No Stupid Questions

Firstly - there is no workable "definition" of fascism that's remotely useful. Not yet, anyway. It probably has something to do with the fact that fascism isn't so much an ideology but more a function within the modern liberal nation state - ie, the people who perform the violent repression for the benefit of the rich elites at the top. Sometimes, the elites become so frightened that they will literally hand the very state over to these people in it's entirety - as happened in Germany and Italy (and other places).

Secondly - these people calling themselves "conservatives" and/or "libertarians" don't actually care much about labels. The fact that they actually call themselves "conservatives" (essentially a dead ideology they wouldn't recognise if it bit them on their behinds) and "libertarians" (a term that originally described anarchist and other libertarian socialists) without having the foggiest clue what those terms really mean is a clue. The only thing they understand is that it's a term they can throw at any people pushing back against their vile (and often fascist or fascist-adjacent) narratives.

That's pretty much it.

they don't care about the meanings of words, they only care about "winning" the conversation

They don't. They play the victim a lot more ways than that.

For example: you don't go to church. They think "Christian values are under attack." You argue for civil rights. "The right of the White Man is under attack." Shit like that. And they will call you a fascist, a socialist, a communist, everything but what you are, which is a nonconformist, for not doing exactly what they want you to do.

A conservative, by the simplest definition, is one who opposes change for the sake of change. The ideal of "if it's not broke, don't fix it." The problem is, while the system may not be broken for them (WASP), it needs work for people of colour, the LGBTQ+, Palestinians, and more. But they don't want a world that works for the rest of us. They just want to maintain the status quo. A lot of them have much more complicated feelings and opinions than that, but that's basically conservatism in a nutshell. Not extreme. Unfortunately very few conservatives are basic conservatives anymore.

False question fallacy.

Conservatives don't solely define fascists as "being violent", at least in my country.

It's a convenient place to rest the goalposts until they have to snatch them up and run away again.

Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.

Because they genuinely don't know what the definition of fascism is

Instead of demonizing a class of person, perhaps you should select someone's writing or speech and then make an argument about something someone actually said. Even better if you turn it into a conversation with two way discourse. Your question just alienates others.

They are by far the least emotionally accessible portion of the US populace. They are also very deliberately ignorant. They really don't know what some of the words represent in full. They are put simply, stupid.

Nah the goalposts move whenever proof is received

A core tenant of conservatism is extreme lack of education so....

Bad faith, nothing they say can be believed at face value, despite that being exactly what mass media trains people to do.

They define every single thing as what they need it to mean that day. or hour. or minute. Religions vary wildly from the same religious texts.

There's no overall logic. Just lie as they go along, and see what catches. It's exactly how con-men work.

Because otherwise they'd really have to struggle with some highly uncomfortable and inconvenient realizations.

Because the dishonest fucks only engage in bad faith arguments.

Because they don't want to admit that they're fascists, so they leave out all the characteristics that would confirm that they are.

They didn't become conservatives to understand things...

When one party is openly advocating for civil war, and killing their opposition, THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT NEED TO BE DEALT VIOLENCE

Some of them do it because they dont want to admit to being fascists themselves...for now. Others genuinely do not care what the true meaning of the word is, and of them, many actively choose to refuse to learn. And some others still are just saying what the talking heads they trust tell them to say, regardless of what they know or knew before.

Regardless of where they fall on this spectrum, reduction is a big part of the message, one way or another. Restricting how people understand this concept makes it easier to actualize it because vast swaths of these fools will be unable to recognize it for what it is until they find themselves in its very maw.

Are we all doomed? Cause it's feeling more and more like we might all be doomed before long ngl

Because conservatives are stupid

Why do you accept it at face value when fascists try to call themselves "conservative" instead, when they're anything but?

They are stupid.

Conservatives love violence and guns.

I find it funny how this question is being asked on Lemmy of all places, where the definition of fascism has been completely lost (essentially now being some vague notion of right-wing evil)

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