Its Not FASCISM Bro

Why is everything called Fascist these days? Lets find out.

Essays in question:

For context:

Articles mentioned:

CNN Fascism in Thomas and Paw Patrol:

Fascism in Paw Patrol (another silly article)

the Lion King is Fascist: (Washington Post)

[reviewspiteras]

Calling everything that has authoritatian tendencies -facist- is something we must also blame on later half 20th century pop culture that pushed this concept outside its original meaning. Now its just another slang that is meaningless

[woahhbro]

Fascism is when my stepdad makes me do my homework

[jeffreysommer]

"It will be seen that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else."
—George Orwell

[liveforever]

>HOW DARE YOU QUESTION YOUR AUTHORITY!!!! QUESTIONING OF AUTHORITY IS EXTREMELY UNDEMOCRATIC!!! QUESTIONING AUTHORITY LEADS TO FASCISM!!!
- supposed democracy defender.

[tomassmith]

The Emperor of Mankind is indeed not fascist, he is just an absolute monarch lol

[lancewalker]

The notion that Edmund Burke is even remotely “fascist” is laughable.

[peaceribbon]

I think the main reason stuff gets called fascist isn’t because of anything related to the political theory itself, but rather by using such a charged word you can immediately get a negative connotation made in the hearer’s mind. It’s really just a way of screaming “THIS IS BAD” but the writer isn’t clever enough to come up with a real reason to argue, so they use a word with which the audience can create a reason for them.

[Deathmageddon]

Fascism is when my wife’s boyfriend won’t let me play with Legos

[Treblaine]

"Criticizing a politician is undermining democracy!" so is democracy just granting absolute power to anyone who wins an election? These people want a "democracy" like North Korea where there's technically elections but you can never actually disagree with or criticize the ruling party.

[immikeurnot]

Don't ignore that the in-universe reason for the citizenship system in Starship Troopers was to stop government getting involved in pointless wars. And the common non-citizen in that book still plainly had every other right that citizens had aside from voting and holding office. Rico's father was a very vocal critic of the government and seemed to think becoming a citizen was something people only did out of vanity.

[kail]

I think people are starting to catch on to the “everything is bad mustache man/ fascist” trend. When everything is fascist, nothing is.

[GenericProtagonist]

Monarchism? Fascism.
Capitalism? Fascism.
Communism? Fascism.
Liberalism? Fascism.
My dad? Fascism.

[Jitterzz]

When I see Starship Troopers being called fascist, I absolutely laugh my ass off. The fact that a military leader like the Sky Marshall would take responsibility for an operational failure that cost lives, step down and relinquish command, with full transparency to the populace? This is not something that would happen in a fascist state.

Heck, in our world we have “democracies” in today’s day and age that don’t take responsibility for any failures within or outside their borders.

[Cheattoe]

Fun fact Mussolini hated pasta and its effects on Italian culture

[michaelman]

Even George Orwell pointed out that people were using the word so much that it lost meaning and used it just to lambast their opponents. So this isn't new (though it has gotten worse).

[Quincy_Morris]

When people say faschist they mean authoritarian. But they don’t use that term because usually they want an authoritarian system that promotes their worldview, and an authoritarian system that isn’t supported their worldview is ‘fascist’

[Skyscraper]

"Oh no, it's the ghost of facism" should be a standard response to people pointing and yelling "fascist".... that or "Ghost of Pasta Politics"

[Pangora]

in SST, the simple fact most of the population ignore the State and look at State service as a waste of time already disqualifies it from being fascist. Being a voting Citizen is simply optional. Noting is optional in fascism.

[roycehuepers]

I prefer Mandalorians meritocracy.

“The Empire and the Rebellion both have flawed ideas of government. The difference is that the Empire has the coin.” - Boba Fett

[phillipp]

My favorite is when Democracy does something terrible and they call it fascistic when it literally happens in democracies.