this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
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You referenced the Nazi term, "degenerate." Most of the time the people behind these attacks are very much aligned with Nazi ideology.
"Degenerate" is a word that has been used by many people in many contexts both before and after nazis were in power. It's the privative prefix "de-" + the latin root for creation/birth. Broadly speaking, it just means someone or something altered over time in a way that they no longer function properly. I see how it can be used in a way that aligns with nazi ideology, but that's not all it can be used for, or how it's used here.
Degeneracy is the core ideology behind every genocide. You accuse me of not understanding language shift. I say you don't understand the overton window.
Damn, I didn't think I'd learn something new today, but as it turns out, the Ottoman genocide of the Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks and the historical Chinese genocide of the Dzungar and the more recent genocide of the Uyghur people were because they were thought to be degenerates by the ruling National Socialist parties.
And here I was thinking 'Nazi' specifically referred to the Nazi Party members and modern white supremacists who support it, and not every nationalistic faction that has ever committed crimes against humanity.
You may not realise it, but you water down the word Nazi when you brandish it so casually. When you go around saying everything is Nazi ideology, people won't listen when something actually is.
You may not realize it, but when you split hairs you draw imaginary distinctions in what amounts to a hierarchy of worship to power that results in the violent enforcement of a culture from the top.
EVERY SINGLE HIERARCHY THAT USES VIOLENCE TO MAINTAIN ITSELF IS INHERENTLY FASCISTIC AND GENOCIDAL
That is so dumb.
Fascism is a specific ideology, it has overlaps with other violent and repressive ideologies but that doesn't make all authoritarian regimes fascists.
Why are you trying to be so reductionist? Why can't we have different words to describe different things? There's a reason we don't call every dictatorship fascist, and part of it is that it's not useful to label everything with the same word.
The authority to murder in the name of the state is the core of all fascist ideologies. I'm not being reductionist, the various authorities that arise obfuscate their similarities with propaganda.