14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism
Courtesy of J. Fox, this is one of the most amazing things I've seen/heard in quite some time... thoughts?
posted by Sean @ 11/29/2005 02:56:00 PM
4 comments
Politics Schmolitics
We are a group of friends and acquaintances -- a merry band of pranksters indeed -- who have been arguing about politics on-and-off, then really on, then a little off... since 1998. On email. But that meant literally thousands of emails a year. That was too many. So here's the blog dedicated to carrying on that spirit of political and pop culture argument and dialogue. You might think of us as "schmoliticians", because while we take politics seriously, we try not to take ourselves quite so.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
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4 Comments:
Here's a link to an article regarding the illustrious political scientist, L. Britt http://rochester-citynews.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A3136 . I don't know how to hotlink, so sorry about the cut and pasting. I must say, this is as loose a list of defining characteristics as I have ever seen. By Britt's analysis, pretty much every administration in our nation’s history supports no fewer than half of these characteristics. I'd be happy to give examples supporting my claim (far better ones than the montage of images provided by the film) should anyone challenge my statement. I find that over the last ten years or so, Nazism and fascism have become interchangeable in the public vernacular for describing any overstep (perceived or actual) by the government. I think this trend has a couple of important implications. First, it incorrectly draws comparisons between iron fisted, totalitarian empires and the best standing example of true democracy in this world. Secondly, it belittles the plight of those people . . . oh, I don't know. . . maybe the Jews in Poland and Germany for example, who suffered truly demonic persecution and execution under real fascist nations. Hyperbole is one thing, but using Bush and Nazi/fascist in the same sentence is too much for me.
It's funny, I wondered how my fellow Schmoliticians would interpret my posting, esp. my use of the word "amazing" to describe the movie/video montage. My take is this: propaganda is propaganda. Any dimunition of true dialogue, or true debate, is wrong and counter-productive. Al Franken is as shrill a voice on the Left as Ann Coulter's is on the Right. All are hucksters, very few provide any real insight, or engender a more reasoned and subtle conversation about the issues.
With all of that said, I'm a deathly, totally and completely sick and tired of the culture of jingoism and hyper-nationalism that surrounds the Bush Administration. I mean COME ON... I don't need another f*cking Republican congressman, another dumb country music singer, or another defense contractor CEO telling me how America is the best thing since sliced f*cking bread, that supporting the troops means supporting the politicians in Washington, or that I'm less "American" because I didn't vote for the clowns in office and actively despise much, if not virtually all, of their policy decision-making.
In some ways, Bush supporters deserve all of the vitriole and anger they're getting -- whether it's "right" or "wrong", "accurate" or "inaccurate".
My question is simple: does propaganda, and the hucksters who present it as "fact", or "truth" or as "fair and balanced" reporting -- deserve to occupy the center of the political stage the way it has (and they have) since the early 1990s? My answer is an unequivocal "no".
I wish political discourse was political discourse, and not shrill voices screaming at each other across a book-signing table.
Great point, Sean. Ultimately, propaganda and the sound-bite-itis that is so afflicting the medio these days is killing Democracy. I hate to say it, but understanding "the issues" has to take some work. And how many Americans just watch ten minutes of "news" a week and feel like they understand complex issues like, say, "The War on Drugs"? Quite a few, I warrant.
An educated citizenry is a requirement of democracy. And that is what we ain't got no mo' in America, Jethro. *spat-tong!*
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism"--so says the bumper sticker on my car. America isn't about: blindly following; characterizing opposing viewpoints as un-American, un-Godly, immoral; or, stubbornly staying the course even when new information comes to light that questions the efficacy, legitimacy, and propsects of said course.
As much as pundits on both sides are too blame for the hucksterism/propogandaism (is that a word?) into which our political discourse has devolved, the onus lies with the politicians themselves. They have allowed these blowhards to steal/co-opt/dictate the national political conversation. By running sound-bite campaigns and moving further away from position papers/legitimate debate/issue-driven politics, they're playing right into these snake-oil salesmen's hands. Who wants to take a legitimate stand on an issue when media hacks are telling them it's more important to pick the right tie and "appear trustworthy"? I don't necessarily think the American people really base their opinions on what the media spews forth, and this is the real deception propogated by these spinsters. They've made themselves into the sole conduit for communicating with voters, based primarily on their own self-important delusions of grandeur. (Easy, Chewie.)
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