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this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2026
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politics
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Do you think fascism happens when a critical number of people have been tricked into doing fascism? Fascism is not the result of some nebulous, nationwide hoodwink, but a response to measurable deterioration of wages, education, infrastructure, wages, healthcare, etc...
If you truly believe this, your only recourse is fact checking, appeals to logic, and information campaigns. How have those worked over the past decade?
It is pure liberalism to think that we just need to sit our best politicians and philosophers down, have them draft up an absolutely banger explanation of why fascism is bad, and then every fascist American yokel will see the error in their ways and renounce fascism. Liberalism is the idea that people are fascist simply becsuse they haven't been presented with the "right" ideas yet.
Yep. You need to present them a better alternative that will fix the real (or imaginary) problems in their lives, most of which are truly caused by rampant capitalism.
So you need specific, concrete strategies about how you're going to get them better wages, better education, better infrastructure, better healthcare, etc.
Because if you don't offer this, the fascists will. The fascists say all the problems are due to Outgroup and the solution is to give unlimited power to Ingroup so they can get rid of Outgroup and then all the problems will be solved.
That is, obviously, very stupid. But so are a lot of voters. And it that's the only solution to their problems that they're hearing, that's what they're going to gravitate toward. To win them over, you need to acknowledge their problems, paint a convincing picture that capitalist oligarchs are the source of those problems, and present clear and concrete steps toward solving those problems. You are NOT going to win them over by telling them that their problems aren't real, or that their problems aren't as bad as other people's problems.
Doesn't work when all most of them want is for the people in charge to hurt the "right" people.
I'm a progressive. I see all those issues and my response is to vote as progressively as I can.
Why is it that viewers of Fox "News" and consumers of right-wing radio, who all preach some nevulous, nationwide hoodwink to the point that a third of our country is living in a parallel universe - why is it the issues that drive them to be insane and embrace fascism?
I think your premise is wildly off-base.
That said, I agree with your last para - except when things go bad enough the fascists start to doubt, that's when you have a chance to try and engage and convert a few out of the cult.
Agreed. The problem isn't mass buy-in, it's not "legitimate grievances," it's not communication: it's groups with disproportionate power carrying out brainwashing.
Nothing will change unless the root causes are addressed: disable the puppeteers, take away their megaphones and cut them down to a size where they can no longer use their wealth and connections to subvert democracy.