Signs of Fascism: or, where are all the black leather boots?
The word “fascism” often conjures up iconic images of Hitler and Mussolini standing godlike before parades of uniformed thugs with outstretched arms. Many today have learned to incorporate images of radical mullahs wearing turbans preaching death to the West, terrorist training camps, mob frenzies on middle-eastern streets, and murderous marching militants with sinister black scarves wrapped round their heads. They do not see any such things in America, and erroneously conclude that the idea of a “fascist America” is ludicrous.
Fascism is often seen in terms of a cult of personality, yet it is much older and deeper than the “charisma” of the leaders that it thrusts upwards into the spotlight. Fascism is a herd mentality that grows ever more strident in its demands for conformity, intolerance of all forms of disagreement and opposition, and its assertion to know what is best for the people. Against such absolutist, messianic claims upon the destiny of a nation, all who promote a different course of action from their own reasoned principles are slandered as traitors, and called “un-American”, or “commie-liberal”, and told to “love America or leave it”! In other words – America belongs to good Christians who support the conservative-republican administration and its agenda.
When all of the reasoned opposition that is so vital to the checks and balances of our democratic-republic is attacked as traitorous, one can rest assured that a fascist mentality is busily at work trying to eradicate opposition of any kind. Only 'One Way' should be allowed, and it is “our way”! By such methods republics die.
Playing “spot the dictator”, and looking for the scary symbols and marching hordes will only divert attention from the way the fascist mentality expresses itself within the popular culture of one’s own country. Fascism in the United States wraps itself in the American flag, holds aloft the Statue of Liberty’s Torch, goes to the ballgame, the boardroom, a NASCAR race, church, and hits the campaign trail. It also watches TV.
Thanks to mass media technology, a mob mentality can be created from sea to shining sea without people even needing to leave the comfort of their own living room. This fascistic mob mentality claims to be the defender of God, Country, and Freedom, yet it is in fact the greatest threat to them, even greater than the threat it ostensibly defends against.
Terrorist power is primarily psychological - the fear of what "they" might do. The power of the American government lies in its actual control of the coercive power of the state. In terms of what can be done to “We the People”, the terrorists cannot rival our own government, especially as it gobbles up authority and tramples the Constitution - our actual protector!
The Bush administration, which has been heavily supported by right wing conservative Christian-Nationalists, systematically exploits fear to justify everything that it tries to do, without ever acknowledging the threats to the nation that come from its own actions. These actions include “extra-legal procedures”, the trampling of civil liberties, the drastic extension of its authority behind the claim of National Security, the historic and exhaustive expansion of the domain of secrecy, the proliferation of unauthorized programs to spy upon Americans, the legalization of torture, the indefinite extension of the Patriot Act, historic usage of “signing statements” to enforce only the parts of a law that it agrees with, secret CIA prisons, the launch of a deadly and expensive pre-emptive war under false pretenses, the suspension of Habeus Corpus for "enemy combatants", with a correspondingly broad definition of such….all of it a massive grab for power justified as necessary for the protection of America from foreign and domestic enemies.
America has no real enemies but Americans ourselves…and perhaps the foreign forces we support and arm to do our dirty work. If we keep throwing away our cultural mistrust of government for a “war on this” and a “war on that”, we will certainly take our nation past the point of no return. If we do not redefine our nation and its policies, and turn away from the pursuit of global empire, we will economically, politically, and spiritually exhaust this nation to a terminal state. The fascist mentality grows under the auspices of a war without end, which is what the “war on terror” actually is, and further brutalizes the American psyche and character, regressing it to the point where it will be thoroughly unable to even carry on the charade of being a “land of the free”. It is anything but misguided to suggest that this may be the very goal of the present administration.
Yes, 9-11 actually happened. 9-11 did not destroy America. If anything, it united America for an intense yet brief period of time. Our current leadership and its supporters desperately want you to feel that way again, the way you felt when you saw the Towers come down. Some more country songs and movies will soon be released to re-create that effect. This approach does not appeal to your reason, but to your emotion, which is an insult to your reason! You will be told that the troops are "dying for your freedom", which is a lie told at the expense of our great men and women in uniform who, despite their heroic sacrifices, are dying daily to support a failed policy that puts our country at greater risk; a policy that is the responsibility of our current leaders who are a graver threat to our freedom than any foreign enemy could ever be.
- Werbinox
Fascism is often seen in terms of a cult of personality, yet it is much older and deeper than the “charisma” of the leaders that it thrusts upwards into the spotlight. Fascism is a herd mentality that grows ever more strident in its demands for conformity, intolerance of all forms of disagreement and opposition, and its assertion to know what is best for the people. Against such absolutist, messianic claims upon the destiny of a nation, all who promote a different course of action from their own reasoned principles are slandered as traitors, and called “un-American”, or “commie-liberal”, and told to “love America or leave it”! In other words – America belongs to good Christians who support the conservative-republican administration and its agenda.
When all of the reasoned opposition that is so vital to the checks and balances of our democratic-republic is attacked as traitorous, one can rest assured that a fascist mentality is busily at work trying to eradicate opposition of any kind. Only 'One Way' should be allowed, and it is “our way”! By such methods republics die.
Playing “spot the dictator”, and looking for the scary symbols and marching hordes will only divert attention from the way the fascist mentality expresses itself within the popular culture of one’s own country. Fascism in the United States wraps itself in the American flag, holds aloft the Statue of Liberty’s Torch, goes to the ballgame, the boardroom, a NASCAR race, church, and hits the campaign trail. It also watches TV.
Thanks to mass media technology, a mob mentality can be created from sea to shining sea without people even needing to leave the comfort of their own living room. This fascistic mob mentality claims to be the defender of God, Country, and Freedom, yet it is in fact the greatest threat to them, even greater than the threat it ostensibly defends against.
Terrorist power is primarily psychological - the fear of what "they" might do. The power of the American government lies in its actual control of the coercive power of the state. In terms of what can be done to “We the People”, the terrorists cannot rival our own government, especially as it gobbles up authority and tramples the Constitution - our actual protector!
The Bush administration, which has been heavily supported by right wing conservative Christian-Nationalists, systematically exploits fear to justify everything that it tries to do, without ever acknowledging the threats to the nation that come from its own actions. These actions include “extra-legal procedures”, the trampling of civil liberties, the drastic extension of its authority behind the claim of National Security, the historic and exhaustive expansion of the domain of secrecy, the proliferation of unauthorized programs to spy upon Americans, the legalization of torture, the indefinite extension of the Patriot Act, historic usage of “signing statements” to enforce only the parts of a law that it agrees with, secret CIA prisons, the launch of a deadly and expensive pre-emptive war under false pretenses, the suspension of Habeus Corpus for "enemy combatants", with a correspondingly broad definition of such….all of it a massive grab for power justified as necessary for the protection of America from foreign and domestic enemies.
America has no real enemies but Americans ourselves…and perhaps the foreign forces we support and arm to do our dirty work. If we keep throwing away our cultural mistrust of government for a “war on this” and a “war on that”, we will certainly take our nation past the point of no return. If we do not redefine our nation and its policies, and turn away from the pursuit of global empire, we will economically, politically, and spiritually exhaust this nation to a terminal state. The fascist mentality grows under the auspices of a war without end, which is what the “war on terror” actually is, and further brutalizes the American psyche and character, regressing it to the point where it will be thoroughly unable to even carry on the charade of being a “land of the free”. It is anything but misguided to suggest that this may be the very goal of the present administration.
Yes, 9-11 actually happened. 9-11 did not destroy America. If anything, it united America for an intense yet brief period of time. Our current leadership and its supporters desperately want you to feel that way again, the way you felt when you saw the Towers come down. Some more country songs and movies will soon be released to re-create that effect. This approach does not appeal to your reason, but to your emotion, which is an insult to your reason! You will be told that the troops are "dying for your freedom", which is a lie told at the expense of our great men and women in uniform who, despite their heroic sacrifices, are dying daily to support a failed policy that puts our country at greater risk; a policy that is the responsibility of our current leaders who are a graver threat to our freedom than any foreign enemy could ever be.
- Werbinox
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