Expansion by analogy, or, What's the F?

Apparently this week is Islamo-Fascism Awareness week. Colleges around the nation are inviting speakers to discuss the problem Islamo-Fascism. These are pretty much all conservative speakers... a fact that itself would make for an interesting post.

But instead of that, I'm interested here in how the term "fascism" has come to be used. And by "interested," I mean annoyed. I hate when words lose their meanings, and I'm afraid it's happened to the F word quite some time ago.

Fascism has traditionally indicated a dictatorial government that maintains strict and oppressive control over the activities of its people. (By the way, after reading this definition, does anyone really think the term Islamo-Fascist doesn't legitimately apply to places like Iran?) But that traditional reading has been loosened up. It now seems that any unpleasant exercise of authority is considered fascism.

Perhaps we could call what has happened to this definition, "expansion by analogy." My guess is that it started with calling local authority (principals, parents, etc.) fascists to make an analogy from their rules to despotic declarations. This loosened things up, and the term began to be applied in more and more places. But as it was used for a wider variety of figures and acts it began to lose its function as an analog and take on a broader definition until it came to serve its current function, which is an all-but-contentless slur of disapproval.

Case and point, today's Ann Coulter column. It's probably one of my favorites of hers for clearly pointing out something else I'm frustrated with, the lack of civility on the part of the left (especially at college campuses) that leads to a double standard, despite all the talk about "dialog." However, the mix of appropriate and loose uses of the word fascist just about drove me crazy. Not that it's much of a drive, but still...