Contributors

Friday, January 25, 2013


15 comments:

Juris Imprudent said...

Manifesto published? That is a reference to the Unibomber.

Why are progressives so retarded?

Anonymous said...

Pardon me, but your straw man is burning.

(Isn't hearing voices in your head considered an appropriate reason for institutionalization?)

Anonymous said...

Once again, Mark resorts to the untermensch tactic. And he claims we're the fascists.

Mark Ward said...

And he claims we're the fascists..

Well, let's see...insistence on ideological purity, going so far as administering tests and oaths...compromise seen as weakness...undeterred by new information...unmoved by facts...jingoistic...prejudice...
racism...a fierce sense of nationalism....what could have possibly given me that idea?:)

Juris Imprudent said...

what could have possibly given me that idea?:)

Looking in the mirror?

Anonymous said...

what could have possibly given me that idea?

The Voices In Your Head™ that say something other than what we actually say.

Anonymous said...

The Voices In Your Head™ that say something other than what we actually say.

Of which this cartoon is a prime example.

Mark Ward said...

I don't think juris is a fascist...too libertarian and very aware of the GOP's authoritarian streak. But you, NMN, your comments have demonstrated all of the things on my list.

Anonymous said...

Re: "nationalism", I'll remind you (again, as in that "undeterred by new information" thing) that Mussolini created and defined the term "fascism", and here's what he had to say:

"The State not only is authority which governs and molds individual wills with laws and values of spiritual life, but it is also power which makes its will prevail abroad.... For the Fascist, everything is within the State and... neither individuals or groups are outside the State.... For Fascism, the State is an absolute, before which individuals or groups are only relative."

That is extreme nationalism. It's also what we strongly oppose (and YOU chide us for). You want far more government control than we do, which makes YOU far more "nationalistic" than us. (Here is an excellent discussion of the topic.)

Novelist (not professor) Laurence Britt (where that definition is from) skipped a central defining feature of fascism in his hit piece masquerading as scholarship: a strong central leader.

From the discussion linked above:

Fascists emphasise the necessity of an unquestioned all-powerful leader who they believe to reflect the will of the people. This has been evident in all fascist regimes, for example Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy and Franco in Spain. Beneath the leader there is a small elite, for example the SS in Germany, to help carry out the leader’s work, beneath them are the ordinary people and beneath them the underclass (who are not a real part of society).

Is there a strong central leader in this country? One who people worship as "lord and savior"? Who can't wait on the legislature to act? Who doesn't want to be "bound by the past"? Who has a cadre of hand picked and unvetted elites to help carry out his work? Who's success or failure is considered synonymous with the nation's?

Hmmmmm…

Anonymous said...

As for "authoritarian", let me remind you:

…break out the big fucking dick and start swinging. If they think this is bad, wait until the voting in Congress starts.

Anonymous said...

Here is a good look at what actual scholars have to say about what fascism is, what it is and what conditions lead to it. (As opposed to amateurs like Laurence Britt.)

Mark Ward said...

Methinks thou dost protest too much...:)

Anonymous said...

Methinks the truth hurts, so all you manage is that lame thought killing cliché; otherwise known as the Poisoning the Well fallacy.

Fallacy: unsound, erroneous, misleading, deceptive, FALSE.

Juris Imprudent said...

I don't think juris is a fascist

Except of course when you do, particularly when I am opposing the ever expanding goodness of progressive policy.

Mark Ward said...

No, juris, you aren't a fascist and your posts over the years have led me to the conclusion that I was wrong to label you that way. I still don't agree with your perpetual antagonism towards the left but that doesn't make you a fascist. It just makes you grumpy.