> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brad Mayer [mailto:Bradley.Mayer at Sun.COM]
> Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 12:59 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: [lbo-talk] Rumors of the Neocons' Demise Are Greatly
> Exaggerated
>
<<SNIP>>
>
> It is from here - and not from the LaRouchites and other
> eccentric, meaningless grouplets that Berlet and others
> obsess over and use as red herrings - that the American
> fascist movement of the future will come from. So far, it
> looks to be a very "pro-semitic" movement towards fascism
> (please note: a 'movement towards fascism', not 'fascism
> itself', so no distortions, please)
<<SNIP>>
Brad,
Please visit the Political Research Associates website (http://www.publiceye.org/main.html) and browse about. Notice how much of the website is devoted to "meaningless grouplets." Check out the last few issues of The Public Eye magazine (http://www.publiceye.org/pe_features.html).
Notice the topics. These are the topics I work on every day.
I have been writing about the neoconservatives for over 15 years. See, for example: http://www.publiceye.org/conservative/neocons/neocon.html
I spent weeks last year working on a research article on Christian evangelical voter demographics that appeared in the Public Eye in the summer of 2003. http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v17n2/v17n2/css/v17n2_13.htm Recent articles being discussed on this list on the same topic make the same points using newer data.
Or how about my articles on political repression by the state? See: Amnesty International USA: Political Profiling: Police Spy on Peaceful Activists http://www.amnestyusa.org/amnestynow/profiling.html
Or the article "Into the Mainstream: An array of right-wing foundations and think tanks support efforts to make bigoted and discredited ideas respectable." http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=50 The purpose of which was to show how racism and others forms of oppression are packaged and promoted by so-called "mainstream" groups.
It is very annoying when someone who should know better mischaracterizes my work in such an outlandish way.
Only a tiny fraction of my work is devoted to the LaRouchites and neonazis. It is primarily the LaRouchites and neonazis who claim otherwise. The other major sources of this mischaracterization of my work are people like Alex Cokburn who are upset when I criticize conspicuous antisemitism on the left, and conspiracists who whine piteously when I criticize their lack of logic and failure to engage in basic fact-checking.
But folks on LBO should know better, or at least bother to fact-check before making such an easily-disproven claim.
It's like judging the work of Bobby McFerrin on the basis of his song "Don't Worry, Be Happy."
-Chip Berlet