No. States are inherantly authoritarian entities, but authoritarianism is not simply a synonym for fascism. Authoritarianism is essential to fascism and fascism is always authoritarian, but not all forms of authoritarianism are fascist.
It’s understandable that there are arguments about what movement isn’t/wasn’t fascism because fascist movements are pretty much always deceptive and often claim not to be fascist. Fascist movements, due to their extreme nationalism, also generally want to distance themselves from other fascist movements in other countries.
And I think it’s ok if people want to be a bit creative when using the term fascist, but we shouldn’t forget it’s original meaning completely. For me, the limit is certainly reached when one says “Goverment is always fascist”, then the word completely loses it’s meaning and simply becomes another term for authoritarian.
Plenty of people agree on what fascism means. Then there are people who use fascism to mean every movement they don’t like. But most dangerous are those looking to muddy the waters. Their goal is to convince people like you that no one knows what fascism means anymore.
No. States are inherantly authoritarian entities, but authoritarianism is not simply a synonym for fascism. Authoritarianism is essential to fascism and fascism is always authoritarian, but not all forms of authoritarianism are fascist.
Real problem is no one has agree one what fascism actually means anymore. Its definitely not 1930s Italy anymore.
It’s understandable that there are arguments about what movement isn’t/wasn’t fascism because fascist movements are pretty much always deceptive and often claim not to be fascist. Fascist movements, due to their extreme nationalism, also generally want to distance themselves from other fascist movements in other countries.
And I think it’s ok if people want to be a bit creative when using the term fascist, but we shouldn’t forget it’s original meaning completely. For me, the limit is certainly reached when one says “Goverment is always fascist”, then the word completely loses it’s meaning and simply becomes another term for authoritarian.
Plenty of people agree on what fascism means. Then there are people who use fascism to mean every movement they don’t like. But most dangerous are those looking to muddy the waters. Their goal is to convince people like you that no one knows what fascism means anymore.