link:
http://www.alternet.org/news/146184/naomi_wolf_thinks_the_tea_parties_help_fight_fascism_--_is_she_on_to_something_or_in_fantasy_land__?page=2I know this article has been posted already, but I can't find the thread.
Having looked to Naomi Wolf as the canary in the coal mine who warned us during the Bush years when so much was put in place to assure a coming "fascist shift", I am shocked and amazed, that in her recent interview Ms. Wolf did not call out the major point that while the Tea Party movement may be recognizing some "loss of freedom" and other signs of "government" encroachment they are not seeing the same things that she did and pointed to in her books and lectures or misinterpreting them.
Wolf overlooks the evidence that their sense of "loss of freedom" is a reaction to empowerment of peoples unlike themselves (i.e. the increased access to health care insurance for the poor, obviously meaning blacks), and that the blame for the "coming government takeover" is being redirected and firmly placed on the demonized Liberals (enemy within) who are now targeted for violence and intimidation, effectively making the Tea Partiers the SA type street thugs used by the new Fascist movement to take control, not the alert citizenry she makes them out to be in her recent interview.
This is so clear from her own work, that I seriously wonder if they have gotten to her. I recall her saying in her lecture that she would clam up when it reached the point that journalists were arrested (Amy Goodman at the RNC) and now has been intimidated herself, but that would be crazy talk wouldn't it?
Just days ago I wondered in another post where she was and why she wasn't speaking out on what the recent call to violence and rebellion of the Tea party crowd heralded. Now here she is basically claiming that they are true defenders of the consititution, and other RW talking points such as blaming Obama.
While it is certainly true that all the dangerous laws put in place by Cheney/Bush are still in force and Obama has not repealed them, that does not lead one to believe that he is part of the conspiracy to use them to install a fascist regime. All it shows is how entrenched they are and how really powerless Obama and the Democrats may be. Not whether or not they are powerless or corrupted willingly.
This is classic Fascist propagandizing, following the blueprint which Wolf so clearly laid out. We are in the phase now where confusion reigns, everyone accuses everyone else of being the enemy, everyone suspects everyone else. the media and the punditry on all sides are used to feed the confusion, thus nurturing the "yearning for order (Fascism)" that Chris Hedges also recently wrote about.
Sadly both Wolf and Hedges have now joined the chorus of "its the Liberal Elite" who are to blame. Yet in doing so, they, and the Tea Parties as well, while correctly in some ways pointing out that it is the corporate oligarchy who are the real enemies, still fall prey to the misdirection of the propaganda to blame the Liberals.
To see who is the "real" enemy of a corporate fascist takeover you simply have to look at who they are demonizing and you will see who they view as the main threat to their agenda.
Wolf said in her lecture that at a certain point Democracy can longer be counted on to save Democracy. We are past that point now. The rage on the left that Obama and the Democrats have been largely ineffectual, despite many legislative successes, in stopping the powers of the corporatocracy is a symptom of how entrenched that power is.
There are some key points that do come thru in the linked interview, points that I have tried to make before. The Tea Partiers are rightfully angry, they do sense that they and their concerns have been overlooked and that they are being screwed mightily, by something, someone. We needed to join with them and redirect their anger and energy back at the real source of their frustration. But I fear it is much too late for that because of the hold of Beck and Palin over their minds and the targets of their hate-driven passion and energy. (Frank Rich's recent piece brilliantly describes the darker side of some of the real roots of this feeling of disenfranchisement as well which is why its been so easy to redirect them against us as the culprits.)
But what we on the Left must not do is fall into the trap along with the Tea Partiers that the attempts to crack down on the RW militias are somehow signs of the "government" following thru on stifling dissent and that they are the victims and the true "freedom fighters". These people are dangerous. They do need to be prevented from acting out.
Its really a no win situation once this begins. Either they carry out their plans or are arrested. It doesn't matter, either outcome is meant to stir up even more fury and instigate more violence against the "government", leading to the inevitable martial law, from which it is but a baby step to make the transition to the final loss of freedom and the installation of a truly Fascist authoritarian regime.
I don't know what can be done to stop it. I had hoped Wolf would have some clues from her exhaustive research, but perhaps it has never been turned back at this point.
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