I have been looking through a long thread on another instance where a few users have been trying to convince that instance to defederate from Exploding Heads - because they do not want to see the content posted on Exploding Heads.
I have thought long and hard about how to please these people. They do have the option to individually block Exploding Heads communities or users, but they either do not know how to or simply do not want to.
In the end I realized if I ban those specific users requesting defederation from Exploding Heads - they will not see any content from Exploding Heads and therefore will not be offended by it. (Truth be told I am not sure if some of these users have really visited our site or interacted with our users).
So today I have banned those users with the explanation that they have said they do not want to see Exploding Heads content. If any of those users wish to be unbanned in the future, all they have to do is say so and I will happily unban them.
These users are not being banned in order to censor them, but to help them achieve what they have been requesting - to not see Exploding Heads content.
I hope you all find this a fair and reasonable action - if not let me know.
just perusing the communities tab over there, I saw TheDonald, a covid-19 subreddit with a conspiratorial tone, and “anarcho-capitalism”. While these things aren’t inherently nazi, they have a common association with right wing bigotry at the very least, and often appeal to fascists.
Good ol “not all Trumpists, covid conspiracy theorists, and anarcho-capitalists are fascists, but all fascists are Trumpists, covid conspiracy theorists, and anarcho-capitalists.”
i understand that thedonald and donald trump is often associated with fascism, i don’t really understand why this is the case, since as far as i know, fascism is a militaristic state. I do get that it has a lot in common since it’s a paternalistic one-man figure which appeals to reactionaries that would advocate to leave aside the law to put the guy in charge of reforming the country and removing something.
i’m not very sure if that’s really fascism or not, i’d say it’s eh, dumb authoritarianism. covid conspirationalism, i’ve seen that shit in venezuela from ppl who were just randos who didn’t know anything, ppl who said it was the 5g or china or whatever, i didn’t see any political alignment to being dumb and gullible
the one that strikes me the most from your list is anarcho-capitalism, which is often associated with a “nation” without a government, much less a president or a dictator, which i thought was an absolute requirement for fascism and authoritarianism. i’m not very sure how this one could even approach being nazism.
Alright I make it a point to try and engage people in good-faith, so I’m gonna actually try to explain why. I think that in practical terms, fascism is an ideology who’s mythic core relies on ultra-nationalist rhetoric involving “rebirth” of the nation. (this is from Roger Griffin in his book “Fascism”, which I learned from this medium essay) In this way, Trump, and many in the GOP in his footsteps, resemble this with their talk of “making america great again” and “taking their country back”, rejection of multilateralism in favor of “America First”, and the demonisation of outgroups (be it immigrants, queer people, muslims, etc), for example. hence the association.
The linked article does say that Trump is not fascist, but was written in 2019, before Trump did actively try to circumvent the peaceful transfer of power. It ends with the following:
With anarcho-capitalism, you are right in the sense that the ideology as stated would be a capitalism society without a State (or government, as you put it) - but many ancaps do hold views against interracial and same-sex marrage, which often leads to them adopting other common fascist views like racial segregation, religious fundamentalism, etc.
thank you, i understand now the trump fascist perspective
i’m still feeling a bit left out on the anarcho-capitalist fascist perspective tho. Anarchists have a long history of wanting to use violence to get out of an authoritarian system. I’d say that’s a similarity with fascism where they would circumvent the law to put themselves and their views first. But I’m not sure that’s enough for that, as you did say that “as stated”, it is an ideology that seeks to have a society without a ‘state’ or ‘government’.
Is being racist, homophobic and monogamist and otherwise moralistic with some skewed morals enough to be called a fascist? Or to point toward being a fascist? Again afaik fascism is like Hitler or Mussolini where ppl decide “this figure is great and we need to break the law to get them absolute power, they will be equivalent to a king and will favor our people”.