Here is a priceless lede: "One of Russia's most famous statues of Vladimir Lenin has been bombed, leaving the Bolshevik revolutionary with a gaping hole in his rear."Well, he always was an asshole... and a Communist.
Remember when, just a few weeks ago, America was marching toward Communism, according to Glenn Beck? Well, the lachrymose pundit changed his mind. "I looked up the definition of fascism yesterday," declared Beck during what might be considered his greatest performance yet.
So now Barack Obama is a fascist? David Neiwert on C&L has "studied fascism in the flesh," and believes Glenn Beck might be projecting a bit: "So when we look at the reality of fascism, both historically and in the present, the only serious likelihood of any coming strain of fascism is proceeding, as we might expect, from the populist corners of the right, especially as it indulges and encourages eliminationist rhetoric directed at various "liberal" and minority targets (Latino immigrants in particular)."
Neiwert definitely knows his stuff, but personally, I'm becoming exhausted chasing down precise definitions of all these "isms" that the wingnuts dish out. What is fascism? I'll tell you -- it's a political epithet. Or, better yet, I'll let George Orwell tell you:
It will be seen that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else.So what's next, Mr. Beck? Maybe next week we'll be headed towards Pastafarianism? I know I'm not alone when I say, "take your moral lessons and war room wankery and blow it out your rear."
it's funny you posted this story about glenn beck and fascism. during a discussion in my institutional econ class, my professor was quick to point out that fascism is really a type of economy. defined, it is "individual ownership of means of production and collective control of means of production." so according to this definition, the united states if a fascist economy, not a capitalist economy.
ReplyDeleteas for mr. glenn beck, i was regaled with a funny anecdote yesterday during an econ seminar i attended. the speaker, dr. richard wolff, was invited to his show on cnn to speak about the economy. it turns out that their politics don't really agree so dr. wolff was a little concerned; right before the interview, mr. beck stated five times how capitalism is great. he was concerned because he thought mr. beck put him on the show to "get him." as it turns out, mr. beck's mother-in-law works as a clerk at yale university. employees at yale university are part of a powerful union, and is it turns out, dr. wolff has given seminars to the union in the past. according to dr. wolff, yale is probably the fourth richest university in the world, but new haven, where it's located, is the seventh poorest city in the united states. yale receives free social services paid by the city such as fire, police, trash, etc. while i believe most other universities pay for these services. it seems that mr. beck got into a heated exchange with his mother-in-law at their last thanksgiving dinner about the union. i think she is for it for obvious reasons and he is much against it. well, she told him that he would never be welcome to her house for thanksgiving dinner ever again unless he got dr. wolff to appear on the show. so he ended the story with the fact that he and glenn beck spent 15 minutes talking trash about yale. i certainly don't want to speculate about mr. beck's marriage, but i can on conjecture that his wife probably had something to do with dr. wolff appearing on the show.
That's an interesting story. I found the CNN transcript of that conversation between Beck and Wolff here. I never knew that Yale and Harvard didn't pay taxes because they began as schools that trained ministers for local churches...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I feel sorry for Glenn Beck's relatives. Imagine having that guy over for every holiday dinner?