Running Toward Fascism: Newspaper Workers Threatened By Bush Supporters.

[CitizenRob]

As some of you may be aware a few weeks ago George Bush's hometown newspaper, The Iconoclast, printed an editorial supporting Kerry over Bush ( read the editorial. ) Four years ago the same paper supported Bush over Al Gore. What has followed the Kerry endorsement has been a call to arms by the Bush brown shirts, threatening the publishers, and the advertisers with violence.

Source

We expected that perhaps a few readers might cancel subscriptions, and maybe even ads, but have been amazed at a few of the more intense communications, some of which bordered on outright personal attacks and uncalled-for harassment.

We have been told by several avid Bush supporters that the days when newspapers publish editorials without personal repercussions are over. When Bush was endorsed four years ago, the Gore supporters did not respond with threats....

The new mode of operation, I am told, is that when a newspaper prints an editorial of which some sectors might disagree, the focus is now upon how to run the newspaper out of business Some individuals are threatening innocent commercial concerns, claiming that if they advertise in The Iconoclast, they will be run out of business.

Unfortunately, for the Iconoclast and its publishers there have been threats — big ones including physical harm.


This is an almost identical parallel to what happened with the rise of the Nazi's. This is just one of many pieces of evidence that America well become a fascist state should the Bush Administration secure this election. If we are to have any hope of returning America to the days when free speech didn't justify threats of violence we must vote Bush out of office. Every American must get to their polling place and throw these men who fancy themselves as our rulers, not our leaders, out of office. Continue Reading

In addition, a Republican campaign company has been caught red handed hacking the website of a Democrat oponent. Check out the story at the http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/3/15632/4744">DailyKos

[LisaM]

1. I hope Kerry brings this up tomorrow

and calls on * to stop it. I doubt if * has enough integrity to call off his thugs.

[Cha]

3. bush wouldn't do it..and I I'm not sure Kerry

even is aware of it..he's been hold up in Colorado ..practicing for the big town hall meeting.

But ..other Dems need to get on this..NEVER AGAIN!

[Cha]

2. We have to fight this fascism!

Several DUers have contributed to "The Iconoclast" and been thanked by them..

I don't how we can go down there and personally protect them against "the brown shirts" but I'm mad enough to try! :mad:

[MatrixEscape]

4. We should avoid the N-word, methinks.

Any Fascism that evolves here will be completely American in brand and nature. It may even be religious in tone, and hyper-moralistic in flavor.

In fact, I think American Ur-Fascism is already gestating nicely if you compare all the issues and signs to more the more complex definitions of the phenomena.

Much of what people will see are the results, not the core basis behind it. It is easy to miss this shape-shifter and it can hide in the very system it infests and utilize the media to promote itself. Yeah, its kind of like Political HIV.

Let's say American Ur-Fascism where clear-cut and extant already? Well, talking about Nazi Socialism, (even if there are correlations) would merely confuse an already confused issue if you stay with that primarily.

I don't mind drawing parallels, but great caution could be taken with wording and analogues. The same caution should be taken when tossing the term at various end-result groups and such. You dilute the concept that way, IMO. That's the last thing you want to do. That is, turn it into a label that fades or loses focus.

First, people need to educate themselves on this slippery beast and avoid making icons out of now over-used terminology.

Thanks for the article, BTW.

[CitizenRob]

6. american...

source: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0316-08.htm

The 70th anniversary wasn't noticed in the United States, and was barely reported in the corporate media. But the Germans remembered well that fateful day seventy years ago - February 27, 1933. They commemorated the anniversary by joining in demonstrations for peace that mobilized citizens all across the world.

It started when the government, in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, received reports of an imminent terrorist attack. A foreign ideologue had launched feeble attacks on a few famous buildings, but the media largely ignored his relatively small efforts. The intelligence services knew, however, that the odds were he would eventually succeed. (Historians are still arguing whether or not rogue elements in the intelligence service helped the terrorist; the most recent research implies they did not.)

But the warnings of investigators were ignored at the highest levels, in part because the government was distracted; the man who claimed to be the nation's leader had not been elected by a majority vote and the majority of citizens claimed he had no right to the powers he coveted. He was a simpleton, some said, a cartoon character of a man who saw things in black-and-white terms and didn't have the intellect to understand the subtleties of running a nation in a complex and internationalist world. His coarse use of language - reflecting his political roots in a southernmost state - and his simplistic and often-inflammatory nationalistic rhetoric offended the aristocrats, foreign leaders, and the well-educated elite in the government and media. And, as a young man, he'd joined a secret society with an occult-sounding name and bizarre initiation rituals that involved skulls and human bones.

Nonetheless, he knew the terrorist was going to strike (although he didn't know where or when), and he had already considered his response. When an aide brought him word that the nation's most prestigious building was ablaze, he verified it was the terrorist who had struck and then rushed to the scene and called a press conference. Continue...

[Oak2004]

8. There is a much-neglected "S"- word

The word is Straussian -- a follower of Leo Strauss (or one of their unknowing puppets: revving up an unknowing rabble with lies, ultranationalist, and extreme religionism is an integral part of their doctrine).

Read Leo Strauss, or at least read something about Leo Strauss. He was a non-Nazi fascist who came out of the Weimar Republic. Most of the leading lights of the Bush administration are his former pupils. People need to know we're dealing with a dangerous fascist ideology that seeks control via manipulation and deception of the masses, while maintaining a veneer of democracy.

[bpilgrim]

15. God is With US

"It may even be religious in tone"

peace

[starroute]

19. It's not so much fascism as a basic hatred of democracy

This sort of thuggishness is not an ideology -- it's a tactic that has in the past been used in the service of various different ideologies. However, all those ideologies -- from fascism to communism to simple home-brewed despotism -- have one thing in common. They are all based on the belief that the will of the majority means nothing and that the will of a privileged minority has the right to prevail, even if it has to be through force or cheating.

That basic anti-democratic strain may be what unites all the varied components of the far right:

- The religious right, which feels it can do anything it choses in the name of its god and can impose its beliefs on a majority which does not share them.

- The corporations, which act as though their profits were more important than the needs of the citizens, consumers, and innocent bystanders whose rights they trample.

- The Freepers and dirty tricksters who believe that doing anything they can get away with is not only okay but something to be proud of and that sticking a thumb in the eye of anyone they don't like is a coup.

- The old-fashioned racists and elitists (though these are a dying breed) who believe people of their sort are innately superior to people of any other sort and that this gives them the right to rule and manipulate as they choose.


It may not have as much immediate zing as "Nazi," but I would really like to see the word "anti-democratic" be used regularly to label all these groups that threaten the rights and freedoms of the larger community.

[grasswire]

20. I call it...

...anti-American, too. That has a distinct ring to it. And it's true.

[MatrixEscape]

22. That's fine ... call it what you will.

I just think of that both terms are vague and a bit Nationalistic. Maybe they are too generic?

A Ur-Fascist could easily use, and diffuse, the term anti-American.

I often think of a rigid, pyramid style when I think of the construct. Ideas flow from the top and downward, then outward. We already have a growing merger of multi-national corporations with the State.

We already have a strong religo-nationalistic base that sees any opposing party as "anti-American" rather than as its polar opposite.

Despite the generalizations, there are several indicators that signal a watchful eye.

[CitizenRob]

21. We as Democrats need

to work hard to propogate the ideas of the left without sounding shrill or nuts. I think one of the reasons the Republicans have been so successful in getting their ideas into the mainstream is because their nut cases at least dress well. Meanwhile our nutcases look like stoned hippies, smell bad, and are talk like the world is one happy love parade. It's understandable why the Democrats in office work so hard to look like centrists, they have to make sure they aren't lumped in with the average "dirty hippy."

[Cha]

5. That is a Great editoral, CitizenRob!

I hadn't really read it before! Thanks and Welcome to DU!

[Gothmog]

7. I have some friends who are contributing to this paper

We need to support this paper.

[CitizenRob]

9. I agree.

Some of those texans in the Crawford area need to be exposed to more ideas. What's a better way than advertising in a paper?

[George_S]

10. The Freepers are on it....

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1231394/posts

I'm subscribing to their paper:

http://news.iconoclast-texas.com/subscribe.htm

[George_S]

11. DU should place ads there

That would be very effective and would garner a lot of press.

Hopefully the admins will agree.

[HereSince1628]

12. Let us be careful, but let us protect our heritage.

More than 18 months ago I got into DU because there were discussions that helped me with my own anxiety with the gathering of our now present national darkness.

I spent much of a year reading news stories from major papers and noting their association with the criteria of fascism as provided by Webster's Dictionary. At the same time I read everything I could find about the rise of fascism in Italy, the southern France labor movements, and the rise of the Nazi's in Germany. To be sure it was educational.

What I thought was a massing evidence, really turned into something else. I realized that although Bush certainly wishes to "bundle" government, industry and the people into one force, he really has very different and even more primitive motives than did the fascista. Bush and his rightwing just act in a tyrannical (authoritarianism IS a conservative trait) manner. Frequently they want to do this for the sake of making money, having mistaken capitalism for the nation's goal rather than democracy. They also act in tryannical manner to assuage their and other conservatives psyches.

For me the critical point is the underlying belief of fascism that gave it popular (democratic) support in the early 1900's. That was the concept that a whole nation (think Italy) could "bundle" (yes totalitarianism's answer to the Musketeers' "all for one and one for all.") the industry of capital and the planning/management of benevolent governance to harness the energy of the people for the advancement of the nation.

But, the good of the population has NOTHING to do with Bush's goals. In the current environment, the energy of the population and the government are not bundled but are beaten to conform to the desires of an "investor class" to obtain either growth or profit. That isn't fascism. That is the ugly capitalism of the robber barons.

The fascists and the Nazis were right wing and tyrannical. So too are the greedy capitalists pushing Bush. Consequently there are MANY parallels amongst their behaviors. Because of sociological processes there are also many parallels between the brown shirts of the Nazis and the "you're with us or against us" _clearly channeled_ masses of Mr Limbaugh who support Mr. Bush.

Yes many parallels, but I don't think this means Fascism or Nazism is amongst us. Rather, "free range" capitalism, something experienced not only in 2004, but also in 19th century America and during the European middle ages, unbridled by conventions of social responsibility and good will is loose in America. Not surprising 2 guys who see themselves as products of the American West with all its cowboyisms are promoting actively or just passive agressively the destruction of the dreams of generations of patriots.

The American experiment came into the world as a product of the elightenment. Even superficial examination of the educational backgrounds and interests of the leaders of our founding fathers suggests both the intellectualized progressivism and obligation to social responsibility needed to create a nation that would allow an imperfect people to struggle toward liberty, justice and egalitarianism. Yes, high and mighty ideas. Yet an awareness and sense of duty to serve the people's (as opposed to the investor's) interest is completely missing in the current GOP.

The Founders' awareness defines the aspirations of Progressives if not all Democrats.

Our "job" cannot be accomplished by name calling the opposition (despite the satisfaction and welcomed _expression of frustration that results when we partake). We look worse when we mislabel the opposition.

Our task, the Future's demand on those of us whose spirits rise to the principles that underlie Democracy, is to move the entire nation toward liberty, justice, and equality.

Kerry and Edwards, and the Democratic party represent this nation's best hope to return to the attention of our nation to that quest.

[CitizenRob]

23. well said.

Very well said! I would like to repost this on LiberalTimes if you wouldn't mind.

[AntiFascist]

13. Bush's supporters are slowly turning to terrorism....

I hope President Kerry will deal with this threat.

[tom_paine]

18. It is a very old strategy for them

Look at Bush Country, circa 1866-1970 especially.

In many ways, they are just drooling to be able to get away with that kind of shit again.

They will welcome the Free-Market Sovietization of Amerika if it allows them to seek violent revenge in a consequence-free environment, like 1940s Mississippi, against the same people they were murdering back then.

(oh, and the rest of the godless liberals, atheists, homsexuals, and Jews that characetrizes Right-Wing Hate)

And yes, we now hate them back. Yes indeedy.

[AntiFascist]

24. I like your post....

"Sovietization" is a great way to describe the totalitarian One Party rule and corporate welfare mentality, without being offensive to any socialists out there. If left to their own devices, they would probably try to reinstate slavery, although letting the deficit climb high enough would turn all the proletariat into slaves.

[BUSHOUT]

14. Good gawd. The word on this needs to get out.

[loyalsister]

16. Lessons from Missouri

Something very similar- almost worse- happened here last spring.

Missouri bill aims at big papers

<snip>
JEFFERSON CITY — A bill endorsed by the Missouri House seeks to eliminate a tax break for newspapers — but only for The Kansas City Star and St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Democrats and at least one Republican charge that the legislation is nothing more than retaliation aimed at the Post-Dispatch over an editorial the paper ran Sunday. The full-page editorial, headlined “House of Hypocrites,” lambasted House Republicans who voted to cut Medicaid while they receive taxpayer-subsidized health insurance as lawmakers.

<snip>

Byrd's amendment deals with a sales tax exemption that newspapers receive when they buy newsprint, ink, computers, film, printing plates and machinery to produce newspapers. In the same section of the law, there are 37 similar provisions exempting from sales tax equipment and materials purchased by industries ranging from agriculture to railroads to barge companies.

However, Byrd's amendment would only eliminate the newspaper printing supplies exemption for a “publicly traded company” with annual operating revenues of more than $250 million and a “Missouri-based” average daily newspaper circulation of 200,000 or more.

Byrd said taking away the tax break for the two newspapers would generate an estimated $6.9 million to the state and some $4 million for local governments.

The amendment narrowly made it onto the bill by a vote of 74-72.

The Missouri Press Association released a statement criticizing the amendment, calling it “the most direct attack on Missouri newspapers in recent memory.”

The association said the exemption, which applies to all paid circulation newspapers in Missouri, has been a state statute since 1998 and “all newspapers should stand together on this issue.”

Star president and publisher Arthur S. Brisbane questioned Byrd's intent in pushing the amendment and warned that it would set a dangerous precedent if passed.

“This appears to be intimidation by legislation, not sound public policy,” he said.

Brisbane pointed out that the current statute applied to dozens of industries and was the result of a Missouri Supreme Court ruling. Singling out the Post-Dispatch or The Star because lawmakers disagreed with an editorial opinion would send a “chilling message,” not only to media outlets, but also to any company or constituent who spoke out against a lawmaker or legislative action.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/8442999.htm?1c

[Joe Chi Minh]

17. They need to be

branded as "losers", not "fascists" (although they equate perfectly);
"pathetic losers" has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?
It will drive them insane. Well, more so than ever.