In the beginning, I was somewhat creeped out by how often Bruce invades my own thinking ~ but I now find it comforting ~ Sooz
Bruce Lindner
1 hr · Washougal, WA ·
One of my pet peeves is how the right has over time, systematically relabeled fascism as a left-wing ideology, rather than what it is; an extreme right-wing construct. Whether it’s Dinesh D’Souza, Sean Hannity or Jonah Goldberg, author of “Liberal Fascism,” they all at some point use the same flawed argument. And now we’re seeing trolls repeating it on Facebook.
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Rather than looking at the history of fascism, its rise in Italy, Spain and Germany, they glom onto the word Nazi, which is an acronym for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus in German). They zero in on that word “socialism,” try to trim it to fit European style socialism, especially the ex-Soviet States, and come away satisfied that Nazism is left-wing. Never. Ever. Nazism, a nationalistic form of fascism, is, was, and will forever be, RIGHT-WING.
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They completely ignore the fact that the Nazis slaughtered the socialists and communists in the streets of Germany, and that Hitler purged every left-leaning soul from the Nazi Party. And never mind the fact that Der Führer himself said; “Our adopted term 'Socialist' has nothing to do with Marxist Socialism. Marxism is anti-property; true Socialism is not.”
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But during these crazy days, when even the President of the United States spews right-wing lies as facts, this particular lie continues to thrive.
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Early yesterday morning, I posted an article on how the administration was planning on empowering the DHS to compile a database of journalists, bloggers and “media influencers,” and I wrote the following introductory paragraph: “Every time we warn that this administration is taking another giant step towards fascism, the right pushes back; “No, no, you’re the fascists, not us!” And then the administration tries to pull something like this.”
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Sure as Eric Trump is uglier than a baboon’s rump, some troll barged in and started causing havoc. He was so obnoxious, I ended up deleting both him and his comments. First thing he did was he called one of my Facebook friends an “idiot.” I had already resolved to flick him into the forbidden zone, but before doing so, I decided to take a look at his wall. And wouldn’t you know it? He was embroiled in a heated argument with someone over the right-left position of fascism on the ideological teeter-totter, and he was using the “socialism” trope to make his case.
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So I jumped in (paraphrasing from memory, as I’ve since blocked him).
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“Tell me Einstein, so the reason you believe fascism is left-wing is because the Nazis called themselves national socialists?”
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[cough, sputter, *epithet*, lie] Once he got that out of the way, he said “Yeah, I do. Are you gonna tell me socialism is conservative? It’s right there in their name.”
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“Nope, it’s not. Socialism is left-wing. But the Nazis weren’t socialists in the traditional sense.” I wasn’t about to school this doofus on early 20th Century history, so I cut to the chase before he could block me.
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“Tell me this: Do you think the North Koreans and Red Chinese are right-wing or left-wing?”
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“Left, obviously. They’re communists.”
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“Right you are. And yet, they both use YOUR party’s name in their official title. The People’s *REPUBLIC* of China. The *REPUBLIC* of North Korea. You’re a *REPUBLICAN* too, correct? So why shouldn’t I assume you’re also a commie? It’s right there in your party’s name.”
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“Bullshit. That’s not the same thing. You’re playing word games.”
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“Bingo! It’s a fucking word game! And you came over to my wall and tried to play it there. So ponder why the Communist Chinese and North Koreans calling themselves by YOUR party’s name, “Republican” doesn’t mean they’re conservative... yet to you, the word “socialism” once used by a defunct party that’s been outlawed for 73 years somehow connects liberalism with fascism. Now keep your ignorance off my threads. (The guy he was arguing with gave me likes after each point).
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Then I blocked him.
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But feel free to deploy that argument whenever a similarly ignorant jerk shows up on your Timeline: If the word “socialism” embedded in the word Nazi makes modern liberals Nazis, then the word “Republican” must therefore be communist, because modern communist states consider themselves republics.
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Yeah, it’s a word game. But if you know how to play it, it debunks their bunk.