| Fascist (epithet) |
Article Index for Fascist |
Information AboutFascist (epithet) |
|
The word "fascist" ( or " Fascism ") is sometimes used to denigrate persons, institutions or groups that would not describe themselves as fascist and that do not fall within the formal definition of the word. As a Political Epithet it has been applied to persons and groups on the extreme left, the extreme right and most points in between. It has also been applied to persons of many religious faiths, particularly fundamentalist groups, and it has been used to label a broad range of persons and institutions. Its use as an epithet generally serves to imply that the supposed "fascist" is unreasonably authoritarian. At best, it is considered mildly offensive, although many persons find it highly offensive and inappropriate. In this sense, the word "fascist" is generally meant to mean "oppressive," "intolerant," "chauvinist," or "aggressive," all concepts that are at least loosely inspired by the ideology of actual fascism. For example, one might accuse an inconviently placed police road block as being a "fascist tactic" or an overly authoritarian teacher as being a "real fascist." Terms like "Nazi" and "Hitler" are often used in similarly superficial contexts. By 1944, the term had already become so widely and loosely employed, that British essayist and novelist s, Shopkeeper s, Social Credit , Corporal Punishment , Fox Hunting , Bullfighting , the 1922 Committee , the 1941 Committee , Kipling , Gandhi , Chiang Kai-Shek , Homosexuality , Priestley's Broadcasts , Youth Hostel s, Astrology , Women , Dog s and I do not know what else." During the late 1960s and 1970s, it was popular for many leftists to describe a wide range of governments and public institutions as fascist. In the 80's the term was used by leftist critics to describe the Ronald Reagan administration and recently George W. Bush 's. In her 1982 book "Beyond Mere Obedience" radical activist and theologian Dorothy Soelles, coined the term "Christofascist" to describe fundamentalist Christians and following the September 11, 2001 Attacks a number of right wing commentators, particularly in the United States , began using the term " Islamofascism " to describe Militant Islam . The term is most often used as a insult with regards to the ruling party being too heavy handed in certain actions for instance it is frequently used against Margaret Thatcher 's rule particularly for the actions of the police during the miner's strike. The Cult British Sitcom, The Young Ones , regularly had the term "fascist" as an insult. Even though it was often used to get a laugh at the expense of Neil, the Hippy. OTHER USAGE OF THE TERM The word is applied similarly to Programming Language s which place (perceived) excessive syntactic restrictions on the programmer, such as insisting on one space (and no more) between Parameter s in a command line. The motif of authoritarianism is frequently applied to restrictive computer environments, as in the similar expression "bondage-and-discipline language". {Link without Title} A similar term sometimes used is "reich-wing" usually a term that refers to the especially vocal commentators and hosts of radio talk shows and/or TV shows, such as Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh, the wording meant to compare their political views with those of WW2 Germany, the "Third Reich" implying that they go beyond even "McCarthyism" into outright fascism. QUOTE
|
|
|