Bec wrote:
Today I came across an article called 'Fascism, Anyone?' by Laurence W. Britt. Britt studied several fascist governments. He studied Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, Papadopoulos's Greece, Pinochet's Chile, Suharto's Indonesia. He noted fourteen common characteristics in each political climate prior to becoming a completely fascist state.
It's fine to oppose the war in Iraq, but the depths to which the left-wing media will stoop are ridiculous. That Lawrence Britt "study" is a good example: an oversimplification of history, and a desperate attempt to apply it to the present day.
I bet one could find dozens of articles out there along similar lines, i.e., "garble garble garble ... Hitler .... garble garble ... Nazis ... garble garble garble ... conclusion: and that's a bit like America / George Bush / the 'neocons'"
Talk of "scapegoating" terrorists is ridiculous.
The bit about the controlled mass media and the suppression of "intellectuals" is equally so.
As the foxhunt blog puts it:
Quote:
From
http://foxhunt.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_ ... chive.htmlfar from "never stray[ing] from the party line," many big-media outlets criticize George W. Bush frequently, often gratuitously — mocking his stutter, for example.
has Britt considered that "disdain...of intellectuals and the arts" is often justified? So far, intellectuals' response to the September 11th attacks alone have included:
* Norman Mailer comparing the Twin Towers to "two huge buck teeth" and declaring their ruins "more beautiful" than the buildings themselves.
* New Jersey’s poet laureate, Amiri Baraka, asking in his poem "Somebody Blew Up America": "Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed/Who told 4000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers/To stay home that day/Why did Sharon stay away?"
* Alice Walker enthusing over Osama bin Laden's "cool armor" and "all the good, nonviolent things he [has] done."
However, pace Britt, none of these people have been "suppressed." Their books are available from nearly all general book retailers, including online ones like Amazon.com, and from a variety of specialty bookstores, both online and “brick-and-mortar,” as the current expression goes. Often these books are assigned reading for college students. The authors appear on television and speak on radio. Many also have their own websites. I have yet to hear that the secret police have broken down any of their doors and dragged them away into the night, never to be heard from again.
22 Oct 2005, 9:34 pm
