Has America slipped into a pre-fascist state empowering greedy oligarchs & corporate elites?

[Karmadillo]

http://www.alternet.org/politics/144809/can_we_rescue_the_republic_before_the_dark_politics_take_over_?page=1

Can We Rescue the Republic Before the Dark Politics Take Over?
By Kirk Nielsen, Miller-McCune.com. Posted December 25, 2009.

Books by Chris Hedges, Thom Hartmann and Cass Sunstein suggest that we've nearly lost our sense of self-government. None show the way to get it back.

Did America slip into a semiliterate, polarized, pre-fascist state over the past decade or so, allowing greedy oligarchs and corporate elites to run the government? Two books I recently read offer reasonably persuasive evidence and arguments that the country did, and a third suggests that dictatorial mindsets could besiege Americans, with an assist from the Internet, if they don't come to their more deliberative senses. Each of the books offers an informed diagnosis of the dangers that widespread ignorance and ideological polarization pose for American democracy, though none offers a comprehensive treatment for the malaise.

I read the three books in less than two weeks; friends ask how that was possible. The trick is to avoid not only Facebook and Twitter but also: celebrity news, cable news, Oprah, Jerry Springer, American Idol, The Swan, other reality-TV shows, professional wrestling, violent pornography, positive psychology and right-wing Christian fundamentalism.

The latter list includes some of the spectacularly mind-numbing American pursuits that Chris Hedges examines in Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. Hedges submits that while they mesmerized large portions of the American citizenry, CEOs being paid millions of dollars a year to run companies that feed on taxpayer money usurped our government — with the help of elected officials bought by campaign contributions and tens of thousands of corporate lobbyists who now write many of the nation's laws.

"Those captivated by the cult of celebrity do not examine voting records or compare verbal claims with written and published facts and reports," Hedges writes. "The reality of their world is whatever the latest cable news show, political leader, advertiser, or loan officer says is reality. The illiterate, semiliterate, and those who live as though they are illiterate are effectively cut off from the past. They live in an eternal present. They do not understand the predatory loan deals that drive them into foreclosure and bankruptcy. They cannot decipher the fine print on credit card agreements that plunge them into unmanageable debt. They repeat thought-terminating clichés and slogans. They seek refuge in familiar brands and labels. ... Life is a state of permanent amnesia, a world in search of new forms of escapism and quick, sensual gratification."

Of course, they did not get into this clueless state by themselves. They were manipulated by "agents, publicists, marketing departments, promoters, script writers, television and movie producers, advertisers, video technicians, photographers, bodyguards, wardrobe consultants, fitness trainers, pollsters, public announcers, and television news personalities who create the vast stage for illusion," Hedges continues. "They are the puppet masters. ... The techniques of theater have leeched into politics, religion, education, literature, news, commerce, warfare, and crime."

I know those fools are out there — many millions of them. I might even be one. But what is absolutely maddening about this book is Hedges' penchant for stating sweeping, generalized claims as absolutes. And yet this master of divinity turned New York Times war correspondent become sociological scholar often bolsters his summations with just enough research, statistical data and anecdotal evidence to make them plausible. The book takes readers to Madison Square Garden for an exegesis of professional wrestling; to the Adult Video News Expo in Las Vegas for lengthy interviews with porn actors and producers and an inflatable doll vendor; and to Claremont Graduate University in California for a seminar on positive psychology, which Hedges terms a "quack science" that "is to the corporate state what eugenics was for the Nazis."

more...

[ixion]

1. without question

in fact, I would say we're in a full-blown fascist state.

[whistler162]

2. It is also true that.....

aardvarks are blue in june!

[Way2go]

3. Most people aren't interested in decipering fine print etc.

Depending on how one defines it, we already have a fascist system of government at every level. Doesn't your city or town have
seemingly "favorite" contractors who get the lion's share of big projects? It starts locally and goes nationwide.

[snagglepuss]

4. .

[timeforpeace]

5. Fascism calls for a single party state, and blames capitalism, so yeah, we are.

[im1013]

6. Absolutely.

Completely accurate description.

If you have any doubts at all, just sit back and look around you...


Ever see the movie Idiocracy? I did and it scared me. however ridiculous the

movie may seem, the general idea is VERY accurate.

[OregonBlue]

23. Was just talking about the same movie yesterday. Seems more relevant every day.

[izquierdista]

7. Pre?

[tbyg52]

21. +1 nt

[laughingliberal]

22. that was my 1st thought at the title nt

[madrchsod]

8. yup! no doubt in my mind

[Individualist]

9. It's already fascist.

[classysassy]

10. America

has always been headed by the corporate elites.The robber barons and their ilk have controlled this country since its formation.

[Subdivisions]

11. Yes. n/t

[liberal_at_heart]

12. absolutely

The insurance companies were never going to allow us to have universal healthcare. I bet they have been preparing for this since Hillary tried to take them on. They have the money, the power, and have hypnotized the public into beleiving we shouldn't even ask for it. Now, they have hypnotized us into believing we shouldn't even ask for a public option. Follow the swaying watch, you will begin to feel sleepy, sleepy.

[Mari333]

13. yep. nt

[omega minimo]

14. No

It's the past 30 years, not 10.

[MisterP]

15. quite good--but I see despondency, not "distraction," as the main obstacle

if all entertainment disappeared, we wouldn't see everyone on the street: after the largest protests in history didn't do anything against * (since he was in charge of the military and the GOP and conservadems gave him the keys to the van); I don't think even strikes and non-shopping would help; the US needs a total de-Assholization on the scale of 1946 Germany, so nobody cheers when an Afghan house goes up in a 500-foot fireball or another Bernie Goetz opens fire: Americans can be quite hard-hearted, perpetuating vicious Norman Tebbit-like policies because "they deserve it"

[WonderGrunion]

16. Have American Political Writers reached new heights in hyperbole?

4 out of 5 dentists surveyed say "Yes"

[Octafish]

17. I can date it to November 22, 1963...

Other DUers can date it to Coup against FDR.

"They" are the War Party, easiest money anybody ever made.

[Juche]

18. Did people read the article?

On page 3 the author shows concern that people are becoming more polarized because they are surrounding themselves with like minded political thinkers. And when contrary opinions are brought up, they are usually strawman arguments and/or nothing more than targets for contempt. Whether DU or free republic, when you reach the point where the only time you are exposed to a counterargument is when it is a strawman argument, then something has gone wrong.

I don't see how we slipped into fascism. There never was a point where our nation (or any other nation) was made up of a majority of involved critical thinkers. That isn't how our species works.

There have been rollbacks of the advances of the New Deal, which was an attempt to slow/reverse hegemony from the wealthy and powerful. But we were under the thumb of the rich before that too. The civil war is a good example. In the south you could pay to not go to war, something like $300. And the war was, at its core, about slavery and its role in the economy. So hundreds of thousands of poor and working class Americans were killed by other Americans because a handful of rich people in the south who paid $300 to not go to war didn't want to give up their slaves. If that isn't oligarchy, I don't know what is. The point is, there never was a point where we were a nation of critical thinkers in charge of our destiny.

People are very easy to manipulate. Our base emotions can be played on, and we can be intellectually manipulated. And with exponential advances in psychology, it is going to get easier and easier for those with the motive and means to do so to be able to.

[cliffordu]

19. Alright, then, what are all the enlightened, educated,

erudite and likeable liberals and activists DO about it???


Well, what's anyone going to DO, except smugly agree that the game is fixed?

[Marr]

20. I think we've been there for a few decades. Something's changed in the last decade, however...

It seems like much more of the general public sees it. The flag waving and wedge issues and general fearmongering is more transparent than it used to be, and I think it's because the people who've rigged the system are a lot more brazen. They've gone way past not being *afraid* of us. It's like they've forgotten we even exist. The diversions are half-hearted and done with a wink and a smile now, it's very strange.