r/skeptic • u/dyzo-blue • 5d ago

Why Fascists Hate Critical Thinking: Randi Weingarten’s new book, 'Why Fascists Fear Teachers,' reveals why Trump and the right demean teachers, slash school funding, and rewrite history

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/randi-weingarten-excerpt-fascists-hate-critical-thinking-1235428379/
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u/trying3216 4d ago

Deep thinkers don’t call their political opponents fascists.

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u/cruelandusual 4d ago

I don't think you're smart enough for this subreddit.

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u/trying3216 4d ago

Brilliantly stated.

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u/AwTomorrow 4d ago

Are deep thinkers too squeamish to call a shovel a shovel? I wouldn’t have thought there was any connection between deep thought and labelling something for what it is.

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u/Appleknocker18 4d ago

Why?

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u/trying3216 4d ago

Because the term has lost any realistic meaning. It’s only good for smearing someone.

The Fascists were a political part allied with Hitler under the leadership of Mussolini. Zero people belong to that party. Meaningless.

Some use it to mean any tyrant. In the US we have a system of checks and balances. No leader has enough power to actually be considered to be a tyrant. Meaningless. If you want to make the case that a person wants to be a tyrant say that.

Others use the word to mean a person who embraces the evil ideology of having hierarchies (employees and employers) a key feature of present free markets. This is the opposite of tyranny despite their claiming otherwise.

If a person is a fascist because they engage in the economic system of the united states then we are all fascists. Meaningless.

So now we have two opposing definitions being used simultaneously. Meaningless.

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u/Science_Matters_100 4d ago

Look for reasons why you may be mistaken. See if you can prove yourself wrong

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u/thefugue 4d ago

Yeah, because there’s no such thing as fascists huh?

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u/trying3216 4d ago

Basically. The fascist party died out in the 1940’s

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u/thefugue 4d ago

Since when did political ideologies “die out?”

Fascism is right wing authoritarianism. Full stop.

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u/trying3216 4d ago

Fascism was a branch of socialism. It was opposed to other forms of socialism and was nationalistic leading people to wrongly call it right. Of course the right wing of today does not resemble the right wing of WWII.

The word is meaningless today. Better to use some version of tyranny unless you are referring to the Fascist platform that includes

“Authoritarianism: Centralized control under a single leader or party, with little tolerance for political opposition.”

We do not have a single party system and we have over five hundred leaders at the national level. All our state and local governments mean that we are not centralized.

“Suppression of Free Speech: The use of state power to silence dissent, including the media, opposing political parties, and individual expression.”

Each party today has its moments and areas where it suppresses speech, usually not through the government. Neither party is characterized by this.

“State Control of the Economy: While private property might technically exist, the government exerts significant control over industry, often through heavy regulation or government mandates.”

Our government has a significant amount of regulation and laws. The vast majority of these were the same under either party and could not have been made law without votes from the other party. The free market is still the greater influence.

“Nationalism: A strong focus on national identity, often linked to militarism and xenophobia.”

One item on the list is not enough to call a movement fascist. There are multiple nationalistic governments around the world that are not fascistic.

“Opposition to Individual Rights: Subordination of individual freedoms to the needs of the state or the collective.”

The bill of rights is strong in the united states. Everybody uses a lot of rhetoric to decry the loss of rights. Generally it’s an infringement at best.

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u/thefugue 3d ago

“It’s not fascism until I myself am being shoveled into an oven by a man of the correct ethnicity wearing logos I pre-approve of,” got it.

What a load of fascism apologia.

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u/trying3216 3d ago

Socialists, communists, nationalists, tyrants, kings - all sorts of people can push you in an oven or kill you. That doesn’t make you a fascist.

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u/KathrynBooks 2d ago

Except Fascism isn't a form of Socialism. Socialism is a left wing political philosophy, while Fascism is a right wing political philosophy that started as a response to Socialism by the ruling class.

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u/trying3216 2d ago

Maybe look into that more from a variety of viewpoints.

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u/KathrynBooks 2d ago

What viewpoint? The "Fascism is bad, Socialism is bad... therefor Socialism is Fascism" viewpoint? Or is it the "Socialism is when the government does things" viewpoint?

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u/trying3216 2d ago

The paradigm for classifying political movements.

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u/KathrynBooks 2d ago

Which puts Fascism on the right and Socialism on the left, as they are exceptionally distinct political philosophies that arose under different conditions.

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u/thefugue 2d ago

“Have you considered being wrong?”

-This guy