Letters to the Editor
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find torture listed as fascist tool
Last poster,
You are too far gone to reach by reason. But I will list the following for other's interest:
Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism
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 mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 above is a summery of the more detailed orignal article "Fascism Anyone?" first published in Spring 2003 edition of Free Inquiry
Lisa
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This and then farewell Salon...
dear Lisa, you really don't need to remind me what Fascism means, I lived 12 years and a Half - from 1992 to 2005 - in the "Islamic Republic of Iran"! I never believed they were Okay, nor Lambs! Actually I was pro-America, pro-Bush, pro-Israel and pro-Fox News Channel! That's why I escaped from there in order not to end up in one of their Jails! Plus I am an Artist! A Painter actually on her way to Worldwide Fame! My Heroes are Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lou Reed, NYC, Freedom, Beauty, Joy, Fun, Love, Fairness, Truth, POP ART,...i.e. AMERICA at its BEST!!!
By the way I completely missed the Clinton years, including the juicy revelations about the president's sex life! I still avoid the subject! Really don't need to be informed about that news! Not very sexy to me! Quite the opposite!
What makes America a special place, even compared to France, it's because there is an active Justice system who corrects and takes care of any abuses including inside its own Military!!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE????
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Tirture is not us (US)
GWB is the emperor with no clothes. He is an untreated drunk. If his lips are moving, he is lying. I will listen to GWB with "love in my heart" when he and I are in the same AA meeting. But I've never had affinity for the drink.
Yes, it's true. The U.S. has democratic institutions in place to right wrongs. Unfortunately, some with oversight (our Congress) are not doing their job.
Vigilence is the only thing that keeps us free. That's why it's necessary to voice dissent when our very freedoms and civil liberties are being threatened. I do understand that.
Good luck with your art.
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Buck-Buck-Brawckkkkkkk !!!
So the Salon is "brave" enough to post three-year old Abu Ghraib photos, in furtherance of a story already has been as exhaustively reported as any this decade? Yet Ms. Walsh feels no journalistic obligation whatsoever to show its readers the allegedly offensive cartoons that are the subject of spreading riots all around the world TODAY, for which scores of people have died and continue to die? The journalistic cowardice of Salon and Ms. Walsh in particular knows no bounds. The real, unspoken difference here is that Ms. Walsh knows, in publishing these three year old photos, no one from the Bush Administration is going to fire bomb her garage. She obviously feels differently about publishingthe photos. But if Ms. Walsh is too frightened to properly do her job, than she should tender her resignation and let someone else do it for her. Shame on Salon.