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Well, in many ways you and Ganz make the same argument (at least until he starts psychologizing, of course). Ganz actually agrees with you that, say, Elon discussing Soros memes is world-historically significant. He’d probably highlight the same Matt Walsh quote. The thing that he’s apparently noticing is the thing you point out regularly in this thread in your top-level posts and comments.
Yes I agree with Ganz on a lot of what he it saying, but at some point he has to recognize that the gaslighting isn't going to work and acknowledge that people who gravitate towards right-wing radical politics kind of have a point, and they aren't there to indulge some latent demand for inner sadism. The mainstream starting to adopt radical talking points and slogans is more acknowledgment that there are salient points to their underlying perspective that the mainstream can no longer entirely ignore.
Honestly, Ganz seems like he could be a cheerleader of fascism, he identifies some real undercurrents and then just denounces them as racist or antisemitic like they are self-evidently wrong. I have to believe when he goes on about something like "Reactionary Modernism" and says:
You know some people are going "sounds kind of based", but Ganz seems to think that if he can tie something to fascist thought he has proven it to be wrong.
Why? Or what? Finish the thought. The real world isn't a logic proof, and people are really good at clinging on to irrational and incorrect beliefs out sheer tribal affiliation, or contrarianism, etc.
This is my first exposure to Ganz, but he seems to have penchant for making fascism seem way cooler and more credible than the best propaganda efforts of the radical right. Self-deception can go far, but only so much. Is he going to say Matt Walsh is a fascist now indulging in his inner sadism, and the Daily Wire is primed to join the techno-fascist takeover to constitute the Silicon Reich? Maybe he will, but at some point he seems like a smart person and I think he will recognize his model of the world breaking down such that he has to acknowledge some sort of substance to the radical right beyond sadism and fatalism. It's not a high bar.
But in the meantime, his articles I've read so far are enjoyable, and he does have a good finger on the pulse of some esoteric undercurrents among the Radical Right, but he seems resistant to interpreting them rationally.
I mean, this is not that uncommon an opinion on the activist left, so yes probably? Moreover, "fascist" just means "evil." Orwell recognized this back in the 40's, when OG fascism was still technically alive. So there's no real mental model to the term that can be confronted with contrary detail.
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