more wikipedia goodness
who does this sound like? i hope the pictures dont give it away.
Paxton further defines fascism’s essence as:
“1. a sense of overwhelming crisis beyond reach of traditional solutions; 2. belief one’s group is the victim, justifying any action without legal or moral limits; 3. need for authority by a natural leader above the law, relying on the superiority of his instincts; 4. right of the chosen people to dominate others without legal or moral restraint; 5. fear of foreign `contamination.”[5]from wikipedia article on fascism
Interesting and kind of scary. I think #4 can only be vaguely applied to the current state of affairs though. And I don’t think the #5 really applies at all. yet.
And more specifically I don’t think that what we have going on in the country really fits with Paxton’s definition of facism:
“A form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.”
Oh yeah, Casey, you’re environmental views are close to fascism’s essence. You are a enviro-facist:
1. The environment is in trouble and we need drastic changes to fix it.
2. You are on the path of a non-polluter and everyone else is destroying the world.
3. I don’t know about this one. But it’s either you or Al Gore.
4. Yeah, maybe this isn’t such a strong argument.
5. Can’t stop those damn 3rd world contries from contaminating the world damn it!