[ExI] Fascist America, in 10 Easy Steps

[James Clement]

I would definitely like to recommend the book "They Thought They Were Free:
the Germans 1933-45."  From the cover: "How and why 'decent men' became
Nazis- the life stories of ten law-abiding citizens."  One of the things I
learned from reading this book was that in a climate of fear, where people
can "disappear," the general population learns to keep their opinions to
themselves and not to ask too many questions for fear of being singled out.
I've seen the "war-protestor as anti-American" climate come and go several
times, but this is the first time that the U.S. government has had the power
to make people "disappear" seemingly beyond the jurisdiction of anyone
besides the President.  To me, that's scary!

James Clement

 
What the definition doesn't mention, but is crucially important, is
the "threat", either real or imagined, that is the catalyst to a
fascist political movement.  Westerners do not hand over their
individual rights without feeling threatened if they do not.  In most
fascist movements, there is at least a double perceived threat from
both without (other cultures or nations) and within (the aliens among
us or the government's own threats of non-compliance).

I see plenty of evidence of the aforementioned attributes in the
political shift in the US over the last seven years.  And I firmly
believe that it's the cultural naivety and firm belief that "it can't
happen here" in the US that has allowed it to progress as far as it
has.  Unfortunately, most Americans wouldn't know a fascist if they
tripped over them -- because most of them have.

PJ
_______________________________________________
extropy-chat mailing list
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat