Re: [Gnu-arch-users] [OT] facism gaining ground in US

[Pierce T . Wetter III]

> > Your email to which I responded did not contain specific criticism
> > except the unsupported hypothesis that "leaving Saddam in control over
> > it was not an option for the US gov", to which I would like some
> > support or clarification of what you meant.
>
> Unsupported? Well it pretty much depends on how far oil was a reason 
> to go
> into Iraq and that's pretty much undisputed over here.

 Undisputed is not the same thing as true...

> What I said was intentionally vague and was more an advice, as it was
> rather clear that Pierce has no idea how totalitarian systems work and
> what keeps them working.

 Totalitarian systems require a lot of things to keep working, but 
there are a lot of totalitarian systems, and not all of them seem to 
have all things...

 We weren't talking about totalitarian systems in general though, we 
were
talking about fascism, which doesn't necessarily require demonizing a
particular race. In fact, non-facist but totalitarian systems have 
demonized other races and even committed genocide against them. Perhaps 
you meant the
particular instance of fascism known as the German Nationalist 
Socialist Party which is understandable since that's what everyone 
thinks about when they think of fascism, as opposed to say Franco or 
Mussolini.

 But I'm going to require you to be a bit more specific in this 
instance.

 As my contribution: One thing that all totalitarian states have is a 
secret police. I think the actions of the FBI in Waco and Ruby Ridge 
were therefore fascist. Others might argue they were just shoddy police 
work.


> Concrete critism had required some basic
> knowledge about it, which I don't see. Of course I might be wrong with 
> my
> judgement, but then it should be no problem for him to prove me wrong.

  Er, ok. I think I've successfully proven that I can be pedantic about 
the
term fascism. I really don't think that the US is becoming a fascist 
state.
For one thing, I see central control of the US as being 
neigh-impossible which is the central tenet of fascism.

 Getting back on topic, one might argue that this "potential election 
delay"
thing smarts of fascism and draw parallels to Hitler shutting down of 
the
legislature after the Reichstag fire. On the other hand, as a former 
Californian, it would seem perfectly prudent to me if California had a 
law delaying elections in the even of an Earthquake of magnitude 7.5 of 
greater for one week. So the jury is still out I think, and calling it 
fascist is overly dramatic I think.

 Its interesting to me how FEMA is the right's bogeyman, while DHS is 
the left's. I'm glad to live in a country where all these people are 
scrutinizing the movements of these government agencies with such 
attention.

 Pierce