FASCISM AND RIGHT-WING POPULISM: Similarities, Differences, and New Organizational Forms

Historical parallels between today’s political events and pre-WW2 Germany are a common sight on social media, whether in meme or op ed form. This ubiquity has reached such heights that the memetic concept of Godwin’s Law was created, positing that as a comments thread on an Internet site gains activity, the probability of someone comparing said topic to Hitler or the Nazis approaches 1 (Godwin, 2018). Anyone who brings up Hitler is then deemed as having lost the debate. Initially meant as a satirical way to characterize online discourse, Godwin’s Law has taken on new relevance after the 2016 election,