McGrath, I think the original poster was very careful to define the use of the word you now seem to be suggesting shouldn't be used in this instance, because it triggers strong emotional reactions.

The suggestion that certain aspects of the Mudcat dynamic matched some of the criteria presented in the original poster's definition of fascism, has resulted in you, Amos, possibly CarolC and Frida, saying "it can't happen here at Mudcat" in what seems to be a reactionary sort of way.

I disagree protofascist behavior can't be seen at Mudcat, because I have seen it here with my own eyes, just as I have seen it at my American workplace, and among my American friends, and my American family. As I said earlier, protofascist behavior doesn't occur in a vacuum. Governments, multinational corporations, the military, etc. are made up of people just like you and me. Like everyone else on this planet, people end up de facto supporting those institutions now overtaken by a specific protofascist ruling elite, not just because some want to support those institutions, but because in everyday life, it is very difficult not to support them indirectly at the very least. I shop for my groceries at a corporate chain, at a food cooperative, and at a small, independent grocer, for instance.

The original poster went to some effort to post a thoughtful, well reasoned set of criteria for using the word fascist/protofascist, that can be used by reasonable people to carry on a very interesting conversation here. It would be sad to see a couple of Mudcat regulars (you and Amos in particular), who constantly attack anyone and everyone who dares to post critical analysis of the Mudcat community vis a vis the 3D communities we also all live and work in, get away with censoring the debate here. As Shambles has consistently pointed out recently, that keeps happening here with alarming regularity.

Are we on our way, again, to calling in the Mudcat enforcers to shut down the discussion because you don't feel comfortable when people criticize this online community by attacking the messenger?

Haven't we seen enough of that here since the Xmas holiday, for gods sake?