• @skulblaka
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    252 months ago

    That word, I don’t think it means what you think it means.

    • I don’t believe you understand Liberalism. “Scratch a Liberal and a Fascist bleeds”, if you want to see it in action watch how quickly they switch the topic to Trump whenever someone critiques Genocide Joe.

      • Cassa
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        202 months ago

        Heads up, neoliberal (which is what is meant in the phrase scratch a liberal and a facist bleeds) is not the same as a liberal.

        Usually just saying Liberal means Neoliberal - but for situations like this the difference helps

      • Don’t democrats constantly complain about the president unlike republicans that complain about the president when it isn’t their side that won?

      • @TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world
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        42 months ago

        As much as liberals suck, they’re not fascists. They will do fascist things in a similar way to Soviet states, playing to masculinity, bigotry, nationalism, and violent repression. They often slide into fascism and ally with fascists.

        However, most of them do believe their own bullshit. Most people do. They think their fascist actions are justifiable in service of democracy. They think capitalism is compatible with democracy, and that it’s even necessary for democracy.

        They’re willing to believe that because their jobs depend on supporting the status quo. They don’t think about it consciously, as the unconscious mind can blind us to inconvenient truths. They don’t perceive the contradictions.

    • @TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      they’re being edgy online Marxist and quoting Mao. the kids these days say anything mainstream is “Liberal”. it’s pretty politically ignorant but don’t bother starting them down the road arguing it or they’ll just start quoting books they haven’t fully read. to them “liberal” just marks another point on a line

      they’ll figure out in time that the world is more nuanced than left/right, or maybe they wont.

      • @TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world
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        32 months ago

        They’re more referring to supporters of capitalism without substantial changes. Liberalism is a mostly useless term because it’s so broad and varied, but words only mean what we think they mean. They often want to make the world a better place, but they’re totally unwilling to do what it takes.

        The colloquial definition has the downside of becoming a tool to discredit the good ideas related to Liberalism. Properly curtailing property rights can be worked into the liberal democratic model as a way to maximize freedom and stabilize society. However, the colloquial attitude of selfish naivete cannot.