Post

Well, I think that today's tech bros are fascists. I hate the "everything I don't like is Hitler" stance, but this time, they really are. The puritan part let's-censor-everything of the liberals gave an avenue to Trump. And I think that today fascists have no taste.

It's the "always have and always will" part I'm disagreeing with the most.

Nonobi14

@nonobi14.bsky.social

yeah, I get it, I get it! :) I think that fascists have a different brain that leads to different kind of art

Some leftists and liberals will make knots of themselves trying to justify the idea that fascist or conservatives are somehow incapable of making good art, as if some of the most widely acclaimed or at least successful art within the US or abroad wasn’t inspired or had conservative beliefs in them.

The belief that making art is inherently a leftist ideal instead of simply an aspect of the human experience that is influenced by the societal beliefs around it, including the regressive traits of it, is simply idealogical essentialism without much basis in reality nor proper theory.

Like Clair Obscur Expedition 33 was one of the most successful games of 2025 and that shit is fascist as fuck, do not try to come at me and claim that shit is progressive, dawg.

It would break their brains to see how many people still read and highly regard the comics of Frank Miller.

I despise Frank Miller as a human being but I still deeply enjoy his take on Daredevil. For another example, I love Warhammer Fantasy as a setting but it’s also very much a product of 80s anglocentrism in how it depicts a lot of non-European cultures through things like the Ogre Kingdoms and Araby.

Does that make WFHB a bad setting? Hell no, and if anything has took strides to improving itself and its representation because humans and the art they produce aren’t fixed and are full of contradictions. G. Orwell was a militant socialist that also did apologia for British occupied India.

Yeah absolutely! I can't support Miller's work anymore because of the way he is, but his art still sparks something in my brain and despite his conservative mindset he has a very expressive and unusual style that's definitely not the kind of greco-roman statue aesthetic typically liked by fascists.

nico

@nicodelort.bsky.social

this is one thing that bugs me a lot when a writer or artist gets outed as a creep/predator/what have you and everyone retcons their appreciation of their creations like "they were never that good anyway" unfortunately lots of great art is made by terrible people

The Szym Reaper @ NYCC F21

100%! I usually bring up how many of our faves have been metoo'd when discussing this because I think that paints the clearest picture of how making good art and being a good person are not one in the same.

@adamszym.bsky.social

@georgeouthwaite.bsky.social

It also doesn't make sense because there were artists in the past who were considered progressive for their time but who we would consider wildly conservative and reactionary by modern standards. It's a losing battle in terms of a metric by which to look at art.

George Outhwaite

Sapient PC-98 Tapedeck (Cosette)

people forget that conservatism is about restricting other people's lives to give yourself room to do whatever you like, if you're a conservative who lives a conservative life and has conservative taste you've massively missed the point

@cosettetape.bsky.social

Nazis had bad taste bc their leaders were all artless jockish cranks. Pinochet had bad taste bc he was also an artless jockish crank. It has little to do with collectivism (else the USSR wouldn't be drppped to shit) & everything with who's running the money machine.

@thoughtographic.bsky.social

The reason this viewpoint bugs me so much is it's emblematic of the liberal mindset that having good taste or opinions means you are correct in all things and not susceptible to reactionary thinking. It absolves a lack of self criticism and approves any misconduct as unavoidable.

Justin McElroy

@tiffanyturrill.bsky.social

This is why media literacy is so important. And ideas and art aren’t made in a vacuum they are a product of specific societies and should be viewed in the historical context.

Tingly Turr-hell

even if you run purity checks on finananciers/creators themselves, this is like explaining water to a fish. a lot of culture and aesthetics that comprise vast genres today have roots in right wing cultural trends

Mani

@eyeznteef.com

this is a great point and a great observation - once we see our condemnation of fascism as resting on some inherent and retroactive immunity to it, we're making a big mistake (in analysis and in self-awareness). and i gotta say, "ideological calipers" is such a perfect phrase, thank you for that

Yeah it's like how a lot of people who end up in cults are the people who believe most strongly they're immune to being tricked into joining a cult.

Mason Sklar

@mason.yourfriends.us