It's nationalism and it's corresponding xenophobia - the glory and pride of one's culture over others - that the "strong" men are all riding: Xi, Putin, Modhi, Netanyahu, Trump. Dutton will run a Howard style campaign and get in.
... providing an opinion about the pop science equivalent of a political theory is an example of being a fascist?
I'd ask what political change Stephen Fry has effected. It's easy to take shots at people and harder to actually find what's effective and carry it out when it goes against the interests of the owners of established media.
Couldn't I make this point about every social or political commentator on every side of the spectrum? They all see things they don't like in society and draw attention to it in order to influence other people to not like those things too. What should he do instead?
You're right. The left do spend a lot of time talking to each other instead of to wider society. This is one reason I don't care for university trots, they do that to death.
I think that only applies to authoritarians in power, not to arguments made online.
Fascism can work hand in hand with religious fundamentalism. Fascism always involves an identity that must be restored through domination and subjugation of those outside that identity. Usually this identity is the ethnicity or race, but sometimes it's the nation, or the religion or the sect of a religion. For example, while I'd describe Salafism as a whole as religious fundamentalism, Salafi jihadism takes it to the same level as fascism. The concepts can be effectively fused. And pretty much every major religion has given birth to a form of fascism at some point or another in history.
This doesn't answer my question. What change has Fry effected to be able to criticise others for not effecting change?
I'm going to chalk this up to you having a personal problem with him then, rather than an ideological issue.
You can if you want to, but I actually want them to succeed.
I would agree almost entirely with this. Blair was a neoliberal capitalist through and through, though I don't recall him ever claiming he was committed to social justice. But the movement of factory jobs to China had been underway for over a decade before Blair or Clinton entered the scene. Thatcher and Reagan had already taken out the bath plug, the 90s was just the bath continuing to drain.
Again, not all are. They may be on the downswing at the moment across the Western world, but nothing lasts forever, trends change and reverse in time. A point will come where people in the mould of Bernie Sanders take charge and figure out how to communicate their message better to the working class.
No Mark. I just view yourself, Netanyahu and the extremist Palestinian groups as thinking alike. You all create a single story of the other group and tell that story trying to spread it. Whereas the reality isn't a single story. All these cultures and groups are made up of people with vastly different views. But unfortunately we're in for some shit times because these single stories of evil neighbours recognisable by the different clothes that you like to ridicule are spreading and being spread by people who think like you - who thinks like Bibi.
I didn't name Anwar or any other Palestinian leader as I don't know much about them. They're not given a voice. It helps the Islamophobic versions of you to spread their shite. So I don't know whether or not the actual leaders think like you and Bibi with their single stories. But little doubt that many who pillaged on Oct 7 think like you and Bibi.
No I can't name most people who demonise entire cultural groups. They're in all cultures. It's this simple, I don't know if Shinwar came from a perspective of demonising all Israelis, so I didn't name him. Im very confident that many who followed him through the fence and started massacring did come from that perspective. Just as I'm confident that Bibi and many Israelis massacring come from the same perspective of demonizing a whole cultural group. Im also very confident that you do too. You've made it very clear - over and over again.
