[Xmca-l] Rumblings of the F-word

[Annalisa Aguilar]

Hello,

Just found this article on NYT about the development of recent discourse over the word "fascism," see:

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/books/fascism-debate-donald-trump.html__;!!Mih3wA!QEaovj_Y1l2RygQkKM2iFC9PMkkIl9JleFqlPMWrvbSN64XBjThhZdqZeYrkfLS5jzDxsw$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/books/fascism-debate-donald-trump.html?action=click&algo=top_conversion&block=editors_picks_recirc&fellback=true&imp_id=338460257&impression_id=744917922&index=0&pgtype=Article&region=footer__;!!Mih3wA!QEaovj_Y1l2RygQkKM2iFC9PMkkIl9JleFqlPMWrvbSN64XBjThhZdqZeYrkfLS-6Mp2xA$ >

In the article:

“The word ‘fascist’ has acquired a feeling of the extreme, like crying wolf,” Stanley writes — not because Americans are so unfamiliar with fascist tactics but because we are becoming inured to them. “Normalization of fascist ideology, by definition, would make charges of ‘fascism’ seem like an overreaction.” Our senses have been dulled by exposure. The United States has had a long history of pro- or proto-fascist sentiment, including the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan, the America First movement of the interwar years and the Jim Crow laws that Adolf Hitler cited as an inspiration. “Fascism is not a new threat,” Stanley writes, “but rather a permanent temptation.”

I recall using this word a few years ago and someone being surprised that I used the word.

If we decontextualize the separation of immigrant children from their parents seeking political asylum from our everyday newspaper experience and compare that to concentration camps, at the time it seemed like we were overreaching in our descriptions, but do you remember when this happened? Not enough of us were objecting to this hard enough. We still do not know what has happened to those children, nor what will become of them as adults.

Now that we are bored in pandmic lockdown, it does seem strange looking back at that time. Even looking back at the impeachment trial seems quaint in it's softball pitches.

I'm not sure this pandemic is at all good for us. But what can be done?

Anyway, with regards to the appropriate use of the term...

There are different colors of fascism, isn't there? Just like any other ideology.  Why is there so much resistance to using the word??

I'm thinking again out loud... there is the word and the meaning and then the word-meaning.

This is the article by Gerald Early on Sinclair Lewis's "It Can't Happen Here." mentioned in the NYT article.
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://commonreader.wustl.edu/c/touchstone-texts-it-cant-happen-here/__;!!Mih3wA!QEaovj_Y1l2RygQkKM2iFC9PMkkIl9JleFqlPMWrvbSN64XBjThhZdqZeYrkfLR0sCrxhg$ 


(With grammaresque concern, I am also relieved that I have confirmation of the apostrophe-s after a name that ends in the letter "s", but what about when the "s" is silent as in "Descartes's Error"?)

Anyway, here's to finding the right word for the right meaning.

Kind regards,

Annalisa



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