George Orwell: What is Fascism? | Intellectual Takeout

George Orwell: What is Fascism? | Intellectual Takeout
"Accusations of fascism are tossed around like candy at a Fourth of July parade.
It’s been this way for a long time.
Anything that hints of some person or some group not getting to do whatever they want or with which there is violent disagreement is often labeled fascist.
Today is no different.
George Orwell saw the same problem in 1944 when he wrote, “It will be seen that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless.”
In fact, he wrote a lot more on the subject that year in a piece titled, “What is Fascism?”.
Here it is:
“Of all the unanswered questions of our time, perhaps the most important is: ‘What is Fascism?’
...if you examine the press you will find that there is almost no set of people — certainly no political party or organized body of any kind — which has not been denounced as Fascist during the past ten years.
Here I am not speaking of the verbal use of the term ‘Fascist’.
I am speaking of what I have seen in print.
I have seen the words ‘Fascist in sympathy’, or ‘of Fascist tendency’, or just plain ‘Fascist’, applied in all seriousness to the following bodies of people..."
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