Debunking the 14 Points of Fascism - Part II

Britt has 14 points which he attributes to fascism. However, if Britt had actually bothered to study history, he would realize that these points can be applied to fascist governments and organizations other than just right-wing ones. At the end of this series, I will actually explore the very real posibility that hyper-liberals are themselves, fascist.

Now to Britt's first point:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism: Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

Actually, this is an example of nationalism, not fascism. I am not going to disagree with this point, but what Britt fails to point out is that it is when nationalism is taken to an extreme can it become dangerous. This is hardly the case in the U.S. where people have actually been banned from flying the Stars and Stripes from their apartment buildings from Washington to New York to Florida or banned from schools or television.

There is a difference between patriotism and nationalism. Especially since the United States is was attacked by terrorists. But if we follow Britt's first point, then this would be an example of fascism and nationalism:

But I guess Britt would consider America's entry into World War II a move towards fascism. Go figure, especially since the entire idea of fighting the Germany and Italy was to combat fascism. But if you believe that using patriotism to rally the public against evil is a bad thing, I suggest you think about this:

But war, in a good cause, is not the greatest evil which a nation can suffer. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice – a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice – is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.

-John Stuart Mill

The news headlines posted by Our Lord Despair are even more interesting:

-New Majority Leader: Iraq War May Be The Greatest Gift That We Give Our Grandchildren

No liberal on the face of the planet understands the concept of context. When one reads the above news headline, one would get the impression that the majority leader is a war monger. However, when we read the full quote, we get a completely different meaning:

REP. BOEHNER: Tim, we--we are in Iraq for the right reasons, to help bring democracy to a part of the world that's never known it. Now, we've seen this increasingly instable, or lack of stability, in the Middle East. And if we can build this democracy in Iraq, it will clearly spread. This is a long-term commitment. And helping the Iraqi people learn to govern themselves is not easy. But the effort here is meaningful, worthwhile, and it may not benefit our generation, but for our kids and theirs, this may be the greatest gift that we give them.

Fascism? I think not.

Our Lord Despair continues by giving partial headlines:

-Headstones of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are "inscribed with Pentagon war-marketing slogans"

Specifically, which "Pentagon war-marketing slogans" is Despair talking about? They are "Operation Enduring Freedom" and "Operation Iraqi Freedom" according to the Washington Post:

Families of fallen soldiers and Marines are being told they have the option to have the government-furnished headstones engraved with "Operation Enduring Freedom" or "Operation Iraqi Freedom" at no extra charge, whether the service members are buried in Arlington or elsewhere. A mock-up shown to many families includes the operation names.

The vast majority of military gravestones from other eras are inscribed with just the basic information: name, rank, military branch, date of death and, if applicable, the war and foreign country in which the person served.

Read the Washington Post article and then ask yourself, if in the past, we inscribed the war the soldier served in, why not inscribe the military operation the that todays soldiers are fighting in?

This is a far cry from fascism.

-White House and the RNC are going to make a habit of using uniformed military personnel as props at Republican political rallies. This is in despite of the fact that it is a plain violation of military regulations banning politicization of the armed forces.

Keep that in mind when you see this:

-"You must glorify war in order to get the public to accept the fact that your going to send their sons and daughters to die." -Anonymous White House official

That little quote, by the way, appears no where in any reliable media source. In fact, a Google search of that quote comes up with only discussions regarding Hollywood (definitely not what one would call Conservative) and their twisting of history in regards to the movie "Saving Private Ryan". No White House official, anonymous or otherwise, is responsible for that quote. Our Lord Despair is perpetrating a fraud.

Patriotism is not nationalism. Flying the flag after your country is attacked (Pearl Harbor, 9/11) is patriotism. Flying your flag before your country illegally invades another (Iraq and Kuwait, Germany and Poland) is nationalism. There is a significant difference. Britt's first point has been debunked as the American flag is actually being banned from display all over the country. Hardly something that would be allowed to happen if fascists or nationalist actually wielded absolute power.

The news headlines by Our Lord Despair are misleading at best and outright lies at worst. It will be interesting to determine if Despair posted such misleading news headlines on purpose or if he simply didn't bother reading the contents of the articles he was snipping from. One conclusion is that he is a liar. The other conclusion is that he is incompetent.

We will have to wait until the 14 Points are fully discussed before I make that conclusion.