Is GN guilty of bias or just ill-informed?

oldglimmer1, I think they remove posts if someone complains, even just one complaint is enough. I'm surprised more of mine haven't been removed, I can only suppose they have been over-looked by my opposers.

Most internet forums are moderated. Personally I think it is better to leave the insults as they stand, so that everyone can see what sort of person they are communicating with.

Growstuff I think you are splitting hairs & assuming we have all done politics at university level when you speak of differences between German nazis and Italian fascists.

At the present time, far-right organisations in this country are often, correctly or incorrectly, referred to as fascists.

You ask what connotations fascism has that communism doesn't.
One word - Holocaust.

janeainsworth Hitler wasn't a Fascist. Fascists didn't have death camps.

Nazism and Fascism were about a lot more than killing Jews. Both were political ideologies and I have read posts on GN which wouldn't be out of place in an early 1930s Munich beer hall.

I really do wish people would take the time to find out how both Hitler and Mussolini came to power.

Thanks ladymuck.

I think the term "fascist" has outgrown its true meaning though in the general population.

It's almost become a fashionable term for describing anyone who may have any kind of right-wing view.

I was called a "fascist" by a close friend recently, for agreeing with something Trump said.

I was also called a "white supremacist" by the same friend..

Trump and Mussolini have a lot in common.

janeainsworth of course the Holocaust is linked with fascism. but there is mass slaughter linked with communism as well. In fact probably more people have died as a result of communism than did as a result of fascism. Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot all being communists.
So perhaps people are more sensitive because of a lack of education.

Yes Trisher that's what I said in my first post on this thread.

It depends who is on duty at GNHQ I think - and this is a commercial organisation so no volunteers, all will be paid. I once had a post deleted for telling someone to ‘get off their high horse’!

So I left and didn’t come back for years and years. Some administrators are experienced and know what’s what, others very novice and will certainly delete just because it’s reported.

You ask what connotations fascism has that communism doesn't.
One word - Holocaust.

I don't think that one can pussyfoot around naming fascism just because of that. As has been pointed out, genocide and mass murder has been practised by other regimes; but no-one pussyfoots around their descriptors.

There are 'philosophies' and actions which characterise fascism. If a state or an individual ticks the boxes for these how else can they be described?

But Maizie why label them at all? As I said before by all means argue against their comments and opinions. I would like to think that all GNs would be capable of having a discussion without resorting to insults. Why not give it a try?

When a thread descends into insults and unpleasant comments many leave that thread and it just leaves a few combatants verbally slugging it out - and everybody loses.

Whole heartedly agree with your comment ramblingrose.

I’m not sure why so many threads seem to turn into personal attacks and a case of “I’m better educated than you”. It’s really not nice. I had no idea older ladies could be so vicious. I don’t know any like it irl thank goodness.

But Maizie why label them at all?

Because that's what happens and no amount of virtue signalling is going to change it.

Now we're back to trisher's opening contention, aren't we? If labels are used why is it acceptable for people to be labelled as communists, trots, marxists, lefties, loony lefties etc. (even if the label is not justified) but not fascists?

Though I have to say, as a veteran of 4+ years of 'discussions' on the politics threads I have rarely, if ever, noticed another poster being called 'fascist'. Whereas the list of names I've cited for those from slightly to the left of centre to fairly far left of centre recurs frequently. I think we just tend to ignore it as being born of ignorance We just don't go running screaming to the mods about it.

I do think it perfectly valid to refer to a government as fascist if it ticks the boxes. Indignant squeals about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust are, IMO, a refusal to face up to reality.

What surprises me is the wide range of words that people take as insults. Many GNers get upset by the description of fascist but are quite prepared to call other people communist. During the holocaust around 6 million Jewish people died plus possibly 11 million others. During Stalin's regime it is estimated that 20 million Russians died.

Both regimes were equally as bad and we should not forget that.

Good point Dinahmo.
I think online forums etc have to be careful about what they allow into print or they might be sued under some libel law.
Maybe GNHQ "have a little list" of words and phrases which are to be avoided.
When Corbyn was elected there was a lot of discussion about what communist means and various types of communism.
And probably the same applies to fascism. And nazi.
But to say that someone on here is one of those is too personal. You could say their ideas are so and so but not the person herself.

janeainsworth

I think it's a matter of connotation Trisher.
Although we all know that Communist parties & governments in Russia and China have been guilty of terrible atrocities against their own people, somehow the perception is that they are not quite so bad as Nazi Germany was.

I can't really explain it, but personally I wouldn't mind acknowledging a card-carrying Communist as a friend or acqaintance.
But a signed up member of a fascist organisation would be beyond the pale.
Interesting question.

I wouldn't want either a card carrying Communist or a signed up member of a fascist organisation as a friend, if we are being honest.Both are extreme ideologies.
Being called either on GN is better than some insults bandied about at times on here.

You wouldn't survive under a Communist regime, trisher !
Neither would those who take on Communist ideologies.

Has trisher ever said she believes in communism and would like to live in a communist regime? I must have missed that.

So if the assumption is that it is more acceptable to be called a communist than a fascist, is it then that more people complain about an accusation of fascism than would do about communism?
I thnk it is especially interesting when we look at the 1950s and McCarthyism in the US when communist was such a slur.

during WW11 25 MILLION Russian citizens died ,they were on the same side as the "ALLIES" UK ,US, ETC .Most people on here who have SOCIALIST beliefs are a million miles away from communism indeed there are some who I would query being any type of socialist .Communism as we know it is a great concept/ideal which doesn't work once the human element is introduced .Calling people communists as in insult is very 1950's .maybe the Grans who do it are stuck in that era ?

Don't suppose I would survive under a fascist regime either, which actually worries me a lot more than the communist scenario just now.

There are many members here who hold left-wing views - I am among them - but would never support a totalitarian government. Likewise, I am sure that those Tories, sometimes stigmatised as 'fascists', would never support an extreme right-wing totalitarian regime.
I am equally sure that anyone who described me as a 'communist' would not be taking an objective view of my political standpoint, but intend it as an insult. The same goes for those who would describe others as 'fascists'. It's not so much the description, as the intention behind it that matters.

Ah well! Try being a card-carrying LibDem! You get called all sorts of names, particularly by one poster on GN.

How does " how dare you own your own property " sound to you ? Because this is how it is---repression/suppression/ oppression, abject poverty and unless you toe the line you can expect a hard time.
No freedom of speech in Russia/China, or you vanish.

Both regimes would worry me, but if I had a choice------