Read Naomi Wolf
One of the best books I have read this past year is Naomi Wolf's The End of America.
It is short and easy to read, but also effectively argued and impressively researched. In it, the respected journalist chronicles what she terms our "fascist shift" in this country, especially over the last 10-15 years.
To do this, she talks about the 10 steps every country takes as is it descends into fascism. Let's take a look at them and how they apply to modern America.
1. Invoke an external and internal threat: This one's easy: terrorism.
2. Establish secret prisons: Gitmo, FEMA camps, Abu Ghraib.
3. Surveil ordinary citizens: the Patriot Act.
4. Develop a paramilitary force: Blackwater, the militarized local police, the nationalized National Guard.
5. Infiltrate citizens' groups: Any evidence people have for this one?
6. Arbitrarily detain and release citizens: YouTube is filled with videos of police arresting normal people for what would once have been routine traffic stops or for peacefully protesting.
7. Target key individuals: Charlie Sheen and Rosie O'Donnell for speaking their minds on 9/11, the Dixie Chicks, dozens of other examples.
8. Restrict the press: I cannot find specific examples at this moment, but I know they are out there. Send them to me, people.
9. Cast criticism as "espionage" and "treason": Umm, isn't this the Bush Admin's MO, especially post-9/11?
10. Subvert the rule of law: To hell with the Geneva Conventions, we have the legal right to torture.
Kind of scary when you see it laid out this way, huh?
Read the book. It's one of the most frightening things I've read in years.
If we don't shake ourselves out of our coma soon, it may be too late.
It is short and easy to read, but also effectively argued and impressively researched. In it, the respected journalist chronicles what she terms our "fascist shift" in this country, especially over the last 10-15 years.
To do this, she talks about the 10 steps every country takes as is it descends into fascism. Let's take a look at them and how they apply to modern America.
1. Invoke an external and internal threat: This one's easy: terrorism.
2. Establish secret prisons: Gitmo, FEMA camps, Abu Ghraib.
3. Surveil ordinary citizens: the Patriot Act.
4. Develop a paramilitary force: Blackwater, the militarized local police, the nationalized National Guard.
5. Infiltrate citizens' groups: Any evidence people have for this one?
6. Arbitrarily detain and release citizens: YouTube is filled with videos of police arresting normal people for what would once have been routine traffic stops or for peacefully protesting.
7. Target key individuals: Charlie Sheen and Rosie O'Donnell for speaking their minds on 9/11, the Dixie Chicks, dozens of other examples.
8. Restrict the press: I cannot find specific examples at this moment, but I know they are out there. Send them to me, people.
9. Cast criticism as "espionage" and "treason": Umm, isn't this the Bush Admin's MO, especially post-9/11?
10. Subvert the rule of law: To hell with the Geneva Conventions, we have the legal right to torture.
Kind of scary when you see it laid out this way, huh?
Read the book. It's one of the most frightening things I've read in years.
If we don't shake ourselves out of our coma soon, it may be too late.
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