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PARANOIA? JUDGE FOR YOURSELF

Sunday September 23rd 2007, 3:37 pm

On the colbert report the other day was a guest by the name of Naomi Wolfe who has some interesting things to point out to america in regards to how fascist regimes have come into power in the past that there are signifiers or steps that every dictatorship fascist state has shown during their rise to power.
here is a description of her book THE END OF AMERICA from amazon…

” In a stunning indictment of the Bush administration and Congress, best-selling author Naomi Wolf lays out her case for saving American democracy. In authoritative research and documentation Wolf explains how events of the last six years parallel steps taken in the early years of the 20th century’s worst dictatorships such as Germany, Russia, China, and Chile.
The book cuts across political parties and ideologies and speaks directly to those among us who are concerned about the ever-tightening noose being placed around our liberties.
In this timely call to arms, Naomi Wolf compels us to face the way our free America is under assault. She warns us–with the straight-to-fellow-citizens urgency of one of Thomas Paine’s revolutionary pamphlets–that we have little time to lose if our children are to live in real freedom.
“Recent history has profound lessons for us in the U.S. today about how fascist, totalitarian, and other repressive leaders seize and maintain power, especially in what were once democracies. The secret is that these leaders all tend to take very similar, parallel steps. The Founders of this nation were so deeply familiar with tyranny and the habits and practices of tyrants that they set up our checks and balances precisely out of fear of what is unfolding today. We are seeing these same kinds of tactics now closing down freedoms in America, turning our nation into something that in the near future could be quite other than the open society in which we grew up and learned to love liberty,” states Wolf.
Wolf is taking her message directly to the American people in the most accessible form and as part of a large national campaign to reach out to ordinary Americans about the dangers we face today. This includes a lecture and speaking tour, and being part of the nascent American Freedom Campaign, a grassroots efforts to ensure that presidential candidates pledge to uphold the constitution and protect our liberties from further erosion.
The End of America will shock, enrage, and motivate–spurring us to act, as the Founders would have counted on us to do in a time such as this, as rebels and patriots–to save our liberty and defend our nation.”

Here are some comparisons of some of these steps with real current day events and circumstances taking place in america…

INVOKE AN EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL THREAT= terrorist actions/al qaeda

DEVELOP A PARAMILITARY FORCE NOT BEHOLDEN TO GOVERNMENTAL LAWS = blackwater (research them and you will seriously get freaked out)

CREATE A SECRET PRISON SYSTEM = as seen and reported on recently in the news over the last year or so

SURVEIL ORDINARY CITIZENS = the wire tapping program that now has been supported by the courts

HARASS CITIZENS GROUPS = recent attacks on moveon.org and other groups that speak out against the administration’s policies.

TARGET WRITERS, ENTERTAINERS, AND OTHER KEY INDIVIDUALS FOR DISSENTING = the attitude the administration has taken over the years toward those speaking out against the war and current policies, claiming that disagreement with above actions is unpatriotic and treasonous.

INTIMIDATE THE PRESS= recasting dissent as “treason” and criticism as “espionage”

SUBVERT THE RULE OF LAW= the slow dissolution of our constitutional rights

These are just some of the things that are pointed out in this book as similarities to current events and that of past rises to power of fascist regimes. Is this paranoia? Or is this something we as a nation really should be looking at much closer. All of this is a bit chilling to think about. I recommend that you all pick up this book and come to your own judgments because the book goes into a lot more depth than i can possibly cover here. This just may be something we have to do something about before we all lose.



4 Comments so far
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I must say that my *very first* thought on hearing about the Sept 2001 attacks was ‘Reichstag’. I do not believe that the people in charge of the US have anyone’s interests at heart other than their own, and whether they *are* trying to introduce a fascist regime, I have no doubt they would do so if they were certain of success…

Comment by Andrew hickey 09.27.07 @ 4:21 am

Thanks for the heads-up on that book. Have you see this: http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/short-film

It’s a Cuaron directed short film from another Naomi’s book criticizing the current american regime.

On a completely unrelated note, The Club of Heroes arc is now officially my favorite Batman story ever. Thank you for bringing your talents to it.

jamil

Comment by Jamil 09.28.07 @ 11:37 am

hey there jamil
thanks for that link and glad you liked the batman stuff.

Comment by jwh3 09.30.07 @ 12:31 pm



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