Why is fascism bad?

[Cozmic]

I don’t know why people dislike the ideology so much. The ideology is a leader that is determined to bring society out of a shit state in a country. How is that bad?

[HungLikeAHorsefly]

Well, no that's not quite what Fascism is exactly. You're thinking of a Dictatorship. A regime can be Fascist and not a Dictatorship. Similarly, Dictatorships aren't necessarily Fascist. In fact, they usually aren't.

There are a lot of different things that you can say Fascism is, but two of the primary underlying principles are 1) an inherent social/cultural/economic hierarchy among the population, and 2) extreme nationalism.

For example, let's say hypothetically that the United States becomes a Fascist state. It's quite possible we'd see things like white Christians being at the top of the social strata. If you're say, black, or hispanic, or jewish or maybe you're white but you follow some form of Christianity other than what the state says you should (maybe you're a Catholic or LDS)... then maybe you aren't allowed to own your own business. Or you pay more in taxes. Or you need a special permit to drive. Or you need to get written permission to travel somewhere. Stuff like that is common in Fascism systems, and it's pretty antithetical to what most people call "freedom".

It's also often the case that the leader isn't "determined to bring society out of a shit state". It's more likely that the leader is in it for him or herself and simply puts on airs about having the nation's best interests at heart.

[ADFSDF1996]

Many people consider fascism to be the worst form of totalitarianism because they incorrectly assume it’s always synonymous with Nazism and racism.

The truth is that while Nazism is synonymous with fascism, fascism isn’t always synonymous with Nazism. Nazism is a subgroup of fascism that promotes pseudoscientific and pseudohistoric/hyper diffusionist ideas on race. Unlike Nazism, other forms of Fascism like Italian Fascism and falangism don’t concern themselves with race.

Disclaimer: I’m not trying to defend fascism, I’m just pointing out the main difference between fascism and Nazism.

[HungLikeAHorsefly]

You could say Nazism is sufficient but not necessary for Fascism, whereas Fascism is necessary but not sufficient for Nazism.

[Soteris]

It is literally built on oppression which is generally not seen as a good thing. Fundamentally however there is no guarantee or trust inherent in the system. Society simply hands off power to the leader and they can do whatever the hell they want with it and its very unlikely that the people can have a say in the future.

This has many different consequences ranging from how trustworthy the leader is to who they decide to hand off power to. Systems like this pretty much always ends up with corruption before too long. Its generally a really stupid idea and that is not to talk about all the other idiotic core philosophies such as ultra nationalism.

[Kkaos]

A lot of people will view fascism as oppressive. Totalitarian control, bigoted policies etc. It depends on the leader though and democracy sure as hell isn't perfect. I can't remember who said this quote but it goes a long the lines of "democracy is where two men vote to steal the wealth of the third".

[Internarchitect]

Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely. That covers it.

[NaultD]

That ideology needs endless scapegoats and there is a thin changing line that gets sacrificed. So anyone within a mile of that line overthrows.

[Astarlessnightsky]

Because the way its chosen always comes along with some sort of genocide and discrimination against minorities.

[Snakeyes7]

I invite you to look up what Italy went through in WWII under Benito Mussolini.

[John_Doesnt]

Because nobody likes to dress exactly the same.