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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| On being called a "fascist" by the Left |
| 2007-05-15 |
| Jay Nordlinger, National Review A word about the French: After Sarkozy’s election, hundreds of university students in Paris “went on strike.” What does it mean to go on strike, if you’re a student? To refuse to attend class? Isn’t that called hooky? And who cares, really, if these students go on “strike”? Whom are they injuring, other than themselves? (Actually, the less Parisian education they have, the better off they may be.) But this is not so amusing: Student and other demonstrators shouted, “Sarko, fascist! The people will have your hide!” That, I submit, is the authentic voice of Leninism. Note the reference to “the people,” the presumption of speaking for “the people” — and this was after a free and fair election, in which “the people” really and truly spoke! It was the kind of election that these demonstrators would never permit, in their ideal society. And “The people will have your hide.” Yes, behind these shouters is Leninism, or Jacobinism, or whatever we choose to call it. We are reminded that it never dies; that civilization must be always on guard against it. And then there is “fascist”: “Sarko, fascist!” All of us who are conservative, or classically liberal, have had to be called fascist. It goes with the territory. And yet it’s no fun. I have been called fascist since I was in college. And those who do it are either malicious or ignorant — sometimes, I guess, they are both (and what a brutal combination: malice and ignorance). Ordinarily, it does no good to try to reason with people: Fascists are centralizers of power; we are decentralizers. Fascists are nationalizers of industry; we are free-marketeers. Fascists are collectivists; we are anti-collectivists. It is no use to say any of this: “Fascist” is an epithet used by mean or stupid people against those they dislike who are perceived to be “on the right.” One result is that, when a real fascist comes along, there is no word left for him. How odd that we who want to fight tirelessly against jihadists, or Islamofascists, are called “fascists”! How perverse that we liberal democrats, who wave the flag of universal human values, are called “fascists”! If you follow Jefferson and Locke and Lincoln and Churchill and Reagan — why, you are a fascist, at least according to some (to many). But one must not whine. The other day, I brought up the “fascist” business with Roger Kimball, the conservative writer and editor. I said, “Are you ever called a fascist?” Brightly — for he is a bright kind of guy — he said, “Early and often!” In the past, I knew of Reagan-supporting Jews who had tattoos on their arms who were denounced as “fascists.” (And when I say tattoos, I’m not talking about the biker kind.) Anyway . . . an old, old story. But annoying all the same. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #8 Somebody has their SOCIALIST -isms mixed up. Reminds me of POST-2000 ELEX CORRECTNESS IN THE USA > US DEMOCRATS WERE STILL DEMOCRATS, US REPUBS WERE NOW DEMOCRAT/DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICANS, until Bill Clinton began admitting the US economy was expanding long before he became POTUS + being POTUS by elex fraud agz Bush 1 + Dole. Post 9-11 > FASCISTS > ARE BOTH DESPICABLE NAZIS + WELL-MEANING BUT ERRORFUL LIMITED COMMUNISTS=GOVTISTS-ABSOLUTISTS, etc. WOT > so-called WAR AGZ "FASCISM [forms of] > WAR AGZ LIMITED COMMUNISM, ETC. = WAR FOR FULL/TOTAL COMMUNISM, ETC. WAR AGZ ULTRA-RIGHT SOCS = WAR FOR ULTRA-LEFT SOCS. ANTI-SARKOZY FRENCHIES > iff one believes that SARKOZY represents REFORMS, ergo are fighting for anti-reform > are fighting for the KNOWINGLY FAILED = FAILING, KNOWINGLY UN-AFFORDABLE OR COSTS-PROHIBITIVE FRENCH "STATUS QUO", IFF NOT MORE SOCIALISM-GOVTISM, IN FRANCE. IOW, ANTI SARKOZY-ITES > "D *** ng IT, WE DEMAND FRANCE TO BE BANKRUPT. WHY FRANCE + PARIS IS NOT AS BANKRUPT AS IT SHOULD BE"??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-05-15 22:04 |
| #7 AH, I fear that the Internet has only had the effect of putting cracks in the monolith - the monolith is still there and a force. Witness the 2006 elections. Some day, perhaps, the monolith will crumble, but not for a decade at least. Zenster, it is long past time to make them pay. Their infinitely mutable ethics and semantics do in fact make them incapable of holding the moral high ground but a) they don't care and never have cared about that, since they are at heart cultural Marxists and are motivated by defeating the "oppressors" by any means possible instead of doing what's fair, and b) being so changeable means they are always moving around, philosophically speaking, which makes them a difficult target. The ideas of the center/right and of small-l libertarians are the ones that are superior by any logical empirical yardstick but, as I've pointed out in the past here, in an era when humanity doesn't quite have a grip on mass media an excellent spokesperson is required as well. The good ideas are, as my high school math teachers used to say, necessary but not sufficient. We need an "it" guy like Reagan. I wish that weren't the case, but events of our times show that it is. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2007-05-15 19:19 |
| #6 Note the reference to “the people,” the presumption of speaking for “the people” — and this was after a free and fair election, in which “the people” really and truly spoke! Never in history has there been a liberal component so willing to ignore reality. It must be made into their ultimate undoing. The left's flexible semantics and ethics automatically refute its claim to any moral authority. It is time to make them pay for the damage they have done to generations of young minds. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-05-15 16:56 |
| #5 The foundation of mental hygiene is calling things what they are. Is it any wonder the left is so obviously unhinged? |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2007-05-15 15:24 |
| #4 I am beginning to hope the academy, the MSM and "popular" opinion will all be superseded by the internet. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-05-15 11:53 |
| #3 It is decades and decades of shaking the head and moving along instead of challenging them, highlighting their crimes (Khmer Rouge Fonda) and hypocrisy (eg ever noticed how much fuss for Paleos and how little for Darfur?) who had led us to the left having won the battle for academy, MSM and finally for public opinion to a large extent in America and completely worldwide. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-05-15 10:53 |
| #2 Like the man said: if you're anywhere to the right of center you're a fascist. Explaining that "fascist" is a word with a technical meaning that has nothing to do with your philosophy is pointless. "Fascist" is the "so's you old man!" of the braindead left. You shake your head and move along. |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2007-05-15 10:22 |
| #1 After Sarkozy’s election, hundreds of university students in Paris “went on strike. Someone's on strike most of the time in Paris about something. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-05-15 09:41 |