The Right Wing in America - a threat to civilisation?
Let's hear what the Guardian forumers have to say.
PNACman: Anti intellectual, aggressively certain of their superiority, devoid of morality, masters in the art of propaganda and profoundly insecure. These sociopathic bullies are gaining control of America.
Every society has them but they come together under one banner, they feed on each other's evil, gain political power and, then become a serious threat to civilisation itself.
What can be done?
The last time a powerful country fell under the spell of fascism it lead to the Holocaust and a world war. Now it is happening in a country infinitely more powerful than Germany. They consequences, therefore, could be infintely greater.
... But they have not yet completely closed the door on democratic opposition so there is still a chance to deal with this menace.
But the question is how? Quite clearly the political opposition in America are impotent to rise to the challenge. So where do we go from here?
macthebrief: I'm not so sure it is correct to say that the "last" time it happened was HitlerZeit.
I think the last time (we in the west at least) saw this form of ideological paranoia was during the various European inquisitions.
...Never underestimate the ability of the great unwashed to agree to to destroy itself.
chimpwatch: A ferocious anti-democratic right wing political movement has seized power in the U.S.
... Like Nazi or Communist ideologues, these people believe that their movement represents the TRUTH, and therefore almost any means can be justified to defeat their enemies, both foreign and domestic. The ideology behind this movement is a combination of free market fundamentalism and a particularly nasty form of Christian fundamentalism. Those who believe in the "Christian" element to this political ideology, including Bush himself and Attorney General John Ashcroft, among others, regard all of their opponents as being literally in the service of SATAN. Given the power that these people have, this ideology represents the greatest political threat to humanity since the demise of Stalinism.
mari333: I watch the news all day, or what is supposed to pass for it..
... Im not kidding, all they show is fluff pieces and more fluff pieces..they even removed the news shows that show dissent, and replaced them with extremist right wing people....MSNBC looks more like Fox news now, as does CNN...Its a blacked out media..I still meet people on the street who believe Saddam and Osama are the same person..and none of them have any idea about the BinLaden family/Bush family connections.. Its terrible, and uninformed masses..with a memory of 2 weeks at the most Its very disconcerting, and feels like I am ramming my head against a wall when I try to get the word out. So , they vote based on sound bytes they hear, or who their preachers tell them to vote for. If they can read, and many cant read.
PNACman: Mari you're right about the internet and probably represents the last chance to stop the rot.
They will find a way -- with Microsoft and Bill Gates's help -- to rein it in pretty soon but in the meantime it provides a fantastic way of disseminating information globally in real time.
samac3303: Kissinger will probably go down in history as the worst murderer / human rights abuser all -time.
... If anyone deserves to be burned at the stake in a public place, this is the man.
