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E. A. Bare's avatar

See yesterdays Letter from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson, it is a key tactic of Fascists.

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Jenn's avatar

It was a great find from Dr. Richardson..Here is the link to her Substack:

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-29-2023

LInk to the orginal: https://archive.org/details/ArmyTalkOrientationFactSheet64-Fascism/mode/2up

It is worth reading--the simplicity and clarity with which the writer explains an amorphous concept should be something that political and news writers emulate. Maybe it's 70 years of the left calling everything they don't like "fascism" but I thought true fascism was hard to pin down. It isn't. Now that we are staring down real fascists trying to take over, we are paying the price for the name-calling.

Here's a thought: Stop throwing around terms like "racist," "homophobe," and "transphobe." Using them all the time desensitizes people so when a real racist rears their head, people dismiss it. Just like saying "fuck" used to be a shocker...now you see people wearing it on shirts and hats.

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Josh's avatar

Olllllld joke.

Guy comes back from WWI. Family gathers to see him, big return party. So in the midst of all this his grandmother comes up and asks him how bad it was.

So he's not going to lay it on granny, so he's like "It wasn't that bad. Lot of good friends. We sang songs. Told jokes."

She's like "Oh? What kind of jokes? Tell me one?"

Well, now he's in a pickle. So he's like "Uh, granny, soldiers use a lot of bad words and I don't think I'd be comfortable telling you one of our jokes."

"It's okay, just say the word 'blank' whenever you come to a word you don't feel okay using with me."

"Oh okay, no problem! So here's one of my favorites: Blank blank blank, blanking blank, blank, blank, blank blank. Blank blank blank blank, blank blank, FUCK, blank blank blank."

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Helen's avatar

It sounds like sitting on a NYC subway train.

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Nancy (South NJ coast)'s avatar

Jenn, thanks a million for these links. I downloaded the PDF of the original document. My father's brother, his only sibling, was killed in August 1944 when German dead-enders attacked his tank unit in the Battle of Normandy. I continue his fight against fascism.

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JF's avatar

I agree somewhat, but one could propose that weтАЩve been too delicate, vocabulary wise, in dealing with Trump. It took YEARS before the media would use the common word тАЬlieтАЭ for his тАЬmisstatementsтАЭ and other numerous equivocal characterizations to describe his lies.

Early in the Trump years, I was uneasy with comparisons to Hitler. Now IтАЩm thinking thatтАЩs a spot on parallel.

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Kate Fall's avatar

Although I absolutely hate how "fuck" is now everywhere in everyone's speech (thanks Trump), trying to police how other people use language is the definition of beating your head against a brick wall.

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Jenn's avatar

I agree. I can only police myself.

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Jeff's avatar

I donтАЩt blame Trump for тАЬfuckтАЭ being everywhere, IтАЩd lay blame for that with millennials probably haha. We like the word. ItтАЩs very versatile and still can garner a response despite its casual use lol.

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Ben Gruder's avatar

It's actually the swiss army knife of profanities. It can indicate displeasure, delight, hatred and respect depending on how it's used.

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KMD's avatar

A friend tells a great story about the F-word. Her husband had taken his car to his local garage for a tuneup. While waiting, he overhead an old geezer telling the garage owner the problem with his truck: "The fucking fucker won't fuck!"

Perfect use of the f-word as an adjective, noun & verb in the same sentence.

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knowltok's avatar

Another old guy confusing his truck with his wife.

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Peter T's avatar

Fucking millennials. Always fucking everything up.

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TW Falcon's avatar

Haha! ЁЯШД

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May 31, 2023
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Marla's avatar

I picked that up from a comedy show "Father Ted."

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May 31, 2023
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