I was born the year Hitler came to power. We were in a deep Depression then and the breadlines in Europe, the vast unemployment, the bank failures, and the devalued currency were among the several causes that led to the rise of fascism in Germany and elsewhere. Thanks to FDR it didn't happen here.
Although we have not replicated the thirties (yet) there are many disquieting similarities. Hard times always need the face of an enemy to focus blame upon, and the best face is one that comes from a minority group.
The fascist playbook begins by demonizing your opponent as "the other" – or "that one" or "the friend of the terrorist." In Hitler's case it was the Jews (read elite, or cosmopolitans), the Gypsies and the Socialists who were demonized and then victimized by this rhetoric, and ultimately murdered for their otherness. They were accused of "not being one of us," much as Barack Obama is accused by McCain/Palin today.
The Nazis would ask their followers, "What do we really know about them?" suggesting that their political enemies were secretly conspiring to hide their devious plots and destroy the good long suffering put upon Germans. They succeeded by using a rhetoric that made their enemies less than human, the secret agents of a mysterious alien race or religion. It is easy to kill those who are denied their humanity because they are different from us. As easy as shooting wolves from a low flying helicopter.
I have always despised the way the left in this country would toss around the word fascist, degrading it by its promiscuous application to conservatives like Goldwater or Reagan, or even our awful W and the power grabbing Cheney, but I am afraid I cannot help but use that powerful, dangerous word to describe the crowds shouting "Kill him!" at the McCain/Palin campaign rallies.
It is evident that there is an effort at the very top of the Republican ticket to demonize Barack Obama in order to destroy him politically and gain power, a demonization that comes straight from the Hitler/Goebbels playbook. I wonder if they understand that they are encouraging the unbalanced and the sociopathic to act upon their toxic words?
If they don't understand what they are doing they disqualify themselves from ever holding power by their indecent ignorance, and if they do understand how dangerous their words have become they have criminalized their campaign, and deserve more than losing, they deserve the infamy that history will associate with their names.
Yes, it's fun to laugh with Tina Fey at the winks and the gotchas of Palin, but the words that have come from these desperate Republican candidates recently, faced by falling poll numbers, are devoid of humor, it is simply hate speech, and sadly, hate cannot be laughed away on SNL. It is a false notion that you can destroy evil by ridiculing it. Chaplin's "Great Dictator" was filmed at the height of Hitler's power, and it ridiculed the dictator but it did nothing to bring him down.
Orwell's "Animal Farm" did little to destroy Stalinism. The top of this Republican ticket cannot be taken down by jokes. Sorry Jon Stewart, funny just stays funny. It does not put a protective shield around the bodies of those who may become the victims of hate speech.
I hope that the FBI is actively engaged in protecting Obama and his family, and investigating some of the groups that have attached themselves to Palin, a natural demagogue who tosses off her poisonous speech with a beauty pageant smile. I hope for all of us that McCain will pull back from the rhetoric that has now migrated into the kind of speech that Goebbels, the first Carl Rove, would smile at approvingly.
McCain will not be the first American hero who has fallen into the trap of fascist speech as he reached for power; there was Lindbergh before him, a man who recklessly spent his heroic reputation on a set of gaudy undemocratic, racist beliefs, hoping to be America's own dictator. No matter what his defenders say, Lindbergh was a hate spewing fascist during the very years that people were being tossed into concentration camps to die. Am I taking this too far? Perhaps. But better safe than sorry as mother taught us. And none of us are safe with the McCain/Palin rhetoric.
I don't want to hear again from the cable TV pundits that John McCain is too decent to be a racist. The last best hope of his campaign is to appeal to the racism that still lives on in this country. This isn't playing hardball, its hate-ball. He cannot win on the issues, so he must try to take down his opponent by raising doubts about his opponent's humanity and love of country. The majority of the American public will not buy this, but there are lunatics out there who will. If you encourage a malignant suspicion and contempt for the opponent among your followers, a suspicion that crosses the borders of hate, you are no American hero; you are an American disaster in the making.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
That's exactly the right way to look at it. And unfortunately I must say that there is a reason why nothing is done and why J.Stewart and Tina Fey are still what is there. The spice must flow: they all benefit from that and people laugh or cry- it does not matter: there is no difference between dead JonBenet Ramsey and the 'Kill him' towards Obama- it all sells. Only the individual himself can start to fight back: If Obama had stood up and announced what you so eloquently said, he would pick up a good fight and if the vultures smell the blood - they would have helped him. Otherwise we all are on our own and the spice flows.
Thanks
by
Mark Sashine (72 articles, 19 quicklinks, 269 diaries, 4101 comments [131 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Oct 10, 2008 at 2:53:16 PM
USAGE of the Hitler's and/or Stalin's tactics does not make a person Hitler or Stalin. McCain is about 1% of those individuals as a person. To sit on the toilet does not mean to move your bowels. McCain uses the same tactics and that's what he is doing.
by
Mark Sashine (72 articles, 19 quicklinks, 269 diaries, 4101 comments [131 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:05:46 PM
They just showed a clip on CNN a few minutes ago. An older woman in the audience was saying that she couldn't trust Obama because he's an Arab and McCain took the microphone and said he's not. McCain told her "He's just a decent family man who I happen to have some disagreements with." There was more, but that was the gist. It's much too late for McCain to make amends, but at least this one time, he did do the right thing. Let's hope he doesn't revert. When Obama is elected, McCain is going to need to be in his good graces and not a sworn enemy.
by
weslen1 (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 64 comments [8 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Oct 10, 2008 at 9:24:43 PM
I believe McCain must have received some spankings from his party as more conservatives are jumping ship and joining Obama because of the rife campaign McCain is running. Yes, it's too late to try and change the flow of the crap he has poured out. It's a shame his campaign people led him down this treacherous path and it's even more embarrassing that he listened to them.
by
Sharon Roach (15 articles, 0 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 184 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Oct 11, 2008 at 12:13:18 AM
He saw that his poll ratings were diving faster than a red-tailed hawk after a three-legged field mouse.
He was getting terrible press on every channel except FOX, and the editorial sections of every print newspaper and magazine not controlled by neocons have hammered McCain and his fascist pageant dominatrix running mate for their vicious (and patently untruthful) vitriol they have been spewing in an obviously desperate attempt to incite hatred based on race, religion and fear of "difference."
McCain once had principles. He may not have always lived up to them, but it was evident that he made an effort. He has now completely abandoned them in his lust for power.
I don't think McCain wanted to do this. I think he knew what was right, and what was wrong. He chose the wrong for political expedience. I think he feels bad about it, and regrets it. But I also think he will continue to do it because it's the only way he can win.
Palin, on the other hand, is a true believer, and with all her heart would like to see Obama lynched by a slobbering mob of her supporters that she has shamelessly incited to hate and violence.
by
JC Garrett (40 articles, 65 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 604 comments [10 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Oct 11, 2008 at 1:55:35 AM
1
Contact Author
View Authors' Articles
(0+)
Well Said (0) 
News (0) 
Touching (0) 
Funny (0) 
Supported (0) 
Interesting (0) 
Inspiring (0) 
Valuable (0) 
