Italy goes Far-Right: Brothers of Italy win in national election

[Madner Kami]

The Crusades: Not a fair reflection of Christianity.

The crusades are a very fair reflection of radical christianity.

9/11: Not a fair reflection of Islam.

9/11 was a very fair reflection of radical muslims.

This strawman you try to create is very flimsy.

[CmdrKing]

We'll see. I just think its funny that:
The Crusades: Not a fair reflection of Christianity.
9/11: Not a fair reflection of Islam.
Seemingly everything that Catholics did ever: Far-right monster.

9/11 was organized at the behest of a who lived in hiding and organized from the shadows, representing the worst and most extreme readings of Islam, sometimes aided and abetted by the militaries of various nations who sought to use them to strike at their political enemies.

The Crusades were organized by… a succession of Popes, literally the highest authority in Catholicism. You’ll forgive me if yes, I DO hold that as more indicative of Catholicism as a religion than I hold Al Queda as indicative of Islam as a religion.

[Riedquat]

“Hardcore Catholic” tends to include torture and execution for nit falling in line so that you don’t include them as far-right says more about you.

I'm an atheist and even I know that no religion promotes anything of the sort. The problem comes from human beings perverting it. Let's be honest about something here: there are a lot of scummy humans who will twist even the most philanthropic ideal imaginable for their own ends.

The problem comes from human beings perverting it? From a dispassionate point of view I can't see how you can claim that one take on a religion is the "correct" one and another a perversion of it, rather than just two different takes. Holding such an opinion only makes sense if you happen to believe in a religion and you're using it to describe versions of it you don't follow (and we all know where that leads).

[Nealithi]

They won with just 28% of the nation's votes.

Just a thought. But isn't that what can/will happen if you have more than two parties?

[TGLS]

Just a thought. But isn't that what can/will happen if you have more than two parties?

In principle yes, but in practice not necessarily. Basically, imagine if the Republicans broke up into several smaller parties, and the Democrats broke up into several smaller parties. Then, after the elections, the Republican fragments formed a Republican coalition and the Democrat fragments a Democrat coalition, with the bigger coalition wielding power, as under this new system the national executive is appointed by congress and the President does nothing meaningful.

Basically, what happened in Italy is that the the far right Brothers of Italy party won the most seats of the "Center-Right Coalition", which was the coalition that won the most seats. In theory, their coalition partners (primarily Forza Italy and League) could attempt to marginalize the Brothers of Italy position by denying support for their government or supporting some other coalition, but that's probably unlikely.

[BBally81]

Decided to check information on her since I don't know much about her and according to what I found, she openly opposes abortion and to partnerships, marriages, and parenting by same-sex couples, so yeah not a good sign.

She also praised Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and praised Giorgio Almirante, who was a Nazi collaborator and editor-in-chief of an antisemitic magazine, which published the "Manifesto of Race" in 1938. She's also a controversial figure in Croatia due to her Italian irredentism (which promoted the unification of geographic areas in which indigenous peoples considered to be ethnic Italians and/or Italian-speaking individuals formed a majority, or substantial minority, of the population) statements in which she claimed the Croatian regions of Dalmatia and Istria, and for being opposed to Croatian entry into the European Union due to the unresolved dispute concerning properties of exiled Italians after World War II from Dalmatia and Istria

[Frustration]

I'm not sure what the words ''far right'' even mean in 2022.

They've never really meant anything. I think all political labels tends towards meaninglessness. Looking at specific beliefs is useful, labels virtually never.

[Jonathan101]

If you want to get technical, historically it's supposed to go "Right"> "Far-Right"> "Radical-Right"> Extreme-Right" (and the equivalent for the Left), with Fascism and Nazism representing the Extreme Right.

The conflation of "Far-Right" with the rest is a relatively recent phenomenon- I think it might actually go back to Brexit or shortly before, as UKIP were a "Far-Right" party but they were rivals of the BNP, who were closer to "Extreme Right", and when the BNP got crushed it was UKIP who benefitted and then ended up getting more international attention. This conflation of "Far-" and "Extreme" on each side of the spectrum probably contributes to the politically divisive climate we are seeing today, honestly.

Since the Brothers of Italy are supposedly the heirs of Mussolini but with more moderated policies, "Far-Right" is probably accurate for their policies, but it would be wrong for Mussolini himself since his policies were much more extreme.

[Draco Dracul]

I'm not sure what the words ''far right'' even mean in 2022. It used to mean ''gas chambers and holocausts''. But from what I can see, she's just a hardcore Catholic with hardcore Catholic views. Which I guess nowadays is enough?

In this case it's a literal fascist party.

[Frustration]

We need to define what 'fascist' means, then.