Godwin vs. Limbaugh
August 16th 2009 02:13
I saw a very interesting segment on Rachel Maddow's show the other day, in which she discussed the subtext and implications of radio hosts referring to politicians as Nazis and fascists. The underlying implication of legitimizing violence is indeed something to be concerned about. Let’s be even-handed, though: some liberals were afraid of incipient fascism during the last administration. The issues Maddow raised about Limbaugh’s comments didn’t really come up back then. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and as long as no-one is actually inciting a crime, they’re still protected.
(By contrast, Glenn Beck’s comments as shown on Maddow’s program in the link above might have been crossing the line. Pick your battles, as Sun Tzu says – and going to Media Matters when you think Beck incited a crime or Bill O’Reilly broke medical privacy laws instead of, say, the police does not help anyone.)
To me, the more interesting question is: why are they saying such similar things, and what is really going on here? America is turbulent in a way that hasn't been seen since the 1960s. Politicians are saying things that haven't been heard since the 1860s. There are major protests and marches with every political alignment, and the occasional politically-motivated murder of an individual who isn’t even a politician. Whatever is happening now can’t be explained by easy answers (the right is just racist! The left is just angry!).
Lots of people from every part of the political spectrum don’t trust the government and feel that it is no longer serving them. Even under a popular president, like Bill Clinton during his second term or George W. Bush during his first, approval of Congress or the government as a whole can barely stay in double digits. And when Americans have problems with the central government, they tend to pull apart from it and from each other. The impulse towards individual rights and states’ rights was dulled by the Reagan years and the long intellectual twilight of American Idol and 9-to-5 office jobs that followed, but it is far from dead – ask Rick Perry. So perhaps in this case, the use of potentially dangerous terms like “Nazi” and “fascist” is not the real story, but merely an indicator of just how dangerous and unstable America’s political situation has really become.
(By contrast, Glenn Beck’s comments as shown on Maddow’s program in the link above might have been crossing the line. Pick your battles, as Sun Tzu says – and going to Media Matters when you think Beck incited a crime or Bill O’Reilly broke medical privacy laws instead of, say, the police does not help anyone.)
To me, the more interesting question is: why are they saying such similar things, and what is really going on here? America is turbulent in a way that hasn't been seen since the 1960s. Politicians are saying things that haven't been heard since the 1860s. There are major protests and marches with every political alignment, and the occasional politically-motivated murder of an individual who isn’t even a politician. Whatever is happening now can’t be explained by easy answers (the right is just racist! The left is just angry!).
Lots of people from every part of the political spectrum don’t trust the government and feel that it is no longer serving them. Even under a popular president, like Bill Clinton during his second term or George W. Bush during his first, approval of Congress or the government as a whole can barely stay in double digits. And when Americans have problems with the central government, they tend to pull apart from it and from each other. The impulse towards individual rights and states’ rights was dulled by the Reagan years and the long intellectual twilight of American Idol and 9-to-5 office jobs that followed, but it is far from dead – ask Rick Perry. So perhaps in this case, the use of potentially dangerous terms like “Nazi” and “fascist” is not the real story, but merely an indicator of just how dangerous and unstable America’s political situation has really become.
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Comment by Schmoozer
Schmoozer
Every dictatorship counts on this: the Nazis did, Stalin did, Chaney tried, Castro does, and Chavez is trying.