchange on the Internet will end up with someone comparing someone else to Hitler — clearly needs a bit of tweak. The biggest accelerant these days, of course, is the crisis in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin and Russia’s state-controlled media love describing the revolutionaries in Kiev as "fascist" (a term strongly rejected by defenders of the mass protest movement that brought down President Viktor Yanukovych). Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro uses "fascist" for the opposition protesters who have been taking to the streets to demand his overthrow. (Madonna, of all people, has responded by applying the same word to Maduro.) Left-wing Turks rallying against the Islamist government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan bemoan his "fascism," too.

In Asia, meanwhile, comparing countries to Nazi Germany has become something of a parlor game. The North Koreans have dubbed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe an "Asian Hitler." The Chinese are content to charge Abe with the sin of "veneration of eastern Nazis" for his visits to a controversial World War II shrine. (While we’re on the subject of World War II, by the way, Hillary Clinton didn’t actually apply the f-word to Vladimir Putin, even though she did draw an analogy between his move on Crimea and Hitler’s grab for the Sudetenland.)

(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: everyotherism; fascism; nazism
A good article on a much discussed word.
1 posted on 03/14/2016 7:34:11 PM PDT by Sawdring
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To: Sawdring

all the name-calling has been overused so now it means nothing.


2 posted on 03/14/2016 7:36:09 PM PDT by ghosthost
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To: Sawdring

Facism is incest between industry and government. It is usually accompanied by a hardline police state to keep people in line.


3 posted on 03/14/2016 7:36:50 PM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: Sawdring

There are many corollaries to Godwin’s law, some considered more canonical (by being adopted by Godwin himself) than others. For example, there is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever debate was in progress (Wikipedia).

The preponderance of people using the ‘F’ word who don’t have a clue as to what it means are astounding. Anyone who thinks Fascism began with Hitler is unworthy of taking seriously in any regard.

For me it’s pretty much the same as the first person to use the phrase “whitesplaining’ OR “Race card” loses.


4 posted on 03/14/2016 7:39:42 PM PDT by RedStateRocker (Better questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.)
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5 posted on 03/14/2016 7:40:00 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Facing Trump nomination inevitability, folks are now openly trying to help Hillary destroy him.)
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To: Sawdring

I think the entire world is having a nervous breakdown.


6 posted on 03/14/2016 7:40:16 PM PDT by Company Man (Keep Calm and Carry)
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To: Sawdring

I think this article is proof that there are just as many stupid people on the other side of the planet as there are on this side.


7 posted on 03/14/2016 7:40:35 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: Sawdring

The only thing worse than a Fascist, is an “Antifa”


8 posted on 03/14/2016 7:43:46 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Company Man

“I think the entire world is having a nervous breakdown.”

It’s interesting to watch, that’s for sure. We are just keeping quiet while stocking up on food, water, medical supplies, and ammunition. One thing is certain, the ride is going to start moving a whole lot faster.

And there is no off switch.

L


9 posted on 03/14/2016 7:47:59 PM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: Company Man
I think the entire world is having a nervous breakdown.


10 posted on 03/14/2016 7:49:24 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: Sawdring

“A good article on a much discussed word.”

And also refreshing to see it spelled consistently with an “s” in the middle...


11 posted on 03/14/2016 7:54:13 PM PDT by headsonpikes (Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
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To: UCANSEE2

What? What do you mean ‘the other side of the planet’?

Eastern hemisphere or southern hemisphere?


12 posted on 03/14/2016 7:56:51 PM PDT by null and void (This is "They live", and most people would rather fight you than put on the glasses...)
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To: Sawdring

People who wallow in the filth of undisciplined passions use the word “fascism” at the slightest hint of . . . discipline.


13 posted on 03/14/2016 8:08:39 PM PDT by Fester Chugabrew (Diversity is Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sharing the same jail cell.)
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To: UCANSEE2

14 posted on 03/14/2016 8:10:09 PM PDT by Company Man (I say we take off and Trump the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.)
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To: Sawdring
And when you’re taking aim at a political enemy, the word "fascist" is the equivalent of a howitzer. In the post-Auschwitz era, accusing someone of "fascism" is just about the most devastating charge you can make.

No it isn't. It's a tired, overused word which is indiscriminately applied to just about everyone that the Left and it's allies in the media don't agree with, while the Left itself practices the "shut them down" antics of the real Fascists.
15 posted on 03/14/2016 8:27:31 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: null and void
Eastern hemisphere or southern hemisphere?

Yes.

16 posted on 03/14/2016 10:23:05 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: Company Man

17 posted on 03/14/2016 10:27:37 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: Sawdring

It is a good article.

Here’s my definition of fascist and Marxist. A fascist is a socialist (centralized planner and controller of all labor, wealth and property) who respects no limits on his authority nor recognizes nor any rights of the people they rule over within a Nation. Their ambition to conquer and rule is limited, generally, to their own nation and people like Venezuela. But they are quick to war in order to gain the resources of other nations.

A Marxist is a socialist who rules their nation like a fascist, but has global ruling ambitions with the same extent of power over all Nations and the same lack of respect for the labor, rights and property of people as a fascist.

A Marxist today is a globalist who is seeking cooperation from Marxists of all nations to install global Marxism; rather than like the Soviet Union which tried to conquer and rule nations with puppet National or regional Marxist rulers.

Today’s globalists are much more dangerous to human life and freedom than yesterday’s fascists. One is going for the conquering and rule of the whole globe; the other only conquered and ruled over a nation’s people and warred with other nations. Yesterday’s fascist, like Hitler, for example, was a fascist who desired to rule his own people but also wanted to conquer all of Europe. Today’s global Marxists have conquered the Nations of Europe without war. They have merely gained the cooperation of Marxists in all European Nations. Germany dominates the EU. Europeans have generally slept through the conquest.


18 posted on 03/15/2016 5:13:48 AM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: SpaceBar
Facism is incest between industry and government.

Describes America's Republican Party in 2016 to a T.

19 posted on 03/15/2016 5:22:55 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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