Fascism and the American Experience

Write4U said:
George Orwell 1984

Exerpt:

O'Brien was looking down at him speculatively. More than ever he had the air of a teacher taking pains with a wayward but promising child.

'There is a Party slogan dealing with the control of the past,' he said. 'Repeat it, if you please.'

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past," repeated Winston obediently.

"Who controls the present controls the past," said O'Brien, nodding his head with slow approval. 'Is it your opinion, Winston, that the past has real existence?'

Again the feeling of helplessness descended upon Winston. His eyes flitted towards the dial. He not only did not know whether 'yes' or 'no' was the answer that would save him from pain; he did not even know which answer he believed to be the true one.

O'Brien smiled faintly. 'You are no metaphysician, Winston,' he said. 'Until this moment you had never considered what is meant by existence. I will put it more precisely. Does the past exist concretely, in space? Is there somewhere or other a place, a world of solid objects, where the past is still happening?'

'No.'

'Then where does the past exist, if at all?'

'In records. It is written down.'

'In records. And- ?'

'In the mind. In human memories.

'In memory. Very well, then. We, the Party, control all records, and we control all memories. Then we control the past, do we not?'

https://www.abhafoundation.org/assets/books/html/1984/162.html
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To your last statement , true .

But in reality the records are recorded by the many , many ......
 
OTOH, religious scripture recorded non existent history as if it really happened, and refuses to modify the written "records" to reflect true history, in effect creating history.

Even if a Pope stipulates to evolution, the bible has not been adjusted to reflect that historical fact. This is why fundamentalism is so dangerous. It is founded on make belief, not truth and just as damaging as the world of 1984

And still today there are constant religious attempts to bury truth in science in favor of fable in scripture.

Witness "Of Pandas and People"
In 1989 the National Center for Science Education published three reviews of the book: Kevin Padian, a biologist at University of California, Berkeley, called it "a wholesale distortion of modern biology".[9]Michael Ruse, a professor of philosophy and biology, said the book was "worthless and dishonest".[10]
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In the third of these reviews, Gerald Skoog, Professor of Education at Texas Tech University, wrote that the book reflected a creationist strategy to focus their "attack on evolution", interpreting the Edwards v. Aguillard ruling as though it legitimised "teaching a variety of scientific theories", but the book did not contain a scientific theory or model to "balance" against evolution, and was "being used as a vehicle to advance sectarian tenets and not to improve science education".[11]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People
 
Jeeves said:
That's how you can always tell what to expect from the right wingnuts: they accuse their opponents of whatever they themselves are planning, or have recently done.
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That's been going on for decades; it just became impossible for conservatives to hide, or other people to ignore.
 
Jeeves said:
That's how you can always tell what to expect from the right wingnuts: they accuse their opponents of whatever they themselves are planning, or have recently done.
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Every once in a while Trump is accidentally honest and says what he is actually thinking. One of those instances occurred at CPAC this weekend. He said "You know, they do that straw poll, right? If it's bad, I say it's fake. If it's good, I say, that's the most accurate poll perhaps ever."

In a day he will claim he never said that, it's fake news, and it's the democrats who lie all the time.
 
I would like to say that the American experiment with a clinical narcissist was a dismal failure and the experiment may turn out to be more damaging to the Nation than the Covid Pandemic.

Apparently the Republicans are not familiar with the term narcissism. Let me enlighten those who believed Trump was a Knight in shining armor, like the golden statue that was erected in worship of this con-man.
CPAC-Trump.jpg

Conservatives praise Trump as enduring force within GOP

This is what they are worshipping

Signs and symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder and the severity of symptoms vary.
People with the disorder can:
  • Have an exaggerated sense of self-importance
  • Have a sense of entitlement and require constant, excessive admiration
  • Expect to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
  • Exaggerate achievements and talents
  • Be preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
  • Believe they are superior and can only associate with equally special people
  • Monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people they perceive as inferior
  • Expect special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations
  • Take advantage of others to get what they want
  • Have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
  • Be envious of others and believe others envy them
  • Behave in an arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as conceited, boastful and pretentious
  • Insist on having the best of everything — for instance, the best car or office
At the same time, people with narcissistic personality disorder have trouble handling anything they perceive as criticism, and they can:
  • Become impatient or angry when they don't receive special treatment
  • Have significant interpersonal problems and easily feel slighted
  • React with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make themselves appear superior
  • Have difficulty regulating emotions and behavior
  • Experience major problems dealing with stress and adapting to change
  • Feel depressed and moody because they fall short of perfection
  • Have secret feelings of insecurity, shame, vulnerability and humiliation
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases...onality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20366662

Can you believe this?

Perhaps it is time to return to the tried and true way of representative democracy, and lock this charlatan up in an insane asylum where he may get proper care for his mental condition.
 
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Do you know what the "trickle-down" economic model reminds me of?

A rich guy having a tax deductible $ 1200.00 dinner, then taking a shit for the poor guy to clean up at a taxable $12.00 pr/hr.

There is your trickle-down economy.
 
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Medhi Hasan↱ observes:

The irony that more Republicans than Democrats see democracy under threat - it is, because of them! Almost everything Republicans, especially Trump voters, do and think can be explained by *projection*​

That last, "Almost everything Republicans, especially Trump voters, do and think can be explained by projection", stands out.

It's been this way for a long time.

†​

Think of it this way: One of the things people fear is themselves. It's not something we like to talk about, but it has always been easy enough to wonder at the spectacle of politicians and political crowds bringing about what they purport to fear. Once upon a time, it was easy enough to suggest Democratic fear of rightist authoritarianism could reflect their own fear of liberal over-regulation, but even forty years ago it was obvious that Republican fearmongering about intrusive and authoritarian government was projection; the intervening years have seen a conservative winnowing, such that nearly their entire platform is projected fearmongering.

It's like, maybe, just maybe, after all those years of complaining about mean liberals accusing people of being racist, Republicans could have gone with something other than replacement-theory scarecrowing; or, maybe, after all those years of accusing disloyalty, maybe conservatives should have skipped the insurrection. We've known, now, for several years that the conservative anti-government thesis was actually a threat, but the desperation reminds, as Serwer↱ put it, the cruelty is the point.

†​

Here's a conundrum: What if it's all some kind of cry for help?

To wit, while incels are not necessarily what we might describe as organized rightists, they do share a general trait, an unhealthy obsession with traditionalistic expectations of women. And while we might suggest Republicans have been wearing their something or other on their sleeves, there is also the sad tale of Tres Genco, indicted on charges related to his plan to kill large numbers of women. As DoJ↱ explains, Genco wrote a manifesto declaring "he would 'slaughter' women 'out of hatred, jealousy and revenge'"; he wrote in another document that he was "deluded and homicidal", signing off as, "Your hopeful friend and murderer". If we consider the prospect of crying out for help, the press release also asserts that Genco's research included searching online for, "how to plan a shooting crime", and, "when does preparing for a crime become attempt".

There is, of course, the flip-side, which has to do with screaming on the inside because one wants to, or something nearly like that. Rather, that is to say, sure, it might sound like a cry for help, but they're just fuckin' wit'cha 'cause it's what they do.

The juxtaposition of post-traditionalistic antisociality, both general and particular, in conservatives at large and the more specific incel example, ought to be a bit more of a stretch, and require a bit more effort, yet life has managed to provide a pretty easy opportunity.

It's a small world, after all; even more so in a conservative, traditionalist nightmare where the walls are always closing in.

____________________

Notes:

@mehdirhasan. "The irony that more Republicans than Democrats see democracy under threat - it is, because of them! Almost everything Republicans, especially Trump voters, do and think can be explained by *projection*". Twitter. 23 July 2021. Twitter.com. 23 July 2021. https://bit.ly/36W1eoK

Office of Public Affairs. "Ohio Man Charged with Hate Crime Related to Plot to Conduct Mass Shooting of Women, Illegal Possession of Machine Gun". United States Department of Justice. 21 July 2021. Justice.gov. 23 July 2021. https://bit.ly/3By5sBg

Serwer, Adam. "The Cruelty Is the Point". The Atlantic. 3 October 2018. TheAtlantic.com. 23 July 2021. http://bit.ly/2RpxCYd
 
"Fascist actually means, 'bundle of sticks'. You can take that however you want when describing Joe Biden."


(sigh)
 
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