[green, pointing to a clock with Hitler above it, that reads 11:30] Oh no, look… It’s half to Hitler
[yellow, annoyed] Chill out buddy, don’t be such an alarmist
[green, pointing to a clock with Hitler above it, that reads 11:45] Oh no, look… It’s quarter to Hitler
[yellow, rude] Yeah I get it, I tweeted about it, leave me be
[green, pointing to a clock with Hitler above it, that reads 11:55] Oh no, look… It’s five to Hitler
[yellow, scared] Oh shit oh fuck, we really need to do something NOW
[green, pointing to a clock with Hitler above it, that reads 11:59] Oh shit, look… It’s one to Hitler
[yellow, terrified] It’s too late now, wish we could have seen it coming earlier
If everything is Hitler, what do you say when it’s worse?
Have you noticed how everything is “fascism” now? The moment something feels uncomfortable, authoritarian, or just leans right of centre, the comments fill up with people screaming “fascist!” and farming upvotes. A word that once described one of the darkest movements in human history is now just shorthand for “stuff I don’t like.”
Fascism used to mean something specific, dictatorship, violent nationalism, suppression of dissent, and the merging of state and corporate power. Now it’s a moral trump card used by everyone, left and right alike. Online, it’s not about accuracy or understanding anymore. It’s about performance. Say the right buzzword, get the digital applause.
But when you call everything fascism, you stop recognising the real thing when it shows up. You dull people’s instincts. When actual authoritarian behaviour appears(censorship, personality cults, or persecution) nobody listens. They’ve already heard “the sky is falling” too many times.
The bigger problem, though, is that this kind of rhetoric kills any hope of conversation. Call someone a fascist, and that’s it. Discussion over. You’re not debating ideas anymore, you’re excommunicating people. Democracy needs dialogue, but online we’ve replaced curiosity with condemnation.
It’s been nearly ten years of this now. Ten years of the “culture wars.” Since Trump came down that elevator, both sides have been locked in the same cycle of outrage and self-righteousness. The “woke” call the “alt-right” fascists; the “alt-right” call the “woke” fascists. Each side sees itself as freedom’s last defence, and the other as tyranny incarnate. And in the middle? Just a lot of people too exhausted to care anymore.
You all wear your outrage like team colours. You look for the buzzwords that tell you which side something’s on. You check the upvotes to know which way your moral compass should point. You don’t want to understand; you want to win. And when you lose, you tell yourself it’s because the other side cheated.
Meanwhile, trust collapses. Institutions crumble. Every election becomes an existential crisis. And we sit here, screaming “fascist!” at strangers online while the world quietly rots behind the noise.
Ten years of not talking to each other. Ten years of anger, fear, and empty moral theatre. Ten years of the culture war. Ten years of virtue signalling. Ten years of using minorities as props in this tragic pantomime of dog shit.
What a bunch of fucking fascists…
No, I noticed fascism being called fascism.
Then youve not been paying attention.
Brilliant. Hey Genius, did you know Hitler joined the German Worker’s Party in 1919? That he was appointed as Chancellor of Germany in 1933? That he invaded Poland in 1939?
Tell me, deep thinker, during those 20 years, when do YOU think it was appropriate to start calling Hitler a fascist?
How about when people do fascist shit, we call them out for fascist behavior? Oh, and FFS learn how to summarize.
Remember when Trump got into power in 2016, and everyone said it was the end of everything… except that it wasnt. Remember that? Remember when people didnt really know any better, and instead of talking to them and trying to convince them, you called them names and shut them down? Remember when this was pointed out to you, and you just said “Its not my job to educate you”? Are you getting it yet?
Thats a nice chatgpt for “I haven’t read the news or Umberto Eco’s Ur-Fascism.”
Thats a nice “Im ignorant as fuck” for I didnt read that, and anything I read that I dont like is AI.
I mean, even if it was AI. Would the message be any less relevant? That talking is better than abusing? That sharing ideas and opinions, is better than just calling people names and shouting them down? Why in the blue fuck would it matter who said that?
Go on then, give me your argument against talking in favour of being a cunt to strangers. Explain to me how its better to attack people, than to talk with them to try to sort out differences. And remember, youre arguing for the right and left of the culture wars.
If you tolerate intolerant people, you will lose your right to tolerate them. Full stop. You cannot tolerate and debate everyone. Some people dont play by the same rules or have the same goals as you, and the human brain is flawed enough that ‘the marketplace of ideas’ cant exist to serve all ideas. Some are objectively bad. They are objectively, morally, wrong.
And if you let them in, they destroy. They serve no other purpose. It’s fine in fiction. Most people understand the empire in star wars are objectively the bad guys. Most people understand humans are the bad guys in Warhammer40k. Most people understand humanity were the bad guys in starship troopers. Most people understand the Klingons were the bad guys in the star trek universe despite some members of the species being reasonably morally Grey.
But in reality when we have fascists, we cant let them play out their fantasy.
You are all going at each other determined to win. Nothing you have said here changes that. You want to win. Not to change anyones mind, not educate, not to try to understand other people. Only to win. They do the same thing. That is the culture wars. That is you and them and everyone else who is part of it. I mean, youre not even talking about them as they they were human beings. Dont you see that? Dont you see that you are using their same language? And using their same justifications? You could be MAGA talking about immigrants, the language would only be slightly different.
They killed people like you too. And are actively doing it again. You get nothing by being polite. Not one single right or privilege you hold was granted by being polite.
And to answer your question, no, no its not the same.
Immutable characteristics are different from choices, you know that right? You didn’t choose to be gay, immigrants didn’t choose to be not born here (not that they actually hate immigrants, they hate brown people).
You choose to be a fascist. It’s not even something you’re born into, you choose it.
Yes, obviously.
No, not obviously. If Trump said the sky was Blue, it wouldnt matter that a wannabe king said it. It would still be true, wouldnt it?
Part of culture wars is not caring what was said, only who said it. You are living in a nightmare of your own design, and even when spelled out to you how to get out of it, you wont listen because your favourite tiktoker didnt say it? ffs, mate.
It is quite obvious to everybody with a brain that isn’t rotting due to overuse of ChatGPT.
Sure?
AI isn’t a “who”
Who mentioned anything about a TikToker? Are you having a stroke?
…you are paying attention to current events in the US, right?
And were you not paying attention to the last 10 years of telling everyone that it was worst it was ever going to be? Do you really not get what it is that you have all done to yourselves? Do you really not understand the point of talking to people instead of attacking them?
In 2016, when Trump won, everyone was shocked. Why? Because of the echo chambers. Echo chambers created because “the left” would attack anyone who even dared ask a question that wasnt “orange man bad”. So instead of being able to reach those people and convince them of your argument, you drove them into silence. Or worse, you drove them into right wing echo chambers that told them it was going to be fine.
The worst thing your side of the culture war ever said was “Its not my job to educate you.”. Because “your side” of the culture wars is the same as “their side”. Its about winning, not talking, not fighting the good fight. Its about winning, and dog piling. Case and point, this fucking post.
I note the spelling “right of centre”. So help me out here: are you Canadian, British, Australian, Kiwi, …? So when you say “everything that just leans right of centre is called fascist” what the fuck are you actually talking about? In your specific political context?
You note my spelling, but not the message… American politics in a nutshell. Thanks for proving my point.
I’m Canadian, buddy. Which is why I asked about your political context.