Is America becoming a fascist country?

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dyadiccounterpoint
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03 Jul 2019, 10:59 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
I would say we definitely "should be on the lookout."

But to say we're a "fascist" country at this moment is hyperbole, in my opinion.

And remember: "Fascist" with a capital "F" means, exclusively, the characteristics of the Mussolini regime in Italy from about 1922 to 1945. Mussolini's ideas are known as "Fascism."


I think fascism has become as loaded a term as capitalism, socialism, and communism. These words may have origins, but their meaning expands over history and popular perception. This causes profound confusion in arguments as people conflate other concepts with these terms beyond their original meanings.

You use a fair point about maintaining strict interpretation of words. Rather than asking "Is America becoming a fascist country," perhaps a better question is "Is America evolving towards being a unilateral, totalitarian ethnostate with theocratic tendencies?"


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03 Jul 2019, 11:14 am

Biscuitman wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
To be honest, it was Trump who started all this "fake news" hysteria.

Whenever somebody would level an accusation against Trump, he would tweet "Fake News!" Or some alternative thereof.

He called CNN, to paraphrase, the "Fake News Network." He said similar things about the "Failing New York Times."

He also said the Press (in general) is the "enemy of the people."


I never saw anyone saying it pre Trump. People have taken his catchphrases and run!


Fox News was constantly referred to as Faux News way before Trump. Even Obama basically implied fake news. Now it appears the situation is reversed.



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03 Jul 2019, 11:20 am

It's all fake news.... or IS IT?! :jester:


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03 Jul 2019, 11:21 am

But Trump took the idea of “fake news” a step further—made it into his own personal crusade.



EzraS
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03 Jul 2019, 11:23 am

Some people seem to think the only form of fascism was Nazi Germany. And because of that they're blind to another form of fascism looming. There's learning from the mistakes of the past and then there's being so stuck in the past the present threat goes unnoticed.



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03 Jul 2019, 11:24 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
But Trump took the idea of “fake news” a step further—made it into his own personal crusade.


And thus destroyed our trust in the press and trying to get us to trust only what he tells us. :skull:


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03 Jul 2019, 11:26 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
But Trump took the idea of “fake news” a step further—made it into his own personal crusade.


That might have something to do with the 24/7 hit jobs. A thing to take into consideration is no other administration has been so relentlessly attacked.



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03 Jul 2019, 11:27 am

TheRevengeofTW1ZTY wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
But Trump took the idea of “fake news” a step further—made it into his own personal crusade.


And thus destroyed our trust in the press and trying to get us to trust only what he tells us. :skull:


I think trust in the MSM was destroyed long before Trump came to power. He isn't wrong in calling them out. But he doesn't care about the truth any more than the corporate journalists do.


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TheRevengeofTW1ZTY
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03 Jul 2019, 11:30 am

VegetableMan wrote:
TheRevengeofTW1ZTY wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
But Trump took the idea of “fake news” a step further—made it into his own personal crusade.


And thus destroyed our trust in the press and trying to get us to trust only what he tells us. :skull:


I think trust in the MSM was destroyed long before Trump came to power. He isn't wrong in calling them out. But he doesn't care about the truth any more than the corporate journalists do.


In other words he has exploited it for his own gain just like Bush exploited that post 9/11 paranoia to promote the War in Iraq.


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03 Jul 2019, 11:31 am

It's pretty funny actually. The press attacks the president on a constant basis, and when he reacts negatively they say he's trying to suppress them ala Hitler.



Last edited by EzraS on 03 Jul 2019, 11:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

kraftiekortie
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03 Jul 2019, 11:32 am

Nazi Germany wasn't fascism (and it certainly wasn't Fascism)…...it was WORSE than fascism......



TheRevengeofTW1ZTY
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03 Jul 2019, 11:36 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
Nazi Germany wasn't fascism (and it certainly wasn't Fascism)…...it was WORSE than fascism......

Was Nazism in a category all on it's own?


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03 Jul 2019, 11:38 am

TheRevengeofTW1ZTY wrote:
VegetableMan wrote:
TheRevengeofTW1ZTY wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
But Trump took the idea of “fake news” a step further—made it into his own personal crusade.


And thus destroyed our trust in the press and trying to get us to trust only what he tells us. :skull:


I think trust in the MSM was destroyed long before Trump came to power. He isn't wrong in calling them out. But he doesn't care about the truth any more than the corporate journalists do.


In other words he has exploited it for his own gain just like Bush exploited that post 9/11 paranoia to promote the War in Iraq.


Pretty much. And let's not forget that the regime change foreign policy of the Bush administration continued during Obama's presidency. He took us from two to seven wars in the ME. If Bush is a war criminal, Obama is most certainly one, too.


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03 Jul 2019, 11:38 am

Yep. It was.

Just like Stalinism was in a "category all its own."



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03 Jul 2019, 11:41 am

VegetableMan wrote:
TheRevengeofTW1ZTY wrote:
VegetableMan wrote:
TheRevengeofTW1ZTY wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
But Trump took the idea of “fake news” a step further—made it into his own personal crusade.


And thus destroyed our trust in the press and trying to get us to trust only what he tells us. :skull:


I think trust in the MSM was destroyed long before Trump came to power. He isn't wrong in calling them out. But he doesn't care about the truth any more than the corporate journalists do.


In other words he has exploited it for his own gain just like Bush exploited that post 9/11 paranoia to promote the War in Iraq.


Pretty much. And let's not forget that the regime change foreign policy of the Bush administration continued during Obama's presidency. He took us from two to seven wars in the ME. If Bush is a war criminal, Obama is most certainly one, too.


I actually agree with you on that.


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03 Jul 2019, 12:51 pm

EzraS wrote:
Biscuitman wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
To be honest, it was Trump who started all this "fake news" hysteria.

Whenever somebody would level an accusation against Trump, he would tweet "Fake News!" Or some alternative thereof.

He called CNN, to paraphrase, the "Fake News Network." He said similar things about the "Failing New York Times."

He also said the Press (in general) is the "enemy of the people."


I never saw anyone saying it pre Trump. People have taken his catchphrases and run!


Fox News was constantly referred to as Faux News way before Trump. Even Obama basically implied fake news. Now it appears the situation is reversed.

In 2009 the Obama administration was quoted as saying of Fox: "We're going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent" This pre-dates Trump.Think of everything Reagan did, and he did it all before Fox News. Everything he changed he managed to do against a daily wave of media hostility.