• Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    85
    ·
    1 year ago

    ‘Neither Left nor Right’ is a fascist dogwhistle. Fascism has a rich history of marketing itself as the apolitical choice.

    • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      31
      ·
      1 year ago

      And there’s also the fact that in the US, you have the party of the far right and the party of everyone else; centrist is to the left of a lot of Democrats at this point.

    • jcarax@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yes, everyone who doesn’t align with your political view is facist. That in itself doesn’t sound facist at all, does it?

      We need to not just be careful about what some horrible people are doing right now, but also about what we become as we react to it.

      • Storksforlegs@beehaw.orgOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        22
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        We do need to be careful, yes. But this isnt a case of mislabelling views just because they disagree with their politics. Its important to call out far right nationalist parties for what they are.

        As is discussed in the video, Omega_Haxor wasnt making a baseless attack on a belief they disagreed with. Authoritarian politicians do have a history of using this dogwhistle messaging.

        • jcarax@beehaw.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          No, it’s a dangerous, generalized statement that if you’re against what the far right is doing, you have to align with what we stand for. If not, you’re the far right. That is literally what it’s saying, and folks might add on some stuff in their head when they interpret it, or some additional hidden intention when they utter it. But ultimately, it will distill down to the literal meaning.

          • Storksforlegs@beehaw.orgOP
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            1 year ago

            Who said you have to align with a certain set of beliefs to oppose the far right? (Beyond thinking nationalist, xenophobic views are shitty) All kinds of varying political views hate nazis. Anti-facsism is a very large tent.

      • bastion@feddit.nl
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        This. There is a distinct lack of awareness by both parties of just how fascist their tendencies are. The right has more of the authority-centric tendencies of fascism, and the left has more of the out-of-control virtue signaling, demonization, etc that can lead up to things like the struggle sessions that occurred during China’s cultural revolution.

        Anyone who says ‘those who are not explicitly on our side are enemies’ is deeply at risk of losing it to fascism, if they’re not already gone.

        The interesting thing about this aspect of fascism is how, although it leads ultimately to centralization of power and authoritative control, it’s more of a decentralized, manipulative mob of social anxieties run amok.

        • adderaline@beehaw.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          1 year ago

          this is such a weird thing to say. fascism is all about authoritarian shit, it is defined by ultranationalism, racism, bigotry, and centralized control, not by “virtue signaling”, a phrase more common in right-wing spaces than anywhere else. we can quibble all we want about the left, but demonstrably, who is limiting the freedoms of minority groups, which states are attempting to disenfranchise voters, who has actual real ass nazi’s hanging at their parties? it isn’t the left, or whatever you think the left is.

          like, don’t get me wrong, there are very many ways a left wing government can demonstrably get authoritarian, but the term “fascism” is defined by being far-right on the political scale. i would just generally suggest reading some stuff about fascism, because you don’t seem to be very well informed on what scholarship says about the ideology at large.

    • fosforus@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      This is bullshit. There actually is such thing as the center. Like gender, it’s a spectrum.

  • Storksforlegs@beehaw.orgOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Judging by the discussion I dont think people watched the video. I can see how you might think 'neither left nor right" is referring to moderates or centrists. But it isnt about that. (So clearly a poorly chosen title, then).

    The video is about how the far right and corporate interests uses the messaging of being apolitical, or an outsider to push a right wing agenda. It’s not an attack on moderates or centrists.

  • BitOneZero@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    I don’t agree, other than the dogwhstle use of the phrase problem that is ongoing. But back to my point: there are reasons Cambridge Analytica and Surkov style meme warfare from the IRA go for this topic, because there WAS a transcendence in The Bible, there factually was The Enlightenment

    People think we are living in Holocaust Denial… no, what Fox News, Alex Jones, and Trump present is described by Neil Postman… Enlightenment Denial is what killed good in the USA. www.Romans1132.com -James Joyce unraveled all these media mind games back when Edward Bernays was doing his thing!

    • Storksforlegs@beehaw.orgOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      The video is about how the far right and corporate interests dismiss both the left and right, and uses the idea of being an outsider to push a right wing agenda. It’s not an attack on moderates.

      • klubsanwich@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you. ”