Night of the living fascists

[ed_rex]

The suicidal twilight of the American 'left'

Some thoughts on Keith Olbermann's mea culpa and impotence as policy

"And if those of us considered to be on the left do not re-dedicate ourselves to our vigilance, to eliminate all our own suggestions of violence, however inadvertent they might have been, however mild they might have been, then we too deserve the repudiation of the more sober and peaceful of our politicians, and our viewers, and our networks.

"Here, once, in a clumsy metaphor, I made such an unintended statement about the presidential candidacy of then-senator Clinton. It sounded as if it was a call to physical violence. It was wrong then, it is even more wrong tonight. I apologize for it again and I urge politicians and commentators and citizens of every political conviction to use my comment as a means to recognize the insidiousness of violent imagery ..." — Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann responded to Saturday's shooting of American Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords (and close to 20 others) with a passionate call from arms, a nine-minute plea to "both sides" of the American political discourse to pull back from the rhetoric of violence, as if it is mere imagery that has bred the climate of fear that has seen the American people shed their civil liberties as willingly as they shed their shoes and dignities at their airports.

Olbermann's was a noble and humane call for a return to mutual respect, with an equally noble mea culpa for his own excesses. (The video is at right.)

Noble and humane, Olbermann's call was also blind and utterly wrong-headed.

Really, it is hard to know what is more pathetic: that Olbermann so earnestly calls for reason from the unreasonable or that he lumps his own misdemeanours in with the high crimes of his enemies.

"Tragically, and like most of his fellow-travellers on the so-called left wing of mainstream American politics — Olbermann just doesn't get it. He won't or can't see the truth of what it is that he is up against." Click to read my full article at Edifice Rex Online.

Comments

[foolsguinea]

I tend to agree. But how do we defeat the crypto-fascists without war in the streets?

"... without war in the streets?"

[ed_rex]

Dunno if you can, given how far things have gone. But you (based on a quick glance at your journal, I'm presuming you're an American) haven't yet had Kristallnacht, so I don't counsel desperation (quite) yet.

I don't know what the answer is. The anti-democratic forces in your country have been allowed to set the agenda for at least 20 years (since Newt Gingrich), and arguably a lot longer than that.

Ssince you asked, the first thing that needs to be done, I think, is for the good guys among you to stop letting Fox News and the radical right set that agenda. Start saying "you lies!" when the lies lie. Do it every time one of those bastards repeats the bullshit about death panels as part of Obama's health care proposal; every time someone "questions" Obama's citizenship; every time unions(!) are blamed for your economic crisis.

Demand that your media stop pretending a lie is as valid as an interpretation of a fact. Insist that your media do their jobs and treat a politician's lie with as much brutality as they would a politician's marital infidelity.

Take back words like "liberal" and "progressive" and "government" and don't let the people who hate those things use them like swear-words. don't back down and understand that you're in for a long, boring and very hard battle. If it's any consolation, your enemies have done just that and have been working, working, working to get where they are today (with the knowledge they still haven't finished the race) since at least as far back as when Barry Goldwater ran for president in (was it?) 1964.

But I think starting by loudly calling liars, liars and refusing to debate them further until they get their facts straight is the only place to start.