Question for liberals

[MadeAFace]

By my observations, I could very well be wrong but many liberals seem to view communism and/or Marxism as a good thing. Many self proclaimed feminists also identify themselves as such but then a lot of times when these same people are insulting someone they will call them a fascist. Isn’t that a bit contradictory? I mean I could be wrong but is fascism really that different than communism/Marxism? And most the time they use the term fascist it seems like what they really mean to say is sexist. Is being a sexist really at all like being a fascist? Did Mussolini really hate women or something? I’ve also heard liberals even say that they didn’t think Mussolini was really a bad person. If that’s the case then what’s wrong with being a fascist? Someone please enlighten me.

 

[Kaninchen]

By my observations, I could very well be wrong but many liberals seem to view communism and/or Marxism as a good thing. Many self proclaimed feminists also identify themselves as such but then a lot of times when these same people are insulting someone they will call them a fascist. Isn’t that a bit contradictory? I mean I could be wrong but is fascism really that different than communism/Marxism? And most the time they use the term fascist it seems like what they really mean to say is sexist. Is being a sexist really at all like being a fascist? Did Mussolini really hate women or something? I’ve also heard liberals even say that they didn’t think Mussolini was really a bad person. If that’s the case then what’s wrong with being a fascist? Someone please enlighten me.

I expect that people tend to be as confused about the terms ‘communism’ and ‘fascism’ as they are about the terms ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’.

 

[Book_Worm]

By my observations, I could very well be wrong but many liberals seem to view communism and/or Marxism as a good thing. Many self proclaimed feminists also identify themselves as such but then a lot of times when these same people are insulting someone they will call them a fascist. Isn’t that a bit contradictory? I mean I could be wrong but is fascism really that different than communism/Marxism? And most the time they use the term fascist it seems like what they really mean to say is sexist. Is being a sexist really at all like being a fascist? Did Mussolini really hate women or something? I’ve also heard liberals even say that they didn’t think Mussolini was really a bad person. If that’s the case then what’s wrong with being a fascist? Someone please enlighten me.

You’re right in saying that you could be wrong because you are wrong. They are very different.

I would imagine that what women mean when they use the term fascist they mean that the government, which is overwhelmingly dominated by corporations and old white men, uses its power to oppress others, a very basic definition of fascism.

If you want to be enlightened, I suggest you do a little investigation into various forms of government.

 

[Boccherini]

Fascism and communism are almost entirely different in theory, although both of them have lead to totalitarian forms of government. Fascism became popular in the 20s and 30s largely because they opposed communism. Read about the Spanish Civil War. That was about fascists vs communists (simplistically put).
But a country like North Korea is officially communist but they might as well be fascists.

American liberals are often partly socialistic in their thinking but socialism is a bad word in the US so they don’t say this. But Social Security and universal health care are socialistic ideas, basically.

 

[GEddie]

Fascism and Communism had almost diametrically opposite origins, although in practice they become almost symmetrical.

Communism began with the writings of Karl Marx in 1861 and became governmental with the Russian Revolution in 1917. In theory, it eliminates the need for national government by placing all power in the hands of the laborers; hence the Soviet symbol of the hammer and sickle (hand tools of city and farm).

Because physical labor is more universal than nationality, it was believed that Communism would replace nationalism by a world revolution. This did not, obviously, occur.

Fascism began in Italy after WW1 when economic hard times led to a desire for s strong government to fix matters. The name came from the fasces, a kind of whip used in Roman times; the goal of Fascism was to use the governmental whip to restore the glory of Roman times.

By then, those outside of Russia were afraid of Communism, so Fascism was a reaction to it.

It worked as a means of getting the country in motion again. Mussolini was praised for getting the trains to run on time.

But both ended up looking superficially almost the same, because revolutionary change, in the 1900s, required forcing everybody into line.

BTW, in relation to the Church, Mussolini wasn’t all bad; he returned Vatican City to the Church.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[LeafByNiggle]

BTW, in relation to the Church, Mussolini wasn’t all bad; he returned Vatican City to the Church…

I suspect that Mussolini’s bad reputation today is the result of his association with Hitler. He backed the wrong horse in that war, more out of ignorance than out of an admiration of Hitler and his policies.

 

[PietroPaolo]

I suspect that Mussolini’s bad reputation today is the result of his association with Hitler. He backed the wrong horse in that war, more out of ignorance than out of an admiration of Hitler and his policies.

I agree, but you have to admit he really picked the wrong person to associate with. Choosing to be allies with Hitler, not exactly the best PR move one could make. And he did cave into Hitler’s mania for killing Jews. Had Mussolini taken the course of Franco, we’d all remember him quite differently today (and Italy would be a different nation in many ways).

 

[John_Lazarus]

He believed in spazio vitale, the Italian analogue of Lebensraum. And thought that waging an aggressive war on the racially “inferior” was OK:

When dealing with such a race as Slavic - inferior and barbarian - we must not pursue the carrot, but the stick policy … We should not be afraid of new victims … The Italian border should run across the Brenner Pass, Monte Nevoso and the Dinaric Alps … I would say we can easily sacrifice 500,000 barbaric Slavs for 50,000 Italians …

—Benito Mussolini, speech held in Pula, 20 September 1920
He also invaded Ethiopia.

 

[shockerfan]

I would imagine that what women mean when they use the term fascist they mean that the government, which is overwhelmingly dominated by corporations and old white men, uses its power to oppress others, a very basic definition of fascism.

So is the government oppressive because of “old white men”? Why make that distinction, unless its relevant to your point? Currently the two top enforcers of the law are the President and the Attorney General…both African American, and both in charge of “the government”.

 

[SuperLuigi]

Liberalism is loaded with contradictions.

But I actually don’t get a love for communism from a lot of the.liberal young people these days. They seem to be skeptical of purist economics in general.

Of course, their uniformed voting is a big problem, but as far as their own personal loyalties, well, believe me it’s not with the former USSR, Cuba, or Mao.

 

[unstoppable_II]

By my observations, I could very well be wrong but many liberals seem to view communism and/or Marxism as a good thing. …

That’s because they haven’t yet learned TNSTAAFL – there’s no such thing as a free lunch, which is what communism promises. Prof. John J. Ray has written a lot about the various forms of Leftism, of which fascism is one. Do an internet search on his name; he has a good website.

See also (On Socialism) Pope Leo XIII
ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/L13APOST.HTM
Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII promulgated on 28 December 1878.

 

[TimothyH]

I suspect that Mussolini’s bad reputation today is the result of his association with Hitler. He backed the wrong horse in that war, more out of ignorance than out of an admiration of Hitler and his policies.

Benito Moussolini earned his own bad reputation.

Coverups of assassinations. Terrorizing political rivalries with blackshirt militias. Secret Police. Replacing every single newspaper editor in the entire country with is own hand-picked people. The list goes on.

He was an atheist anti-cleric who only made peace with the Vatican so that his Catholic troops would not revolt, much like Sherman did here in Atlanta by condescending not to burn the Churches to keep Union Catholic enlisted from walking off the lines.

-Tim-