stephanie
01-06-2009, 09:33 PM
By Jonah Goldberg
Last updated at 12:01 AM on 04th January 2009
Dictating to us: Barack Obama loves telling us how to live
His controversial book Liberal Fascism has already divided his own country. Now, as American political columnist JONAH GOLDBERG's bestseller is published in Britain, he explains why he believes that - contrary to conventional wisdom - fascism and left-wing philosophy are inextricably linked ...
Hallelujah! The Bush nightmare is over. The dark night of American fascism is giving way to the dawn of hope, the Age of Obama. The forces of truth will once again prevail and the crypto-Nazis will be banished to their caves.
That pretty much captures a large segment of current liberal conventional wisdom on both sides of the Atlantic.
Over the course of his presidency, President George W. Bush and his supporters have been called fascists and Nazis thousands of times in books, articles, documentaries and by legions of poster-wielding 'progressive' youths with open-toed shoes and closed minds.
Of course, this shouldn't surprise anyone. For more than 70 years the Left has hurled the F-word at anyone who gets in its way - Stalin invented this tactic to de-legitimise socialist opponents, including Leon Trotsky, assassinated for leading a 'fascist coup'.
As early as 1946, George Orwell wrote that: 'The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable".'
Today, a better working definition of a fascist might simply be a conservative who's winning an argument. But what if fascism means something more than 'bad'. What if fascism was not, and is not, a Right-wing phenomenon at all?
For instance, what were the motivating passions of fascism? For starters, there was the cult of unity. The Nazis mastered the spectacle of the crowd to project an aura of unity, equality and common purpose. Submitting yourself to the movement was sold as a cleansing, redemptive, fundamentally spiritual experience.
Such spectacles were made possible by the cult of personality, the faith that a great leader would rise from among 'us' and bring everyone together. Well, where have we recently seen enormous rallies of ecstatic followers?
read it all here..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1104687/Beware-liberal-fascists--leaders-aim-save-controlling-do.html
Last updated at 12:01 AM on 04th January 2009
Dictating to us: Barack Obama loves telling us how to live
His controversial book Liberal Fascism has already divided his own country. Now, as American political columnist JONAH GOLDBERG's bestseller is published in Britain, he explains why he believes that - contrary to conventional wisdom - fascism and left-wing philosophy are inextricably linked ...
Hallelujah! The Bush nightmare is over. The dark night of American fascism is giving way to the dawn of hope, the Age of Obama. The forces of truth will once again prevail and the crypto-Nazis will be banished to their caves.
That pretty much captures a large segment of current liberal conventional wisdom on both sides of the Atlantic.
Over the course of his presidency, President George W. Bush and his supporters have been called fascists and Nazis thousands of times in books, articles, documentaries and by legions of poster-wielding 'progressive' youths with open-toed shoes and closed minds.
Of course, this shouldn't surprise anyone. For more than 70 years the Left has hurled the F-word at anyone who gets in its way - Stalin invented this tactic to de-legitimise socialist opponents, including Leon Trotsky, assassinated for leading a 'fascist coup'.
As early as 1946, George Orwell wrote that: 'The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable".'
Today, a better working definition of a fascist might simply be a conservative who's winning an argument. But what if fascism means something more than 'bad'. What if fascism was not, and is not, a Right-wing phenomenon at all?
For instance, what were the motivating passions of fascism? For starters, there was the cult of unity. The Nazis mastered the spectacle of the crowd to project an aura of unity, equality and common purpose. Submitting yourself to the movement was sold as a cleansing, redemptive, fundamentally spiritual experience.
Such spectacles were made possible by the cult of personality, the faith that a great leader would rise from among 'us' and bring everyone together. Well, where have we recently seen enormous rallies of ecstatic followers?
read it all here..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1104687/Beware-liberal-fascists--leaders-aim-save-controlling-do.html