JT: > Listing political groups that oppose Bush as possible terrorist groups and placing names of people who oppose Bush on No-Fly lists is dangerously close to such behaviour. It isn't "officially fascism" unless the head of the DLC is assassinated?<
I don't see the head of the DLC as representing the working class in any way. (Killing the DLC head would be a form of capitalist competition, not class struggle.) I see fascism as a (violent) response to working-class power. That's different from simple abuse of power to impose authoritarianism, as if Bush ordered the assasination of leading Democrats.
The difference, I guess, is that for me fascism is a form of capitalist government, while you see it as a kind of behavior. ...
JT writes:
> So you're saying what works for O'Reilly won't work for those who oppose him? Either that or you believe that O'Reilly and his ilk would be MORE effective if they were to refrain from such tactics?<
demagoguery encourages people to use emotion rather than reason. BO [appropriate initials for Bill O'Reilly] is a demagogue and a liar. The left should want to _raise_ consciousness, not lower it into a BO-style gutter.
I had written:
> > BTW, I consider NK to be as "right wing" (authoritarian) as people
> > like Bill O'Reilly. They may differ in degree, but they're of
> > generally the same kind. That doesn't mean that I side with another
> > right-wing force (the U.S.) against NK, however.
to explain: Many people, see "right" and "left" as corresponding to degrees of statism or collectivism, with the right being opposed to a big role for the state (ha!) and the left liking a big state, or at least a competent state. Thus, North Korea would count as "leftist" only in the sense of being statist.
On the other hand, I sometimes think of "right" and "left" as referring to class issues. The right wants to preserve their class rule, so that Kim Jong Il is a rightist. The left (though not the Democratic Party left) want to abolish class rule. The Democratic Party left wants to moderate class rule a little.
Mostly I try to avoid the right/left metaphor. -- Jim Devine "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.