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There's little point in trying to debate philosophies/politics that deny others the right to participate fully. It's related to the paradox of intolerance in that fascists are breaking the usual rules of society and debate and so there is no requirement to socialise or debate with them. We already learnt this from WWII whereby there is no way to placate them and even the most watertight logical argument will be useless in stopping them.

Today, on the left (which is generally thought to be more "moral" than the right) you hear slogans like "no debate" alarmingly frequently. One of their main methods of dealing with opposition is "cancellation" of persons and disruption of debates and talks. But we don't all think of new left as fascists. But their methods today actively deny others the right to participate fully. We have the paradox of intolerance running right through society right to left, and I would even argue that the left may use these methods more than the right. When you have cultural dominance (eg: the way the Catholic church did in Ireland up until the 1990s) you can simply claim that anyone who opposed you is evil, and the majority agree, and deny them platform. Today, where I live, all but the most right wing news outlet will dare to point out "certain truths". This is terrible. It makes one side immune to criticism. The left no longer have the capacity to be self critical. It's a bubble with a purity spiral running down the middle of it, the ostracism slide that ends outside the bubble in a bin. I say this as a traditionally left wing (socially and fiscally) person who is now completely disillusioned with the left and politically homeless.

You're right, but I believe the problem is that populists use arguments and ways of speaking that are deceiving and very hard to counter even if absolutely wrong. This makes a public debate a bad platform for engaging them.

For example, with the idea of "survival of the fittest" claiming that some genes are better than others and we should prioritise them sounds simple enough to some poeple, but explaining all the ways in which that's not only wrong but dangerous to the human race is nuanced and by then people stopped listening. Then the populist claims you're an elitist and the debate is over.

But I understand your concern it's a difficult topic to tackle.

You raise a very important point. Which is why i'm so dismayed by the complete unwillingness of anyone on the left to substantially debate populist talking points. There's a limit to how much you can dismiss trump as a fascist when he's so clearly popular with so many people.

Ironically this letter is the opposite of that idea. BR is opposed to fascism on such a fundamental level that he sees no point in engaging with it's chief proponent, Mosley, at all.

> Thing is though, it would be more useful to have such an intellectual actually take apart Mosely's views. For posterity. For all of those people who haven't properly thought things through (which is, I would say, most people)

I agree. Celebrating a dressed up "I don't want to talk to you" note is a bit silly.

And yet here we are...

You can dismantle them from the outside, like Arendt, but "debating" them gives them a platform to Gish gallop their views to an accepting audience.

Fascism sounds great. It has terrific marketing. It's like cigarettes, awesome product apart from the bit where it kills people. Including people who never consumed the product.

Intellectual laziness. Easier to capture your ideological opponent in a box of dismissal than to tackle the points head-on.

> What I see nowadays is a complete lack of curiosity. Nobody wants to try to understand why people "go bad", they just want to put them in the bin. That only works if those "bad" people are a minority.

It's simple. If I'm good (and I am), and if you disagree with me, you're bad. What's to talk about? Stop yapping.

You're getting downvoted because people think you're being serious. But your sarcasm is a perfect match for how the majority of lefties behave in "debates".