I am going to write a book and define trees as as animals...
From Wiki:
In his book How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, Jason Stanley defined fascism as "a cult of the leader who promises national restoration in the face of humiliation brought on by supposed communists, Marxists and minorities and immigrants who are supposedly posing a threat to the character and the history of a nation." and that "The leader proposes that only he can solve it and all of his political opponents are enemies or traitors." Stanley says recent global events as of 2020, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020–2022 United States racial unrest, have substantiated his concern about how fascist rhetoric is showing up in politics and policies around the world.[39] Historian John Lukacs argues that there is no such thing as generic fascism. He claims that Nazism and communism are essentially manifestations of populism and that states such as Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy are more different than similar.[40] Roger Griffin describes fascism as "a genus of political ideology whose mythic core in its various permutations is a palingenetic form of populist ultranationalism."[41] Griffin describes the ideology as having three core components: "(i) the rebirth myth, (ii) populist ultra-nationalism, and (iii) the myth of decadence."[42] In Griffin's view, fascism is "a genuinely revolutionary, trans-class form of anti-liberal, and in the last analysis, anti-conservative nationalism" built on a complex range of theoretical and cultural influences. He distinguishes an inter-war period in which it manifested itself in elite-led but populist "armed party" politics opposing socialism and liberalism, and promising radical politics to rescue the nation from decadence.[43][page needed] Kershaw argues that the difference between fascism and other forms of right-wing authoritarianism in the Interwar period is that the latter generally aimed "to conserve the existing social order", whereas fascism was "revolutionary", seeking to change society and obtain "total commitment" from the population.[44]
Fascist as a pejorative
Main article:
Fascist (insult)
The term
fascist has been used as a
pejorative,
[74] regarding varying movements across the far right of the political spectrum.
George Orwell noted in 1944 that the term had been used to denigrate diverse positions "in internal politics": while fascism is "a political and economic system" that was inconvenient to define, "
as used, the word 'Fascism' is almost entirely meaningless. ... almost any English person would accept 'bully' as a synonym for 'Fascist,'"
[75][
emphasis added], and in 1946 wrote that "...'Fascism' has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies something not desirable."
[76]
Despite fascist movements' history of
anti-communism,
Communist states have sometimes been referred to as
fascist, typically as an insult. It has been applied to
Marxist–Leninist regimes in
Cuba under
Fidel Castro and
Vietnam under
Ho Chi Minh.
[77] Chinese Marxists used the term to denounce the
Soviet Union during the
Sino-Soviet split, and the Soviets used the term to denounce Chinese Marxists
[78] and
social democracy, coining a new term in
social fascism.
In the United States, Herbert Matthews of
The New York Times asked in 1946: "Should we now place Stalinist Russia in the same category as Hitlerite Germany? Should we say that she is Fascist?"
[79] J. Edgar Hoover, longtime
FBI director and ardent anti-communist, wrote extensively of
red fascism.
[80] The
Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s was sometimes called
fascist. Historian Peter Amann states that, "Undeniably, the Klan had some traits in common with European fascism—chauvinism, racism, a mystique of violence, an affirmation of a certain kind of archaic traditionalism—yet their differences were fundamental ... [the KKK] never envisioned a change of political or economic system."
[81]
Richard Griffiths of the University of Wales wrote in 2005 that "fascism" is the "most misused, and over-used word, of our times."[82][page needed][clarification needed] "Fascist" is sometimes applied to post-World War II organizations and ways of thinking that academics more commonly term neo-fascist.[83]
