Growing up in a very politically aware household that bordered on militant, I've always been aware of what lies beneath the surface. I was led by no such delusion that some of my other more credulous friends suffered under. GAF became a battleground against the rising fascism among the youth. I have absolutely no problem with how they dealt with opinions that fell out of favor with their "echo chamber."
Holy shit. You actually
believe that don't you? If you genuinely believe that a war over the future of facism was waged on GAF then you blatantly don't understand how the world works outside of the internet and for bonus points, you don't really understand what fascism truly is. The only recent examples of real, actual,
literal fascism I can think of in recent history are General Francisco Franco, Fidel Castro and of course, friendly North Korea. Do you honestly, in your heart of hearts think a little spat over a corner of a culture war on an internet forum is equivalent to the reign of those tyrants?