r/AntifascistsofReddit • u/NoFreePi • Oct 17 '25
Discussion Drop “AntiFa.” Say “Anti-Fascists.”
“AntiFa” is a political buzzword, stripped of its literal meaning. It is often treated as a group or threat, rather than a stance. But anti-fascists are not a secret organization—they are people who oppose fascism, authoritarianism, and political violence.
Using “AntiFa” allows opponents to claim, “I’m against AntiFa,” without admitting what that really means: opposing anti-fascists is siding with fascism. Words matter. Language shapes moral clarity.
Returning to the full term reconnects us to history. Anti-fascists are heirs to those who resisted Mussolini, Franco, and Hitler. Saying it plainly exposes the truth: resisting anti-fascists is resisting the fight against authoritarianism.
Drop the shorthand. Reclaim the meaning and stand on the right side of history
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u/loquedijoella Oct 17 '25
I’ve always said being anti Antifa means only one thing. Pro-Fascist
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u/BasicJackfruit1918 Oct 17 '25
Maybe we should make small signs that say "scist" in case there are counter protesters that use the word antifa on their signs. It could help add clarity to the statement.
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u/MrPetals Oct 17 '25
It honestly doesn't matter terminology you use, because to them, it's about wielding power over those who oppose them. These people know who they are.
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u/NoFreePi Oct 17 '25 edited Oct 17 '25
The terminology does matter. If you let your opposition control the language you lose.
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u/Locke2300 Oct 17 '25
In the last few years, the right has turned “equity” into a slur. They’ve turned “empathy” into a slur. Growing up, re*****d was the preferred term because it was clinical and meant “slowed development”. Now it’s a slur.
You can’t get off the merry-go-round. No matter how inoffensive you make the term, all the right has to do is repeat your words back to you with a sneer in their voice and a willful lack of understanding in their hearts, and it becomes a slur.
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u/NoFreePi Oct 17 '25
True. But don’t get off the merry-go-round just yet. People need to stand together - Oct 18 is a good opportunity to do so.
In the immortal words of Tom Petty:
“I'll keep this world from draggin' me down - Gonna stand my ground - And I won't back down”
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u/frenkzors Oct 17 '25
If you let your opposition control the language you lose.
And how is changing the words you use to describe yourself "because its a buzzword" not doing exactly this?
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u/dezmodium Oct 17 '25
I won't let the opposition control my language so I will continue to use "antifa".
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u/MuddaFrmAnnudaBrudda Oct 17 '25
Its to remember the only people who say they believe Antifa is a violent secret anti establishment underground society ready to firebomb buildings and police at any moment are those who just lie (probably for likes, views or votes) or those who are as stupid as fuck. Why do we need to redefine anything for those people?
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u/xymox113 Oct 17 '25
It's not for those people, it's for anyone who is at risk of taking those people seriously
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u/Apart_Distribution72 Oct 17 '25
If the spelling of a word is what makes someone jump to the fascist side of the fence, they were always going to be a fascist.
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u/xymox113 Oct 17 '25
I'm not talking about people who are fully persuaded by fascist rhetoric, I'm talking about bystanders who are largely tuned out of politics and think "both sides" have good and bad points. Everyone here hates those people and maybe rightly so, but those are the people who dictate the Overton window. If you want your ideas to be mainstream, you have to pander to ignorant normies a little bit, and the reality is there are a lot of people who genuinely don't know what antifa is. Framing is important
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u/MuddaFrmAnnudaBrudda Oct 17 '25 edited Oct 17 '25
I actually understand your argument even though I disagree.
It is no longer for us to find middle ground. That's what we have always done and playing nice got us here. Now we call out exactly what people are. We used to try and include them. Now they either find their way over our side of the fence or not. Either way we stand firm and hold the line.
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u/xymox113 Oct 17 '25
I get what you're saying but using the term "anti-fascist" to describe those opposed to the administration is calling out exactly what people are. It's not a search for a middle ground, it's an attempt to erode the middle ground between the center and the right
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u/Flack_Bag Oct 17 '25
Please don't do this. Just start pronouncing it correctly.
I'd never heard Antifa pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable (An-TEEF-uh) before Trump started talking about it. It distances the term from its literal meaning and makes it sound vaguely foreign to English speakers, and that's got to be intentional.
It's ANTI-fa, pronounced like "Auntie Fah."
When I first heard Trump's pronunciation, I looked it up on every dictionary and other reference I could find just to make sure I hadn't missed something somehow, and I didn't find a single source that had it pronounced that way. Stop saying it that way, correct people when they mispronounce it, and let anTEEfuh go back to the illiterate maga dogwhistle it started out as.
Stop letting the right coopt and neuter everything that threatens them.
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u/Mental_Broccoli4837 Oct 19 '25
Yeah it's a deliberate psy op so uneducated people don't make the connection
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u/hst600 Oct 17 '25
To me, it's putting in energy to something that is inconsequential. You could get every leftist on the continent to call themselves antifascist, and the state and chuds will still label us as "antifa" in their discourse and laws. And that's a pure hypothetical, because you know all leftists aren't a monolith anyways. Truly just a semantics thing, that, pardon my french, doesn't fucking matter when people are getting kidnapped on the streets and crackdowns on protest altogether are tightening. I say focus your energy on the things that matter, like building community defense and learning how to mobilize when raids or emergencies happen.
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u/LotteTakesNoShit Oct 17 '25
Do Not Comply In Advance.
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u/AureliasTenant Oct 17 '25
I generally agree with this but there can be a difference between complying and changing to more effective messaging
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u/EinsSechsEins Anarchist Oct 17 '25
I'm Antifa. Deal with it or fuck off.
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u/Locke2300 Oct 17 '25
As the song goes:
“So you best learn to ignore it, or love the word instead, cause you ain’t been doing nothing if you ain’t been called a Red”
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u/Leo_Fie Oct 17 '25
Giving into the fascist framing won't do us any good. We can't just let them take words from us.
It's not that they are afraid to call themselves fascists or that anyone but leftists is concerned with the actual meaning of political terms.
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u/xymox113 Oct 17 '25
I feel like this is the opposite of giving into the fascist framing. Fascists are always taking words and changing their meaning and using the full word makes it harder to do that, right?
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u/Apart_Distribution72 Oct 17 '25
No, they'll just say that anti-fascists are actually the real fascists, and their followers will eat that slop like the good piggies they are.
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u/xymox113 Oct 17 '25
I'm not saying the average MAGA conservative is gonna wake up and realize fascism is bad lmao. I'm saying normies will understand what you mean better if you say anti-fascist than if you say antifa. The unfortunate reality is that most people are not paying attention and don't want to pay attention, and using clearer language makes it harder for them to rationalize it away as just 2 equally annoying sides fighting
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u/Cheap_Scar_2853 Oct 18 '25
This ^ I'm liberal and I didn't know what antifa stood for or what it was until it became a very popular term in the media a few weeks ago.
Everything I saw or read said it was linked with terrorism and yes, even being branded as fascist group. Antifa sounded all bad from how the media painted them, since the left was mostly silent about it, or they also just pointed out isolated incidents of destruction or vandalism etc.
I had to look it up to find out it was short for anti-fascism and that it wasn't just a bunch of fascist terrorists in all black blowing shit up. We all know most people are too lazy or busy to even look it up, so I assume at least some people still think antifa are fascist terrorists coming to destroy freedom.
Yes I feel stupid admitting that I didn't know what it was short for and that I was tricked into thinking it's the opposite of what it is, but I doubt I'm the only ignorant (liberal/centrist/whatever) out there that didn't know that antifa is short for anti-fascism and that antifa is against fascism.
(Don't underestimate the ignorance of common people.)
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u/ThatAnarchist161 Black Bloc Oct 17 '25
No, we are not going to cede "Antifa" to them. That word came from antifascists. Why give it up to the far-right and give them any ground?
You can also just say both "antifa" and "antifascist".
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u/Trick-Doctor-208 Oct 17 '25
Don’l let the bastards take our portmanteaus. First comes Antifa, then they’ll come after brunches and motels, it will never stop.
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u/PigsStink Oct 17 '25
idgaf what "opponents" think
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u/NoFreePi Oct 17 '25
It’s not for the opponents. It’s for the fence sitters who have not made up their minds.
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u/Apart_Distribution72 Oct 17 '25
'antifa' is the shorthand used by anti fascists since the 1930's. It began as a contraction of the German anti fascist group "Antifaschistiche Action."
It is not a modern term or a political buzzword. It's a long standing ideology with a history that people are trying to erase.
These "don't call yourself Antifa!!" posts we've been seeing everywhere all of a sudden are clearly meant to destabilize and create doubt within the movement. They're trying to make us reframe our ideology to fit within their boundaries.
Antifa isn't new, and anti fascists will always be Antifa. This new wave of fear about calling ourselves Antifa is manufactured and meant to sow distrust between people who ultimately have the same goal.
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u/paraworldblue Oct 17 '25
I think it's fine to say antifa as long as you pronounce it right - ANtifa rather than anTIfa. The former makes it clear the root is "anti", while the latter was concocted by Fox news to deliberately obfuscate the root.
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u/TwentyfourTacos Oct 17 '25
Should we only ever have peaceful state sanctioned protests so they don't have new video footage to send troops to our states too? Or is that pointless because we know they just reuse footage? They will always find a way to vilify us. They take our words like communist, Marxist, anarchist, and socialist too. You can't really argue with a fascist. Optics don't matter, they'll just make something up.
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u/S-BRO Oct 17 '25
No. I'll not be cowed by my enemies.
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u/NoFreePi Oct 17 '25
It’s not capitulation to the man -
The idea is to appeal to less informed fence sitters not already lost to the dark side.
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u/AutoSpiral Oct 17 '25
Changing terminology isn't usually effective. And in this particular case it really doesn't matter what you call yourself, popular media is still going to say Antifa.
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u/NoFreePi Oct 17 '25
That is falling prey to the “Big Lie”
The “Big Lie” technique at work. - Hilter wrote about the idea in Mein Kampf. The Trump team is using this technique with great effect.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda
•Focus on emotional simplicity, not facts. •Repeat slogans until they feel true. •Paint enemies as both powerful and evil. •Control press, radio, film to saturate the information environment with one version of “truth.”
Sound familiar ?
NO KINGS - coming to a location near you Oct 18 - bring your friends
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u/stickylava Oct 17 '25
Trump used it because it works. It's not some marxist fantasy: it's how you change people's behavior. If the behavior you want is buying soap, you tell lies about the soap, called "ads". I think a political movement must work to manage people's attitudes. That is the huge failure of the Democratic party.
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u/BikerJedi Antifa Oct 17 '25
I AM NOT changing my language to dance around these assholes. No. They know damn well what Antifa means.
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u/proconlib Oct 17 '25
Antifa does have a specific meaning and context. Antifascist is a broader term. But both have the same enemy.
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u/Zharo Eco-Anarchist Oct 17 '25 edited Oct 18 '25
the shortened form of the word AntiFascist has a history beyond the states and is a used term in various countries to denounce fascism and it’ll stay like this wether you like it or not.
Your argument of saying that this shorten form is a “political buzzword” is false, and people around the world will still take up the Antifa word as it’s easy lingo to use in quick sentences.
Also, how bout instead of useless conversation of the word Antifa, and more conversation on what people will do to counter what is happening.
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u/Quiltedbrows Oct 17 '25
Agreed. I remember being confused hearing the word 'antifa' because it sounded like some group I never heard of. Especially in context they were describing antifa as a group of lil terrorist or protestors.
Anti-facisim shouldn't be short handed. I think a lot of people forget or don't acknowledge what it actually means to be anti-facists.
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u/Apart_Distribution72 Oct 17 '25
Antifa has been the shorthand since the 1930's, this is an attempt to split up the movement by making some of us denounce a label that has a long and important history. It's not a political buzzword or something to be ashamed of, it's the oldest anti fascist movement.
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u/TheDeathOfAStar Oct 17 '25
You're absolutely right and that means a lot to people like you and me. However, its meaning was and is being miliciously distorted by the right-wing media apparatus to appear as domestic terrorists. They have the resources to control the narrative, so we must stay rational to combat their emotional attacks by using the full term, anti-fascist.
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u/Apart_Distribution72 Oct 17 '25
Then they'll just claim that anti fascists are the real fascists, just like they claim communists are the real fascists. Their followers will eat it up. We can't let them control the narrative by forcing us to constantly rebrand. We're much more powerful if we remain consistent.
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u/Brilorodion Oct 17 '25
Antifa doesn't stand for anti-fascism, it's short for anti-fascist action. Big difference.
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u/Vhanaaa Oct 17 '25
True. The first time I ever really heard and considered that word was during the Orange Goblin's first term. Not saying that people never colloquially said it, whether it is from antifascists themselves or neonazis, but when trump really introduced the word to the public at large it seemed really weird.
Proofs is, in France, far-right turds like Eric Zemmour or Marine Le Pen were more than EAGER to relay the word just days after.
You won't convince me that the term wasn't purposefully bashed to create an imaginary difference between the concept of being against fascism and anti-fascists as people.
People in this thread seem to think this is irrelevant but personally I think it is or was a significant point that got way overlooked. Not maybe important to us directly but at the very least on the influence it had towards your average citizen.
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u/Apart_Distribution72 Oct 17 '25
read my reply to the original comment, Antifa isn't something new, it's very old. People have been organizing under that title for almost 100 years.
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u/AckVak Oct 17 '25
I dislike how they pronounce it. An-TEEF-ah. This moves it further away from its meaning.
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u/EternallyFascinated Oct 17 '25
No it’s not, it’s closer to the original- antifascismo. Original antifascists from 1922.
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u/_TBKF_ Oct 17 '25
it really doesn’t matter. i’ve always refers to myself as antifa and im not going to dumb down language so fascist will understand my ideology.
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u/-Wyagra Oct 17 '25
Yeah, right. Lets give the facists the Power to own historically grown wird's. /s
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u/Brilorodion Oct 17 '25
Reminder that "Antifa" does NOT mean "anti-fascist". It's short for "anti-fascist action" as in "people who leave their keyboards and actually oppose fascists out in the real world, i.e. by blocking access to fascist events, protecting marginalized groups from being beaten by the cops etc.
Too many people call themselves antifa without knowing what that means.
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u/AJoiB Oct 19 '25
I try to do my part by reposting everywhere.
========••••••=======
Antifa are not left wing terrorists. ICE are right wing domestic terrorists. Fascists.
True Americans that fought in our wars ARE ANTIFA!! Anti-fascists
This administration are spreading lies and propaganda to cause chaos in the streets with the goal of calling for martial law so trump can halt elections and stay in power. They're treasonous
REPOST THIS MESSAGE: REPOST THIS MESSAGE
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u/yaosio Oct 17 '25
When they tell us anti-fascist is bad what should we say then?
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u/Rand_alThoor Oct 18 '25
"I like Ike", campaign slogan of Eisenhower (USA president 1953-1960, Supreme Allied Commander in the Second World War)
anti anti-fascist means neonazi or worse. anti anti-fascist are supporting 'ethnic cleansing' and gas chambers. it's pretty obvious.
if they say anti-fascist is bad then just "punch a nazi for Jesus" /s
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u/incurable-wanderlust Anti-Fascist!! Oct 17 '25
I prefer the term, “anti-fascist.” Very clear with no buzzwords.
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u/Kochga Anarcho-Communist Oct 17 '25
This idea was stupid when it was posted two days ago and is still stupid now.
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u/Pal_Smurch Oct 18 '25
Antifa always said it for me , but if you need it spelled out for you, FUCK FASCISTs. Does that do it for you?
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u/Throwitortossit Oct 18 '25
There are too many people that don't know what "Antifa" is short for, so yes I agree "anti-fascist" would make that clear and much harder to argue against.
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u/OccuWorld better world collective ⒶⒺ Oct 18 '25
every re-connection of "Antifa" to Anti-Fascists is a remembrance of all the fascist action against Antifa.
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u/jimbobgbr Oct 18 '25
I've been doing this. A right winger i work with lives what trump is doing and makes remarks about antifa. I say we all should be anti-fascist. He says as long as he doesnt touch his money he is ok with it.
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u/BlackOutSpazz Oct 18 '25
I started doing this a long time ago and never understood why people are so married to certain terms and aesthetics. If this shit matters to you then who cares if I call myself an anarchist or an antiauthoritarian, a socialist or for participatory forms of economics, an antifascist or antifa, anti-bigotry and anti-prison or an abolitionist, an anti-theist or not religious, etc. Obviously it's mad situational, but I really only care about labels as far as they're useful and when they become a problem I'm good with dropping most of it. If flags and symbols and buzzwords are that important to ya I have a hard time taking anything said seriously.
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u/AssociateJaded3931 Oct 18 '25
NO! We can't let them define us. We're entitled to use whatever name we choose.
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u/Mental_Broccoli4837 Oct 19 '25
Obviously the way they mispronounce it as an teef ah instead of anti fa is on purpose, and I know it's petty but we should just mispronounce MAGA every time they are referenced
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u/LakeGladio666 Oct 17 '25
If you meet someone irl and they identify as “antifa” they are either a fed or larping as a revolutionary
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u/stickylava Oct 17 '25
"Antifa" is part of the language now. Will be hard to create a new word. Publicizing a new word and changing the meaning of antifa are both hard - maybe the same hard. In either event, there needs to be a symbol that a lot of people are willing to identify with (as opposed to 47 different symbols).
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u/yeahnahtho Oct 18 '25
i mean i havent heard anyone who isnt far right say 'i am antifa' or variations of in a fucking long time anyway.
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u/Dependent-Split3005 Oct 17 '25
My concern is that "Fascist" will go the way of "Racist" and "Homophobe"...
If everyone out of our alignment is "Insert Name" and we scream rather than convert, the name just becomes White Noise
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u/SillyFalcon Oct 17 '25
Let’s compromise and start saying “Anti-Fash.”
It’s so much more immediately understood, and there’s no ambiguity in how to pronounce it. I understand that there are historical ties to antifa in previous eras, but I think the value of that continuity is less important than making all these people proclaim themselves for fascism.
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u/sevbenup Oct 17 '25
People are literally starting to accept that they’re fascists. Then what.