Thursday, March 25, 2004
The United States Of Arrogance And Fascism
"I feel sorry
For the Earth's population
'Cuz so few
Live in the U.S.A.
At least the foreigners
Can copy our morality
They can visit but they cannot stay
Only precious few
Can garner the prosperity
It makes us walk
With renewed confidence
We've got a place to go when we die
And the architect resides right here
We've got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day
We've got the American Jesus
Exercising his authority..." ~ "American Jesus" - Bad Religion
"Though a dictatorship is the most common association with fascism, a democracy or republic can also be fascist when it strays away from its tenants of sovereignty."
What is Fascism?
Although this should come as no real surprise to many Americans, our precious "democratic constitutional republic" possesses many fascist qualities. And while this shouldn't necessarily be considered a bad thing, it certainly does make for an interesting topic of discussion.
I found the link above by accident; actually I found it while I was snooping around the Internet for an article related to the blog most previous to this one. And I thought that it might be fun to draw some parallels between the definitions contained in the link and what defines our good ol' U.S. of A. of today.
And before any of you dumbasses attempts to brand me as a Bush-hating liberal that hates our country like Michael Fatass Moore does....well shit, folks. You don't see any Bush-bashing links on the margin to your right, do you? *wink-wink*
We can thank Dr. Lawrence Britt for compiling this list of characteristics that define fascism, with my own special blend of satiric, nihilistic, and sarcastic rhetoric and ridicule thrown in for good measure:
The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism by Dr. Lawrence Britt
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.
Just as Americans do with our 'Old Glory', the Red, White, And Blue.
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.
That can easily describe many of our foreign policies, such as our plundering and pillaging of Iraq and Afghanistan, for the sole purpose of reaping the benefits of such plundering under the guise of "homeland security". This can also describe the unlimited incarceration of the terrorist suspects and/or prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
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.
Fuck Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Al Qaeda, Iraq, the Taliban, and every other son of a motherless goat, cocksucking sand nigger arab camel jockey out there that hates America! And even the ones that don't, because deep down they probably do anyway! Oh yeah, and fuck France, too! And fuck Canada, just because they're sorta French!
See that, my friends and enemies? This shit is pretty fun when you learn how to laugh at it.
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.
It goes without saying, that no one in the world can fuck with our military might. The U.S. occupation of Iraq over the past year is living and breathing proof of that. A little over a year, and only roughly 500 of our soldiers were killed during that time. That is a fucking phenomenal and unheard of track record, and undoubtedly the first of any occupying army in the history of warfare.
Of course, we can overlook the fact that one of our Apache gunships was shot down by a bunch of Iraqi farmers armed with hunting rifles. That was just one of those fluky things, you know......
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 homo-sexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
Yeah, let's take an extra long look at this one. The only real and noticable female presence at or near the forefront of the Bush Administration is Condoleeza Rice. You know, the stuttering spick/nigger/whatever-the-fuck-she-is that either can't form a complete sentence on live national television, or only repeats what others have said before her and calls it an official White House statement. Sorry bitches, but Condi isn't representing the tits-and-ass gender very well in this regard.
Aside from that, we can draw parallels with this characteristic of fascism to the most recent headline news, such as the conservative agenda to ban fag marriages (and rightly so), and the constant, ad nauseum debate regarding abortion (the less screaming welfare rugrats in this world, the better).
While those two most heated debates of today have little to do with our actual government routine, it does open up the floor to debate as to the repercussions of what happens when a predominantly male government body maintains control of a powerful and influential nation over a long period of time.
Of course, if somebody like Hillary Clinton were President, every man in this country would probably be cheating on their bitchy, overbearing, and overambitious wives, instead of only 3/4 of the men in this country.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes the 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.
This one is a given. For a perfect example, one has only to look at what the FCC is currently trying to do in suppressing talk radio shows with stiff fines for even the slightest hint of obscene material being broadcast over the airwaves. There are other examples too, such as the mass corporate media attempting to bundle all news outlets in the country under a few select umbrellas of influence to make the overall news world easier to control and manipulate, and mass media's attempt to buy out or control independent news media outlets.
Bottom line: Don't believe everything you read in the newspaper or see on TV. Because the odds are highly likely that you are being lied to or aren't being told the entire truth.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
What level is our Terror Alert at right now? The last I heard, we were at Yellow. But maybe we moved up to Orange while I was taking a dump in the bathroom. Who knows? Who fucking cares, really? I'm just wondering how long before the gub'ment decides that The House That I Built becomes a threat to national security. Maybe after I post President Bush's e-mail address in the right margin, the gub'ment might finally start to take notice.
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.
I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States Of Arrogance And Fascism, and to the Republic for which it claims to stand for, One Nation, UNDER GOD, indivisibable (as George Dubya Bush would say), with liberty and justice for those who can pay for it.
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.
Enron, Halliburton, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Oprah.....the list is endless! And it all dates back to our plundering of Western Europe and Japan after we won World War II. That was the era when the United States Of Arrogance And Fascism was first introduced to the glory and wonder of Imperialism. Yeah, you know, the same form of government that we dissed the Japanese for using way back in the day. Oh yeah, and fuck Fascist Germany and Italy while we're at it, too.
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.
NAFTA is sending more and more American jobs overseas even as we speak. The 22 million jobs created under the Clinton Administration...how many of them were claimed by actual U.S. citizens, I wonder? The 2.3 million jobs that were lost under the Bush Administration, or so the Democrats claim....how many of them were jobs sent overseas by NAFTA, a policy that the current Bush had no control over whatsoever, I wonder? The 2.4 million jobs that were created under the current Bush Administration....how many of them were claimed by actual U.S. citizens, I wonder?
And who really benefits from illegal immigrant amnesty, aside from the illegal immigrants themselves? Why, the unions, of course! The ones that have the government in their VERY deep pockets. The way to a fascist nation disguised as a democratic constitutional republic does not lie in the elimination of our labor unions. It instead lies within the control and manipulation of our labor unions.
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.
Recently, a group of war protestors at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa were investigated, and federal prosecutors had sought to issue subpoenas to these war protestors, but the move was eventually halted. This didn't stop the intimidation of such a move from having its effect on those who were investigated, naturally. As for higher education itself, rising tuition costs in colleges around the country could be seen as a natural occurrence in an unstable economy, or the intentional hurdles thrown in the path of students seeking higher learning at our nation's universities by our government.
Either way, fuck hippies.
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.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking of the Patriot Act, aren't you? Well, fuck that noise. The FCC are the ones that you should be watching. They are the ones instilling harsh penalties and policies on our nation's radio and TV entertainment and media outlets. Janet Jackson's tit, Howard Stern's shock jock show, Bono's "fuck" statement at the Grammy's....it's all fair game to the FCC, who are hellbent on enforcing their policy of "fine them with stiff penalties first, ask questions later". And I'm sure that the RIAA is connected to them somehow, with their equally idiotic Nazi-like crackdown on 14 year old girls who decided to share a few songs over the Internet. Whoopty-fucking-doo!
As the Dead Kennedys song says, "Let's lynch the landlord...."
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.
This goes back to Halliburton, the single most influential corporation on our nation's government, not seen since the oil tycoons of the '70s. Of course, they're all one and the same. They are all part of the same elite, fat cat, country club of rich bitches wearing three-piece suits and carrying a large portion of the entire nation's payroll checks in their pockets. An elite few who bring us to our last characteristic of the evening.......
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.
Yeah, Bush might have won the election fair and square in 2000, and he might not have. The point of this characteristic isn't the fact that Bush cheated his way to the White House, since Al Gore was attempting to do the exact same thing, only he lost...no, the point of this whole characteristic is to enlighten us to the fact that the Electoral College is what truly decides elections in this country. Our vote doesn't really mean jack shit, so long as the only votes that truly matter are the ones that are cast in the Electoral College.
So all the Bush-haters who felt that their boy Gore and their Democratic Party got screwed out of the 2000 Election, ought to take a good long look in the mirror before casting stones at the Bush Administration. Because if Bush had lost the election and Gore had won using the same tactics that Bush had used (and Gore did), then you would be hearing the Gore-haters spewing the same rhetoric that you guys are spewing now about Bush. About how the election was "fixed" and "fictitional" (another Michael Fatass Moore-ism for you to gag on). Until the system is fixed, and elections are truly decided by the people's vote, we will always have these petty arguments about whomever is sitting in the throne of the Oval Office and how he got there.
But it's all petty bullshit, anyway. Because the human race is petty by nature. It is silly to be us.
Heil Amerika!!!
(0) comments
For the Earth's population
'Cuz so few
Live in the U.S.A.
At least the foreigners
Can copy our morality
They can visit but they cannot stay
Only precious few
Can garner the prosperity
It makes us walk
With renewed confidence
We've got a place to go when we die
And the architect resides right here
We've got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day
We've got the American Jesus
Exercising his authority..." ~ "American Jesus" - Bad Religion
"Though a dictatorship is the most common association with fascism, a democracy or republic can also be fascist when it strays away from its tenants of sovereignty."
What is Fascism?
Although this should come as no real surprise to many Americans, our precious "democratic constitutional republic" possesses many fascist qualities. And while this shouldn't necessarily be considered a bad thing, it certainly does make for an interesting topic of discussion.
I found the link above by accident; actually I found it while I was snooping around the Internet for an article related to the blog most previous to this one. And I thought that it might be fun to draw some parallels between the definitions contained in the link and what defines our good ol' U.S. of A. of today.
And before any of you dumbasses attempts to brand me as a Bush-hating liberal that hates our country like Michael Fatass Moore does....well shit, folks. You don't see any Bush-bashing links on the margin to your right, do you? *wink-wink*
We can thank Dr. Lawrence Britt for compiling this list of characteristics that define fascism, with my own special blend of satiric, nihilistic, and sarcastic rhetoric and ridicule thrown in for good measure:
The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism by Dr. Lawrence Britt
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.
Just as Americans do with our 'Old Glory', the Red, White, And Blue.
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.
That can easily describe many of our foreign policies, such as our plundering and pillaging of Iraq and Afghanistan, for the sole purpose of reaping the benefits of such plundering under the guise of "homeland security". This can also describe the unlimited incarceration of the terrorist suspects and/or prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
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.
Fuck Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Al Qaeda, Iraq, the Taliban, and every other son of a motherless goat, cocksucking sand nigger arab camel jockey out there that hates America! And even the ones that don't, because deep down they probably do anyway! Oh yeah, and fuck France, too! And fuck Canada, just because they're sorta French!
See that, my friends and enemies? This shit is pretty fun when you learn how to laugh at it.
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.
It goes without saying, that no one in the world can fuck with our military might. The U.S. occupation of Iraq over the past year is living and breathing proof of that. A little over a year, and only roughly 500 of our soldiers were killed during that time. That is a fucking phenomenal and unheard of track record, and undoubtedly the first of any occupying army in the history of warfare.
Of course, we can overlook the fact that one of our Apache gunships was shot down by a bunch of Iraqi farmers armed with hunting rifles. That was just one of those fluky things, you know......
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 homo-sexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
Yeah, let's take an extra long look at this one. The only real and noticable female presence at or near the forefront of the Bush Administration is Condoleeza Rice. You know, the stuttering spick/nigger/whatever-the-fuck-she-is that either can't form a complete sentence on live national television, or only repeats what others have said before her and calls it an official White House statement. Sorry bitches, but Condi isn't representing the tits-and-ass gender very well in this regard.
Aside from that, we can draw parallels with this characteristic of fascism to the most recent headline news, such as the conservative agenda to ban fag marriages (and rightly so), and the constant, ad nauseum debate regarding abortion (the less screaming welfare rugrats in this world, the better).
While those two most heated debates of today have little to do with our actual government routine, it does open up the floor to debate as to the repercussions of what happens when a predominantly male government body maintains control of a powerful and influential nation over a long period of time.
Of course, if somebody like Hillary Clinton were President, every man in this country would probably be cheating on their bitchy, overbearing, and overambitious wives, instead of only 3/4 of the men in this country.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes the 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.
This one is a given. For a perfect example, one has only to look at what the FCC is currently trying to do in suppressing talk radio shows with stiff fines for even the slightest hint of obscene material being broadcast over the airwaves. There are other examples too, such as the mass corporate media attempting to bundle all news outlets in the country under a few select umbrellas of influence to make the overall news world easier to control and manipulate, and mass media's attempt to buy out or control independent news media outlets.
Bottom line: Don't believe everything you read in the newspaper or see on TV. Because the odds are highly likely that you are being lied to or aren't being told the entire truth.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
What level is our Terror Alert at right now? The last I heard, we were at Yellow. But maybe we moved up to Orange while I was taking a dump in the bathroom. Who knows? Who fucking cares, really? I'm just wondering how long before the gub'ment decides that The House That I Built becomes a threat to national security. Maybe after I post President Bush's e-mail address in the right margin, the gub'ment might finally start to take notice.
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.
I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States Of Arrogance And Fascism, and to the Republic for which it claims to stand for, One Nation, UNDER GOD, indivisibable (as George Dubya Bush would say), with liberty and justice for those who can pay for it.
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.
Enron, Halliburton, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Oprah.....the list is endless! And it all dates back to our plundering of Western Europe and Japan after we won World War II. That was the era when the United States Of Arrogance And Fascism was first introduced to the glory and wonder of Imperialism. Yeah, you know, the same form of government that we dissed the Japanese for using way back in the day. Oh yeah, and fuck Fascist Germany and Italy while we're at it, too.
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.
NAFTA is sending more and more American jobs overseas even as we speak. The 22 million jobs created under the Clinton Administration...how many of them were claimed by actual U.S. citizens, I wonder? The 2.3 million jobs that were lost under the Bush Administration, or so the Democrats claim....how many of them were jobs sent overseas by NAFTA, a policy that the current Bush had no control over whatsoever, I wonder? The 2.4 million jobs that were created under the current Bush Administration....how many of them were claimed by actual U.S. citizens, I wonder?
And who really benefits from illegal immigrant amnesty, aside from the illegal immigrants themselves? Why, the unions, of course! The ones that have the government in their VERY deep pockets. The way to a fascist nation disguised as a democratic constitutional republic does not lie in the elimination of our labor unions. It instead lies within the control and manipulation of our labor unions.
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.
Recently, a group of war protestors at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa were investigated, and federal prosecutors had sought to issue subpoenas to these war protestors, but the move was eventually halted. This didn't stop the intimidation of such a move from having its effect on those who were investigated, naturally. As for higher education itself, rising tuition costs in colleges around the country could be seen as a natural occurrence in an unstable economy, or the intentional hurdles thrown in the path of students seeking higher learning at our nation's universities by our government.
Either way, fuck hippies.
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.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking of the Patriot Act, aren't you? Well, fuck that noise. The FCC are the ones that you should be watching. They are the ones instilling harsh penalties and policies on our nation's radio and TV entertainment and media outlets. Janet Jackson's tit, Howard Stern's shock jock show, Bono's "fuck" statement at the Grammy's....it's all fair game to the FCC, who are hellbent on enforcing their policy of "fine them with stiff penalties first, ask questions later". And I'm sure that the RIAA is connected to them somehow, with their equally idiotic Nazi-like crackdown on 14 year old girls who decided to share a few songs over the Internet. Whoopty-fucking-doo!
As the Dead Kennedys song says, "Let's lynch the landlord...."
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.
This goes back to Halliburton, the single most influential corporation on our nation's government, not seen since the oil tycoons of the '70s. Of course, they're all one and the same. They are all part of the same elite, fat cat, country club of rich bitches wearing three-piece suits and carrying a large portion of the entire nation's payroll checks in their pockets. An elite few who bring us to our last characteristic of the evening.......
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.
Yeah, Bush might have won the election fair and square in 2000, and he might not have. The point of this characteristic isn't the fact that Bush cheated his way to the White House, since Al Gore was attempting to do the exact same thing, only he lost...no, the point of this whole characteristic is to enlighten us to the fact that the Electoral College is what truly decides elections in this country. Our vote doesn't really mean jack shit, so long as the only votes that truly matter are the ones that are cast in the Electoral College.
So all the Bush-haters who felt that their boy Gore and their Democratic Party got screwed out of the 2000 Election, ought to take a good long look in the mirror before casting stones at the Bush Administration. Because if Bush had lost the election and Gore had won using the same tactics that Bush had used (and Gore did), then you would be hearing the Gore-haters spewing the same rhetoric that you guys are spewing now about Bush. About how the election was "fixed" and "fictitional" (another Michael Fatass Moore-ism for you to gag on). Until the system is fixed, and elections are truly decided by the people's vote, we will always have these petty arguments about whomever is sitting in the throne of the Oval Office and how he got there.
But it's all petty bullshit, anyway. Because the human race is petty by nature. It is silly to be us.
Heil Amerika!!!
(0) comments
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