Americans Have Lost Sight of What 'Fascism' Means
Many Americans who brand Trump and his allies as fascists are paying too little attention to abuses in Hong Kong and cultural genocide in Xinjiang.
Shadi Hamid
128d ago
My new essay in @TheAtlantic on the misuse and abuse of 'fascist.' In using the word to describe Trump and his supporters, Americans have lost moral clarity. Words aren't just postmodern markers. They should mean something
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NYTimes staff freaks out over Sen. Cotton's call for order as "fascism" leading to editor resignation.
Then it posts a justification for actual (Chinese) fascism: w/repression, internments, rape-by-policy, and ethnic cleansing. NYT staff? Silence.
God bless you @shadihamid for writing this piece.
âMoral clarity requires us to seek both accuracy and proportion.
Anything less does a disservice to those who have actually struggled, fought, and died against fascism.â
"Americans are not unusual in caring less about tragedies in countries other than their own. The atrocities committed against the Uighurs, however, attract less attention than they should in part because of whom theyâre committed by," @shadihamid writes
If you missed it, my latest for @TheAtlantic:
âMoral clarity requires us to seek both accuracy and proportion. Anything less does a disservice to those who have actually struggled, fought, and died against fascismâ
âIf Cotton is a fascist, then we donât know what fascism is. And if we donât know what fascism is, then we will struggle to identify it when it threatens millions of livesâwhich is precisely what is happening today in areas under Beijingâs control.â
âIf Americans, even for just a moment, could look beyond Trump, they might realize that another worldâone where fascism is a living, breathing thingâawaits them.â Long overdue piece c/o âŠ@shadihamidâ© on the stupid, hyperventilating age we live in.
'The atrocities committed against the Uighurs... attract less attention than they should in part because of whom theyâre committed by. Getting large numbers of people genuinely worked up about what China does is difficult." -- @shadihamid
.@shadihamid writes this terrific piece on how we need to apply weighted terms like fascism only where truly appropriate but, when it happens, urgently highlight those truly suffering from it, as with the Chinese governmentâs treatment of the Uighurs.
Perhaps âŠ@shadihamidâ© could have read the *book* in which I defend the use of the term âfascistâ, or âŠ@sarahchurchwellâ© book or at least dimly followed the fascism debate? This is shocking âŠ@TheAtlanticâ© - do better.
This piece by @shadihamid is important, timely and
sends shivers down my spine
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/⊠especially this paragraph about the genocide in #Xinjiang is chilling. pic.twitter.com/WWKe8bwUdL
This is an excellent and important essay by @shadihamid, which argues that Americans are losing sight of what fascism means.
Without dismissing real dangers, this @shadihamid piece makes a good case why Trump opponents should resist the temptation to emulate his tabloid ways
Critical insights from @shadihamid here. Getting people genuinely worked up about what China does is difficult, but if Americans could look beyond Trump, they might realize that another worldâone where fascism is a living, breathing thingâawaits them.
.@shadihamid with a timely, spot-on call to transcend our own hypocrisy and see true darkness:
"Outrage is always selective. Why did readers infuriated by Cottonâs argument seem to shrug off Ipâs? If Cotton is a fascist, we donât know what fascism is..."
An excellent piece from @shadihamid. We must not forget what words actually mean, or succumb to an entirely U.S.-centric worldview, because it hurts our ability to identify and fight the worst iterations of authoritarianism worldwide. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/⊠pic.twitter.com/rK1Mz2cuep
Don't miss @shadihamid writing in @TheAtlantic about the disconnect btwn our nation's outrage over theoretical fascism at home, and the fascism in fact happening now in areas under Beijingâs control: ow.ly/3Qkl50C2WGM pic.twitter.com/AT4yI5nJpO
Excellent, immensely important from @shadihamid: We must stop the faux moral outrage & regain clarity. We must remember what words (like #fascism) actually mean, otherwise we risk failing to identify them when & where they appear â like in #China today theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/⊠pic.twitter.com/Q8yJJgsOMr
One of the best pieces Iâve read recently. @shadihamid writes on how fascism actually looks like. Excellent
"Sometimes, life is elsewhere. In some places, democracy, or whatâs left of it, is truly under threat. One of those places is Hong Kong." -- @shadihamid
.âŠ@shadihamidâ©: Words matter because they help order our understanding of politics both at home and abroad. If Tom Cotton is a fascist, then we donât know what fascism is, and will struggle to identify it when it threatens millions of lives.
"Moral clarity requires us to seek both accuracy and proportion. Anything less does a disservice to those who have actually struggled, fought, and died against fascism." Every word of this, says journo appalled by craven partisan labeling, via @shadihamid
â'Regina Ipâs Op-Ed,' the statement (read), 'allowed our readers to hear another side of the debate from a member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong.' Yet Ipâs piece was less a reasoned argument than an explicit assertion of Beijingâs right to repress."
âThis time, though, no staff revolt occurred, even though Ipâs article was an elaborate, if refreshingly frank, endorsement of real fascism.â
Former NYT editorial board member: âIs the United States better, worse, or the same as China?⊠In 2020, this is becoming a genuinely difficult question to answer.â
"Genuinely difficult."