Of course they do. Just like that time I had to teach you what the word "socialism" actually means. You almost certainly don't know what fascism means either, which isn't surprising because it's even less well known these days than what socialism really means.
Oh, but they are. Very much so. Think back to when I was the first person to inform you what socialism actually is -- remember how you said your politicians call themselves socialist? About that -- so, as you now know, they're not actually socialist. In the 1930s, what you call (called?) socialism was better known as the "third position." You see, in the eyes of socialists and fascists alike, on one side you have socialism, on the other side you have capitalism, and right in the middle you have fascism. Just like socialists, fascists don't come in promising to rule you like a king. They come in promising to take care of you. They tell you that they're going to make all things, including businesses, work for the common man. The difference between the two lies only in how they intend to do this. Rather than go into the details myself, I'll let an actual socialist explain through a modern lens: (note that I don't agree with any of the conclusions here, but he does have his terms correct and he has done his homework, as you can see from the citations provided.)
https://www.hamptonthink.org/r...
Now keep in mind that fascism has both a government component and an economic component that are separable. Those politicians you're speaking of are almost certainly economic fascists, and perhaps you are as well, but I honestly don't recall seeing any of your positions on economics. rsilvergun certainly is, though, without question. Regardless, their ideology and economic thought processes largely originated from none other than Benito Mussolini. But more than likely, they're not even aware of that. Very few of them are, they just think of themselves as trying to do right by the common man in trying to bring a compromise between socialism and capitalism. Note also that the distinction between Fascism and Nazism is about as strong as the distinction between Leninism and Stalinism. Nazism is what brought race into the whole thing, where Mussolini's fascism didn't even make an issue of race.
But back to China -- not only are they economically fascist -- they're definitely even more all around fascist than any other country at the moment. Their government has a very concentrated, top-heavy power structure. Technically it's a democracy in that the elections probably are fair in the way the votes are counted, but what they have is a democratic-republic with zero in the way of free speech, free expression, etc. Sure, you can vote for the other guy, but if he ever says something that the people currently in power don't like, they can remove that piece from the board. (This is a huge reason, by the way, why I say free speech of critical importance to a democracy, and why I oppose any and all curbs on free speech, including any kind of political justification, like for example, banning hate speech.) Regardless, it has very strong elements of corporatism (not to be confused with corporations in the business sense -- the terms are unrelated) a very deeply nested political hierarchy, and a ruler at the top with nearly absolute power.
Another critical element of economic fascism is the way the state can literally take executive control of large corporations. They can appoint themselves to the boards of directors and insert members of their party into key executive positions at will. They'll also pool government funds directly into these corporations to advance the interests of the state. Note the distinction of taking the business over outright and establishing it as a monopoly, also called nationalizing, which is what socialism ultimately stipulates.
No matter how you slice it, China IS in fact fascist in all but name. They call themselves communist, but that doesn't really mean anything.
China does very bad stuff. The UK does very bad stuff. The US does very bad stuff. The EU does very bad stuff. Take your pick. Or rather, don't.
This honestly smells of both-sides'ism, and in a really bad way at that.
Or rather, don't. Be pragmatic.
Trust me, I'm way ahead of you here. You're the kind of guy who literally manufactures disinformation, why on earth would you call yourself anything even remotely resembling a pragmatist?
China is doing more than any country to address climate change, which is objectively good, regardless of what else they are up to.
Sweet summer child... I think by far the biggest difference between you and me, is I actually read history. You see this sentence you said here? It applied equally well to Nazi Germany circa 1930s.
https://www.encounterbooks.com...
Same with animal welfare and probably a lot of other things.
You know why I'm opposed to socialism and you're not? Because 150 years of history says it doesn't work. You know why I'm opposed to fascism? Because 80 years of history shows that democracy and capitalism do a hell of a better job at lifting all boats, with the very nice side benefit of not leaving you totally miserable in the process.
More than that, we are falling behind because we refuse to compete. Not just economically, but ideologically.
You mean, you actually WANT to engage in an ideological arms race with them? Holy fucking shit...
Not just economically, but ideologically. There is a reason why so many of gen Z have little faith in our democracies, and why they look at places like China and wonder if there is a better way. Not necessary exactly like China, but a government that is at least not actively trying to shaft them at almost every opportunity. They inherited broken countries, broken economies that concentrated all the wealth away from them, and a looming disaster that the people with the power to do anything about seem to think is not going to affect them personally so they only need to pay lip service to addressing it.
No, they're not. I don't know about where you live, but this country is not broken. It's not perfect, but it's certainly not broken. We're currently living in what is the most prosperous age in history. Almost every country is, in fact. It's insane how much people like you deny what this guy says:
https://www.ted.com/talks/hans...
And it's all based on objective, empirical, fact. But people like you are having none of it. You've got a narrative to sell, which is why everything you're saying is nothing more than what people like you are trying to sell them. Politicians don't get votes and pundits don't get attention by telling everybody that "everything is ok but we can make it a little better." They get votes by telling you that everything has gone to shit, your life sucks even if you don't think it does, and only they can fix it. After Hitler's jail sentence ended after his failed Bier Hall Putsch, he came back to an economy that was beginning to recover from the great depression (the US would have as well had it not been for some very poor, in fact very Trump-like economic and foreign policies.) Nobody really cared for him anymore until he successfully sold the narrative that the jews were fucking them over in ways they weren't aware of.
For you, just replace 'jews' with 'the rich' and there really isn't much of a difference. Though come to think of it, I don't think even that is accurate. You claim Israel is actively committing genocide, despite there being no evidence of that. In fact, the best thing you could do to "free palestine" if that's what you actually wanted to do, would be to eliminate Hamas and its benefactors, namely Hezbolla and Iran. The best "evidence" (and I use the term loosely) you could even hope to provide is some kind of clandestine jewish conspiracy that they're keeping secret, just like every other group or individual who has decided to scapegoat jews. You yourself have literally manufactured disinformation against Israel, and YOU KNOW IT.
But you know what strangely doesn't bother you? China is actively genociding its Uighur population. There's a crapload of evidence to support that as well. So why is it that you never talk about that? With you, it's always "push the jews into the sea before they commit genocide!" You know what gay people in Palestine do? They apply for (and receive) asylum in Israel, otherwise if they remain in Palestine they're almost certainly going to end up tortured and publicly executed some day, and it won't even be Hamas that does it. But I'm sure you enjoy being in the "Chickens for KFC" club regardless.
This is about us being honest with ourselves, realistic about how the world is, and finding a way to make things better. Right now we are slipping backwards, fast.
No, we're really not. The only way that might happen is if people like you succeed where Stalin and Mussolini failed.