[Peace-discuss] [OccupyCU] ISIS trained by US reports Examiner, PressTV, Reuters, Der Spiegel

[C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss]

There is surprisingly little scholarly agreement on the usage of the term fascist (see e.g. the arguments around Michael Mann's important 2004 study, "Fascists"), but one common characteristic of the regimes to which it was applied in the last century was that they were 'break-down products,' as it were, of capitalism in distress. 

However different it may be from the capitalism magisterially analyzed a century and a half ago, American capitalism in the 21st century is not apparently in distress. (Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the 21st Century" is an impressive attempt to explain why - and even to suggest what might be done.) But where there is no vision, the people perish, and Wayne has provided us with a concentrated vision of the current situation.

--CGE

On Jul 11, 2014, at 10:48 PM, ewjohnson <ewj at pigsqq.org> wrote:

> Yes, "fascist" is a weak word and my Englisher getsa no good.
> 
> Sign language doesnt interface well with my keyboard.
> 
> Anyway I only know a few universally expressive gestures.
> 
> 
> 
> On 07/12/2014 11:28 AM, Carl G. Estabrook wrote:
>> We might quibble over the usage of terms like 'fascist,' but this account is clearly accurate - and important.
>> 
>> Lacking an accurate analysis, the best will in the world can choose the right course only by accident.
>> 
>> --CGE
>> 
>> On Jul 11, 2014, at 10:12 PM, ewjohnson via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> The US is a fascist state managed by a well entrenched oligarchy.
>>> 
>>> The oligarchy does definitely fear that an organized uprising of the people
>>> may weaken and erode its position resulting in haemorrhage of money,
>>> power, and territory.
>>> 
>>> The oligarchy manages the world's largest propaganda and opinion-shaping
>>> and panem et circenses machine that uses every possible measure to achieve its
>>> goals in mollifying the masses and nullifying any effective negativity.
>>> 
>>> The oligarchy has chosen to deflect political pressures by allowing the
>>> establishment of a pair of ruling factions.  The two ruling factions are
>>> actually essentially the same but the members and supporters and operatives
>>> of each faction believe that they are poles apart in their ideology and goodness,
>>> much like the rival teams and their fans in a sporting contest.  Some of them
>>> are true believers in their parties and it is downright comical to to observe
>>> them in motion.  Dog-fighting and cock-fighting are considered to be too
>>> brutish for the sensitive and cultured society.  Other outlets are provided.
>>> 
>>> A complex system of rules and regulations prevents the entrance of significant
>>> new factions that might be supported by the people themselves.  For example
>>> the people are encouraged to vote as if it were a patriotic duty, but the candidates
>>> are selected and supported by the oligarchy and its fascist and crony capitalist network,
>>> such that in general it would not matter much who was elected, because the system
>>> has been established to be robust against change.  The oligarchy has recognized that
>>> its power and control are not absolute and it is careful not to overextend the most
>>> extreme measures of its force domestically due to fear of a destabilizing outcome.
>>> 
>>> The oligarchy extends its tentacles around the world.
>>> 
>>> Like a daemon that has wrapped itself around the spine of its host and
>>> has interfaced with the host's body control systems and higher functions,
>>> the daemonic oligarchy has made the people dependent upon it such
>>> that an eviction notice  would evoke tremulous and even catastrophic
>>> consequences.  The natural guards of liberty have been perverted
>>> unto the protection of the status quo.
>>> 
>>> Violent overthrow seems a possible recourse.  However, a organized
>>> violent uprising or even the use of passive force by the people is met
>>> with sudden repression by the police state.  Afterwards the entrenched
>>> political parties are summoned in to vacuum up any energy generated
>>> by a new uprising.
>>> 
>>> It is disturbing to see activists getting their energies sucked up by the Borg
>>> of one of the sham political parties or the other one.
>>> 
>> ###
>> 
>> 
>