Disturbing thoughts from a witty book

[InformedSource]

In one of the more entertaining of the recent spate of books about the Bush Iraq War, Hoax : How We Were Taken In by Nicholas von Hoffman (one of the original “Point Counter Point” debaters in 60 Minutes long ago), the author makes an interesting point, one that has helped me understand why so many people enthusiastically support President Junior’s war:

“For many a German, Nazism was not dictatorial. It was the very spirit of liberation. It was freedom. It was jobs. And talk about endowing people with a sense of empowerment! Political enslavement comes in the native clothes of one's own biosphere. It is disguised. If the Judeo-Christian fascism creeping about the edges of the American englobement were to take power it would not be wearing jackboots. You will see none of the gorgeous uniforms they put on the Nazis in the movies intended to show how bad they were but ending up displaying how good they looked. No heel clicking. No Nazi salutes. American fascism, if it were to take over, would be decked out in familiar, Southwestern shitkicker cowboy boots. Our Gestapo would wear blue jeans and shop at Sam's Club. If it were to come, it would be good old boy fascism, informal and friendly, with the perpetual, goofy smile Americans decorate their faces with. People would not know it had happened. Americans would still think that they were living in a democracy. Only the other people, the ones outside the glass, would see what had gone on. Were they to tell their American friends, the American friends would not believe them.”

I’m reminded of what Gore Vidal said many years ago that when American fascism came, its face wouldn’t resemble Hitler but would be a folksy Arthur Godfrey type.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/America/Hoax.html

[theivoryqueen]

1. Ayyeee! gotta love Gore V.

I think he knows he nailed it.

[unblock]

2. yup. we over-demonized hitler

in our desire to make sure it never happens again, we turned hitler into such a devil that it became easy for another hitler to escape our detection.

all he had to do was avoid the mustache, the stiff-arm salute, the clicking boots. as if the germans would have instantly accepted the 1944 hitler in 1933.

we need a clear understanding of the INITIAL appeal of hitler when he first acquired power.


and it is scarily like shrub.

[Jim Warren]

3. Thanks for the heads up

The link looks interesting

[Eloriel]

4. IMO we already have full-blown American Fascism -- it's only a

question of whether or not it'll stick (that is, whether or not Bush remains in office).