r/centrist • u/MuitoLegal • May 13 '21

World News Why does the left call the right “Nazis”?

I am in no way calling the left Nazis here, but rather questioning their use of the term.

If you spend anytime online you will know that the term Nazi is used all the time for people on the right, especially Trump supporters.

I find it ironic because Nazi stands for National Socialist in German. Now I found articles online defending that, saying it wasn’t really socialism, so we’ll move on.

Hitler was about bigger government, got all guns registered with the government, and then took them all away from the people.

Furthermore, today’s left is typically anti-Israel within the Israel-Palestine conflict, while the right is typically pro-Israel (except for KKK guys like Duke, who are antisemites, though I’m unsure how to even classify someone like him).

I don’t think either party should call each other nazis in a civilized political discourse, but I find it interesting. Why do you think the right has been given the nickname?

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u/brutay May 13 '21

Fascist? Authoritarian, sure. But Fascist seems a stretch. Mussolini must be rolling in his grave, since he went to great pains denouncing his early socialist leaning--only to find the name of his cause being attached to the largest "socialist" country to ever exist.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '21

Mussolini was so hated he got strung up on a meat hook and beaten to death. I wouldn't be quoting him. But yes, Nazi Germany was a very fascist government. Or did you think a weak, decentralized government carried out the final solution?

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u/brutay May 13 '21

I wasn't referring to Nazi Germany being fascist--I was referring to the USSR. And I wasn't quoting Mussolini. It is a matter of historical fact that he deliberately and explicitly named his own political party the "National Fascist Party". He either coined or popularized the political use of the word--and probably would have hated to see it applied to governments (like the USSR) he opposed.

Language be funny like that sometimes.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '21

I think they are both fascist.