Previously I stated that Liberals had replaced Jews on the stage of American Fascism, a statement that I thought would garner at least a smidgen of controversy but, alas, none was to be had (which is OK btw, I'm just sayin'). But it got me thinking, and I actually started questioning my own statement - was it too extreme? I mean, to be totally honest, I live in the red state of Texas, but I can only think of one instance in the last decade that I ever felt like I was under attack for deviating from the status quo: a handwritten note on the windshield of my car responding to my Darwinian fish symbol. Further, I don't even get chided by the suburbians for wearing a pentacle when I'm running around town on the weekends. So, who am I to make such bold assertions?
Being my own harshest critic, I started digging around publications to see if there was any credibility to my own idea. Fortunately, a quick search at Google turns up enough data to suggest an evolution in the Conservative mindset, and it ain't pretty. Judge for yourself:
Lexington Herald 1/6/03
"the Axis of Unwitting Evil, composed of liberals in politics, education and the media."
American Daily 6/10/03
"...Liberals, whether they admit it or not, are supporting evil in this world."
PoliPundit 7/23/03
"Liberals are evil, anti-American, unpatriotic, bigoted monsters who are doing their best to extinguish our nation by supporting tyrants, terrorists and totalitarians. It's time we called liberals what they really are: Benedict Arnolds."
I'm inclined to think that this represents the general theme for 2003: That Liberals support evil, and are traitorous for doing so. But for 2004, the diatribe took on a decidedly darker tone:
Curiouser and Curiouser 11/18/04
"We are literally in a war with the liberals of this world and in a battle of good (us) vs evil (them)."
WorldNetDaily 11/23/04
"The demonization of hatred in our time has derived principally from liberalism for which toleration of nearly everything is paramount. Hatred of evil implies both the right to make judgments, as well as a belief in absolutes, both of which are anathema to liberalism. While it has some redeeming qualities, my foremost argument against liberalism is that it harbors no abhorrence or detestation of evil."
(Make sure you go read that WND article folks, it's particularly disturbing.)
So as the year draws to a close, we are ending it with a transition from "Liberals support evil" to "Liberals are evil."
(Now I realize that for some of the more critical among you, a mere 5 citations does not an argument make. So before I hear any whining about it, go and Google "liberal evil" or something and see what you get. I only picked five items from the result set to be representative of the overall message.)
Continuing on our fascism theme, what makes these sites disturbing is that they represent a much larger trend within the modern propaganda machine: the demonization of Liberals, which is analogous to how the Nazis demonized the Jews in the 1930's. And it is, IMO, uniquely American that this would be happening on the internet; not in the mainstream media, and certainly not from official government channels. Again, remember the rules I established for American Fascism (condensed here):
- Nothing so obviously fascist that even a school child could recognize it;
- Nothing overtly prejudicial toward race, ethnicity or religion;
- Money & patience, to present the ideas to the populace and allow them the time to adopt the ideas as their own.
The subversion within the blogosphere meets all three requirements. What is most dangerous is that this idea - that Liberals are evil and therefore traitorous - is being planted within the collective subconscious of our society. It is only a matter of time until the government is able to capitalize upon the perversion and justify more direct attacks on Liberal institutions - colleges, scientists, medicine. And since the popular mindset is that which hates Liberals, it will not only be possible, but
encouraged.
But no, I am not actually claiming that BushCo will round up all the Liberals and pile us into the Harmony Hut to work on our attitude. Instead, funding to public schools that lean left, unpopular research programs and hospitals will be threatened or cut entirely. They can't kill us, but they can effectively stop our counter-message from reaching middle America, thereby effectively expunging the evil, liberal element from society. After all, isn't fighting evil what good, God-fearing societies do?
You'd better believe it.