In a message dated 06/19/2001 8:15:58 PM Central Daylight Time,
rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu writes:
> Does this mean we can quit referring to fascists who despise freedom for
> anyone other than themselves and their money as rightwingers and just call
> them fascists? After all, the only thing they are truly hands-off about is
> corporate money. In every other respect, they want to control our
> lives--they want a bigger drug war, more prisons, no access to birth
> control, and the right to legislate sexual preference. Their ideas are
> fascist, their traditions are from the KKK and the fascist elements of the
> right, and their agendas are of the fascists--where government works for
> the corporations.
> -ron j
>
>
>
>
The preceding paragraph can be summed up in the following way:
You are free to think what you want...as long as it agrees with me in the end.
Tolerance is our greatest virtue, unless you disagree with me, then you don't
count.
Who are you to say what is right and wrong for me? That's my job as an
enlightened progressive thinker to do to and for you!
Keep legislation out of the private lives of the people...unless they smoke,
spank their children, or refuse to bend to my way of thinking.
If you are a conservative who believes you are right, you are intolerant and
a fascist. If you are a liberal, progressive-minded intellectual who
believes you are right, you are.
I would like to reword the paragraph to demonstrate how it goes both ways.
Does this mean we can quit referring to fascists who despise freedom for
anyone other than themselves and their political cause as leftwingers and
just call
them fascists? After all, the only thing they are truly hands-off about is
everyone who agrees with them. In every other respect, they want to control
our
lives--they want better gun control, more inefficient governmental
bureaucracy that fails to correct problems but does maintain their political
control while giving them a sense of moral uprightness, unlimited access to
birth control and doctor-assisted suicide (even though we don't trust doctors
to take out an appendix much less end a life), and the right to legislate
sexual preference by forcing their views down our throats without regard to
disagreement or personal conviction, not to mention the criminalization of
smokers and the greater odds of ostracization and bodily harm if you are a
logger as opposed to being an axe murderer. Their ideas are fascist, their
traditions are from the KKK (even though this was not technically a fascist
organization, but a populist terrorist group...but who's being picky) and the
fascist elements of the right and left (Hitler, Stalin, McCarthy, JFK, Nixon,
Jesse Helms, Al Sharpton...take your pick here as there are many to choose
from), and their agendas are of the fascists--where government works (an
oxymoron in some ways) for only those who agree with them.
In other words, fascism comes in many shapes and sizes, be they right or
left. One person's enlightened progressivism is another's fascism. All
power to your right to express your views. Just don't call someone who
disagrees with you a fascist simply because they disagree. That may work on
Jerry Springer or a freshman philosophy class field trip to a WTO protest,
but it doesn't hold up in the end. When true debate ceases and the arguments
collapse, the name-calling begins.
Brad L. Duren
Instructor of History
Oklahoma Panhandle State University
213 Hamilton Hall
Goodwell, Oklahoma 73939
work phone: 580-349-1498
email: Uriah768@aol.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Jun 25 2001 - 17:47:15 EDT