Hacker News Reader

Comment by leftyted | Hacker News Reader

"Fascism" is used today to refer to "bad thing I don't like".

It's a mistake to interpret diction literally. Yes, it would be lovely if people used the word "fascism" to refer to right-wing, ultra-nationalist, authoritarian political movements. But that's not how people use words and the ship has long since sailed on that particular word. According to George Orwell "fascism" has a been a synonym for "bully" since 1944 - http://orwell.ru/library/articles/As_I_Please/english/efasc

View on HN

Ok, I guess I am out of the loop on the meaning of fascism. However, even if I substitute the word "bullying" the statement doesn't make sense to me:

"Google employees protesting the makeup of the AI Ethics council appeared like the closest thing to bullying in the USA that I have ever witnessed"

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm splitting hairs, but I genuinely don't understand what the OP is trying to stay in that statement. Is he saying Google employee's protesting of the AI board is the worst example of bullying they have seen?

Sorry I left for a few minutes. I don’t agree with Kay Cole James on any issue socially. My read on the situation though is that, by not recommending a viable alternative. I read that as Googlers saying they are not open to have conservative viewpoints on the council, hence them disbanding. That forcible suppression of an opposition viewpoint instead of coming to the table together to debate differences when crafting policy, I see as having elements of Fascism.

That forcible suppression of an opposition viewpoint instead of coming to the table together to debate differences when crafting policy, I see as having elements of Fascism.

It's certainly authoritarian.

They have become what they protested against; closed mindedness. Animal farm all over again.

> That forcible suppression of an opposition viewpoint instead of coming to the table together to debate differences when crafting policy, I see as having elements of Fascism.

Do you see Orwell literally taking up arms in the Spanish Civil War against his ideological opponents instead of debating them—especially when he wasn't even Spanish himself—as having elements of fascism, too?

The OP is trying to say:

"Google employees protesting the makeup of the AI Ethics council is disgraceful"

Orwell fought against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War, and found his side being called fascist by the Stalinists. I suspect he was more hoping to return the word to meaning something (he quite passionately cared about fighting fascism) than encouraging its misuse.

Much of that time shaped George Orwell's later writings. All of the weird, anti-truth tendencies of The State were references to things done by Franco's Spain, the UK, and the Stalinists. The erasure and rewriting of the past. The use of blatant propaganda. Getting their own ranks to deny the simple truth before them. To George Orwell, the Fascists, the Stalinists, and the corrupt and Machiavellian parts of the British government were all part and parcel of the same evil and corruption.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com