Applying the fascism label to present-day movements hinders rather than sharpens opposition to them

Evidence

In their view, January 6 proved that Trump’s supporters deserved to be called “fascists,” a label even less honorable than “populists.” The two interpretations were, of course, a simple matter of degree of severity within the same frame, which looks to precedents in the 1930s to understand today’s politics. As disturbing as the events of the Capitol were, however, the differences with historical fascism’s distinctive characteristics (mass organization, militarization of society, scientific racism, aggressive foreign policy, etc.) remain glaring. Furthermore, discarding the term “fascism” does not preclude us from criticizing and fighting the political threats of our time—indeed, a lucid understanding of their specificity is likely to make our weapons against them more effective. As the French philosopher Marcel Gauchet recently pointed out, one does not need to brand Marine Le Pen a “fascist” to oppose her politically. — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 46

Categorization

• APHORISMS: The closing thought — lucid understanding of a threat’s specificity makes weapons against it more effective — is genuinely wise advice beyond the book’s argument.
• XREF: connects to: Ideological labels simplify rather than distort the real political world — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2085; Labelling ISIS fascist obscures its gang-and-franchise capitalist nature — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2016

Broader Connections

• Ideological labels simplify rather than distort the real political world #contradicts (0.92) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2085