Happy what to who to what now?
Confusing.
The Radical Left Fascists?
Also, why the commas before and after “quickly”? They don’t, make, any sense.
Tip Jar
Confusing.
The Radical Left Fascists?
Also, why the commas before and after “quickly”? They don’t, make, any sense.
Perhaps, (wait for applause) he puts in commas, (wait for applause) where he, (wait for cheer) pauses, (wait for applause) during, (wait for cheer) a rally.
Ha!
He had four years to “make America great again” and did the opposite. How anyone can believe he’ll be different with another four years is beyond comprehension.
Fascist doesn’t have any meaning in popular use beyond authoritarianism.
In that sense, it’s certainly possibly to be a far left fascist, because the left can be every bit as authoritarian as the right. The difference is that while the far right thinks dictatorship is freedom and embraces the eternal emperor, the left expects the dictatorship to spontaneously end and give birth to an anarchic utopia.
Well, I think I can be forgiven for not seeing the subtle differences between Stalinism and other forms of fascism. And I’m pretty sure Stalin himself wasn’t dreaming of the day when his dictatorship would give way to an anarchist utopia. (Yeah, I know that not what you’re talking about Nullius. But I rarely pass up an opportunity to be sarcastic It’s what I do.)
There’s a compelling case to be made that Stalin was a true believer. He certainly wrote as though he was. Viewing his regime through that lens, as opposed to considering him merely a self-interested opportunist or the product of power’s corrupting influence, makes things more horrifying, in my opinion. If he was just an opportunist, or if he was corrupted absolutely (as it were), then we can absolve his nominal ideology of any culpability in the atrocities he committed. We get to say he was just a bad guy and leave it at that, never having to confront Stalin the moral agent. It’s an easy way out.
Regardless of whether he really was committed to the Marxist vision, seriously entertaining the possibility, in the vernacular of the young people, hits different. It’s worth the discomfort, I think.
At the very least, it encourages a bit of humility, which is totally not at all in short supply nowadays. (See, I can do irony, too!)
Nullius,
I think maybe I’m a bit more convinced by the power of self-deception than you. I had a mother who was her own brand of Stalinist (complete with the you must be literally insane if you don’t agree with me thing – or does that postdate actual Stalinism) so I think I have a pretty good handle on how that works.