[IP] more on Keith Olbermann: There Is Fascism, Indeed

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Henrik Brameus <blondino@gmail.com>
Date: September 1, 2006 5:57:28 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Re: [IP] Keith Olbermann: There Is Fascism, Indeed

Dear David,

Maybe this would be of interest to IP with regards to the fascism  
comments.

Lawrence W. Briit, who have studied the regimes of Nazi Germany,
Fascist Italy, Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, Papadopoulos's
Greece, Pinochet's Chile, and Suharto's Indonesia to get some unifying
characteristics of fascism. He has distilled it to 14 common
behaviours. They are:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism.
5. Rampant sexism.
6. A controlled mass media.
7. Obsession with national security.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.
9. Power of corporations protected.
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.
14. Fraudulent elections.

For more detail on Mr Britt's analysis of each of the points, see
http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/britt_23_2.htm. At least
Keith Olberman proves that point 6 is not valid in the US. At least
not yet.

Henrik

On 9/1/06, David Farber <dave@farber.net> wrote:
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Newmedia@aol.com
> Date: September 1, 2006 12:23:11 PM EDT
> To: brian@pc-radio.com, dave@farber.net
> Subject: Re: [IP] more on Keith Olbermann: There Is Fascism, Indeed
>
> Brian:
>
>  > But Olbermann was apparently trying to point out the irony in the
>  > fact that those who are wielding this new use of the term fascism
>  > seem themselves to have some of the characteristics of an
>  > authoritarian political movement
>
> Sure he was -- but that's a cheap shot.  Or, more specifically, a TV-
> ratings driven political rant.  Take THAT . . . Bill O'Reilly!!
>
> Rumsfeld isn't an authoritarian ideologue and Olbermann knows it.
> Neither is Bush.  Nor are the others involved.
>
> These guys are simply conservatives (with a few neo-cons mixed in),
> who are close to the center in current US politics -- which is why
> they got 50% (+/-) of the votes.
[cut...]
--
"If you're right 98% of the time, why quibble about the remaining 3%?"
MSN: hbrameus@hotmail.com


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