In the dim light of the bar, it seemed like such a good idea. Things had been dull, though financially there'd been some improvement. Time to relax, maybe have a fling. The stranger sauntered over, holding a longneck, and leaned against the counter, smiled, and said "Hi. Come here often?"…
Sure it could. The same way fascism always happens. Not imposed, all of a sudden, from above, like a boot on your neck in the dead of night. It grows and festers in dark corners of society, feeding off the irrational fears and resentments and feelings of entitlement of an angry minority and growing ever stronger, with noone noticing it, until it bursts into pungent & infectious & malignant life, strangling its host. Fascism grows from the ground up and keeps growing uncontrolled until it stops – or is stopped.
Tim Wise at Redroom has written an eloquent and timely call-to-arms entitled “This Is How Fascism Comes: Reflections On The Cost Of Silence.”
Before you read the whole thing, I present some snacks to whet the appetite:
…If fascism comes it will dress like a hockey mom, or a NASCAR dad. It will believe Toby Keith to be an artist, Larry the Cable Guy to be a comic, and that the world was made in six literal days less than 6000 years ago.
If fascism comes it will come from the small towns; the ones Sarah Palin, quoting a famous racist and Jew-hater, said “grow good people,” and which occasionally do, but which, just as often grow provincial, isolated, fearful and superstitious ones.
If fascism comes it will come from faux populism, from anti-immigrant hysteria, from persons who have more guns in their homes than books, or whose books, when they have them, are principally volumes of the
Dennis Kucinich gives a six-minute summary of the disaster that has been occurring over the past eight years. According to Kucinich, what the neocons want to do is to drill into our wallets some more. I concur entirely. We truly need to wake up. We excel at being complacent (and…
Quite predictably, FOX didn' "hear" any of these protesters address any real issues. That's because FOX doesn't want to hear things like "Stop the War" and "Stop the torture." [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDGhs_LN7Fk&eurl[/youtube] FOX got exactly the chant it deserved at the end of this video. That's some free speech for you, FOX. …
Why should we ask John McCain harsh questions? Because we need to even the playing field. You see, if Barack Obama had McCain’s background, ignorance and bad character, the election would have been over months ago. The news media is holding back, though. Those media barbecues appear to be paying off.
So it’s time to even the playing field. Since the media keeps asking these sorts of disparaging and insulting questions to Barack Obama, it’s time to ask these same sorts of questions to John McCain. I admit that a few of these are outrageously unfair, just like many of the questions repeatedly posed to Obama.
Most of these questions are fair, though, and the news media has refused to dig deep and really get the answers Americans need. If you have additional questions that the media needs to ask John McCain, please submit them in the comments. I’d like to make this post a place where reporters are free to visit for ideas. As you can see, I’ve attached explanatory links to most of the proposed questions.
Unlike Barack Obama, McCain has a lot of explaining to do about what kind of person he has shown himself to be and portrayed himself to be. Let’s get started:
Generally Puzzling
Isn’t it true that you personally now oppose several bills that you yourself co-sponsored?
Why is your smile so creepy and fake?
Do you really believe that the President of the U.S. virtually functions as a dictator?
General Character Deficits…