New term I really like: "Leftwaffe". Please start using it in your memes and everywhere else.

submitted by Chipit from self.memes

sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]Chipit[S] 9 insightful - 5 fun9 insightful - 4 fun10 insightful - 5 fun -  (3 children)

It's not waffling. It's pointing out, in a clever way, that the Left long ago abandoned liberalism and is now acting fascist.

There are two kinds of fascists: fascists and anti-fascists.

[–]AFutureConcern 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

It is true that many on the left have abandoned liberalism, and normie conservatives tend to be a lot more liberal. But it's absolutely wrong to compare them to fascists. It looks like you're using "fascist" as a word for "illiberal and bad" - fascism is a political ideology focused around viewing the nation (as a people bound by blood & soil) as a single body that should act collectively in its own interest, honoring the strong and powerful. It's fundamentally different to the leftist worldview of anti-fascists who deny that nationhood is important, claim that groups acting in their own self-interest are "racist" (and therefore bad), and who honor the weak and powerless (blacks, women, immigrants, LGBT etc.).

The only similarity is opposition to liberalism and therefore suppression of dissent in a country run by either group would not be opposed on liberal grounds. Even so, I don't think most on the far-right today would censor speech nearly as much as leftists are currently doing. In fact I'm not sure any censorship regime in history is as extreme as what's happening right now.

[–]Chipit[S] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

The word "fascist" today more often indicates the presence of a radical leftist nut (or slimy left-wing propagandist) than it does actual fascists. Fascist and nazi in 2020 basically means "authority, laws and rules I personally don't agree with". Their complex original manifestations and features don't inform how they are applied today at all. The people who call everyone fascists literally support like 90% of the original fascist manifesto.

Tell me, which of these statements do you agree with:

The formation of a National Council of Experts for Labor, for Industry, for Transportation, for Public Health, for Communications, etc. Selections to be made from the collective professional or of tradesmen with legislative powers, and elected directly to a General Commission with ministerial powers.

A (living) minimum wage;

The participation of workers' representatives in the functions of industry commissions;

To show the same confidence in the labor unions as is given to industry executives or public servants;

A necessary modification of the insurance laws to invalidate the minimum retirement age; we proposed to lower it from 65 to 55 years of age;

The nationalization of all military manufacturing;

A strong progressive tax on capital that will truly expropriate a portion of all wealth;

The seizure of the possessions of the religious congregations and the abolition of the bishoprics, which are an enormous liability on the Nation and on the privileges of the poor; and

The review of all military contracts and seizure of 85 percent of the profits therein.

Sounds a bit like the current policies of which party today?

These are edited sections of the Fascist Manifesto of Benito Mussolini.

Who are the fascists?

[–]AFutureConcern 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Some policy proposals of leftists and fascists are superficially similar, but the philosophy behind them is radically different. Fascists are driven by a love of their own people and nation; leftists are driven by a hatred of it. Fascists want to preserve culture and tradition; leftists want to destroy it. A fascist could be convinced that more right-wing economics would be good for his nation; a leftist views economics as fundamental to his worldview and so would only accept right-wing economics by renouncing leftism. A fascist accepts that a meritocratic system will lead to natural inequality; a leftist views inequality as unnatural and unjust.

The similarities look closer from a libertarian frame because both philosophies oppose libertarianism. But this is true of many philosophies opposed to libertarianism; all kinds of centrism, classical liberalism, neoliberalism all support things like minimum wages and progressive income taxes to varying degrees.

I don't think that the definition as "authority, laws and rules I personally don't agree with" is a particularly useful one, but I'll concede that many people do use the term in this way.