OMG, Dubya the Freakin' Fascist!

I wonder when people are going to stop deferring responsibility from our inept form of government by declaring Dubya a "dictator" or, even more incorrectly, a "fascist?"

You're making the real fascists look bad.

Seriously, though- Democracy only works when everyone is unhappy. As soon as you start pleasing enough of the population to cause ennui, then everything goes to hell.

Dubya just got lucky he was in the right place when we were most apathetic and unaware of the world around us. Sure he's a total dickhead, but Dictator? C'mon. That's insulting to the intelligence of the reader. -And if it isn't, it should be.

The definition of fascism does match American neocons.

I'm not so sure it was just apathy. There have been plenty of election irregularities for the last two elections. If the president used election fraud to become president, would he still be, honestly, a president?

Last time I checked, the leader of our country wasn't trying to impose state control over all facets of economic and social life, nor demanding complete devotion to his will from all citizens.

The doorway is apathy. Otherwise the nation would rise up to stop the people trying to walk through. Otherwise most people would continuously question wealthy, capitalist leaders with suspicion rather than letting things slide based on the cult of party lines.

I'm not saying everyone is apathetic, but there was a LOT of ennui before 9/11. Look at the kind of things that were important. Oval office blowjobs. Gay weddings. And even now politics is largely an extension of entertainment. It's a circus. It's all so stupid.

you're fucking roported, asshole!!!!11111oneONEuno

AR-ed AND resmodded for personal attack!

We may not currently have achieved fascist nirvana in America yet, but if you look at a commonly accepted definition of fascism, you'll see how closely it really does match the goals and actions of American neocons now.



The 14 Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism
by Dr. Lawrence Britt

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14-defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism -
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic motto's, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays. TOP

2. Disdain for
the Recognition of Human Rights -
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc. TOP

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats
as a Unifying Cause -
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc. TOP

4. Supremacy of the Military -
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized. TOP

5. Rampant Sexism -
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution. TOP

6. Controlled Mass Media -
Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common. TOP

7. Obsession with National Security -
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses. TOP

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined -
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions. TOP

9. Corporate Power is Protected -
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite. TOP

10. Labor Power is Suppressed -
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed. TOP

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts -
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked. TOP

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment -
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption -
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders. TOP

14. Fraudulent Elections -
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

The problem with the word "fascist" is that it's become something that teenagers call their parents for not letting them stay up and watch TV. It's been so widely misused that it's pretty much worthless now except in a very limited and precise context.

Bush isn't a dictator anyway, he's not the source of all this stuff (there isn't one particular source); anyone opposed to the current administration who seriously concentrates on him is really missing the point. One of the reasons he's there is to fulfil that role, so that other people can get on with business with less public attention. I have no problem with the chimp jokes and the Flash videos and so on, it's a useful rallying point, but if they start disrupting more serious political analysis that's when one has to say "okay, we've all had a laugh and a three minute hate, can we get on to the real issues now?"

Bush is too stupid to be a dictator. People give him too much credit. He's only the President in name only. He does what his handlers tell him to do.

I'm not sure this was a personal attack
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=10&q=ennui

It just seems out of character

I might be inclined to beleive you, after all it seems to be a logical explanation

but then i came across this gem:



I start to take things a little personally!

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows!"

By whom? I saw this in Adbusters about a year ago and had problems with it even then.

What I find most interesting about this list is that it ignores the goals that drive action and focuses only on correlative activities which it poses as defining characteristics. Where is the focus on causation instead of effect? For example, communism and a mildly socialist state might effectively give more power to laborers but they are hardly the same thing.

The goal of a fascist is to have all facets of life, political, and social, and economic follow his will. That's why it is derived from the idea of fasces. I think most conservatives would probably have a hard time giving up the latter two of the three (especially the third) and would turn on the leader if he tried to take them.

Understood.

pretty obvious, now, huh?

Mulch "boom boom" Ennui.

Exactly. It's just such a dumb appeal to pathos most of the time.

Where did the definition I pasted come from? By whom? It's at the top of the list. It is, in an abridged form, the common description of fascism. Just because Bush is not burning Jews doesn't mean that he isn't following the ideology very closely, which he certainly is.


Where you are getting your definition of fascism? A neocon blog? You're generalizing about something which you have not defined. The action of just about every government involves control most facets of life regarding politics, the economy and a great many other issues. Those are called laws. Fascism, and most any other ism, differ in the means and ends they go about. Neocons fit the characteristics of fascism.

I would describe that as totalitarianism rather than fascism.

History.


Blah blah blah. You have google.

Those laws don't give absolute control to a single leader and will.

How about this theory?
Erasing the differences between hawkish imperialist Republicans and fascists makes a more convenient and easily digestible slogan of protest.

Side note:

Admitting that Bush is not a fascist does not diminish the weight of his actions. It just means the anti-Bush slogans won't be so friggin' dumb.

Where's the Victoria Secrets models? ....oh "fascist"...slowly backs away from thread slightly embarrassed

You can't site a specific source or definition obviously. Thanks for giving the usual ignorant response one expects from a neocon.





And you don't apparently. You should use it. And you should try reading. Facts are fun.




That isn't fascism.

Again, try reading. And get Google, it can help you to be better informed.





How about this, since you don't like the concise list of the characteristics that make a fascist, since it paints neocons as fascists, lets just start calling that list a definition of an American ultra conservative, since we appear to all be in agreement that it applies?

And the term "hawkish imperialist Republicans" is actually redundant.

Not all the quotes were yours.

Heil.

Imperialism can be achieved through mercantile means, so "hawkish" gains an adjectival function rather than a reiterative one. Maybe you were trying to make a joke.

I don't think Bush is as stupid as people make him out to be.

I do think he is extremely misguided in many of his decisions.

Dictator, no. Bad President, yes.