lpetrich
17 Apr 2010, 05:41 AM
hambydammit has written American Fascists: Book Review « Life Without a Net (http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/american-fascists-book-review/)
American Fascists is an exposé of the powerful and growing fundamentalist Christian movement whose leaders are bent on creating a Christian America, based not on Constitutional equality, but the literal interpretation of the Bible as the ultimate source of law and morality. Instead of the normal introduction, Hedges reprints Umberto Eco’sEternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt, which outlines the commonly accepted 14 characteristics of a fascist state. Here is a brief recap:
1. The first feature of Ur-Fascism is the cult of tradition.
2. Traditionalism implies the rejection of modernism.
3. Irrationalism also depends on the cult of action for action’s sake.
4. The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism… For Ur-Fascism,disagreement is treason.
5. Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity. Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference.
6. Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration.
7. To people who feel deprived of a clear social identiy, Ur-Fascism says that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country. This is the origin of nationalism.
8. The followers must feel humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies.
9. For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle. Thus, pacifism is trafficking with the enemy.
10. Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology, insofar as it is fundamentally aristocratic, and aristocratic and militaristic elitism cruelly implies contempt for the weak.
11. In such a perspective everybody is educated to become a hero.
12. Since both permanent war and heroism are difficult games to play, the Ur-Fascist transfers his will to power to sexual matters.
13. Ur-Fascism is based upon a selective populism, a qualitative populism, one might say.
14. Ur-Fascism speaks [Orwellian] Newspeak.
For those of us who are familiar with the Christian Fascist movement this introduction is powerful enough. I recognized virtually all 14 points in the teachings and practices of several of the Southern Baptists churches I grew up in.
hambydammit got annoyed about how Chris Hedges took it for granted that Xianity is supposed to be "a religion of uncertainty and striving towards egalitarianism." But he quickly leaves that aside and turns to the main business of the book.
In chapter 3, he has an interesting bit about conversion:
Hedges attended a training session by Dr. D. James Kennedy, one of the most outspoken Christian fascists. While he was there, he saw first hand the outright lies peddled by missionaries. There is a formula for a conversion experience, and if that’s not what the evangelist’s story is really like, he is instructed in no uncertain terms to make up a better story. (I’ll add my personal voucher for this part of the chapter. I attended a similar retreat as a teenager, and was told that my conversion story was not interesting enough. The word “lie” wasn’t used, but I was left with a very bitter taste in my mouth thinking about the morality of lying to potential converts.)
So if you see some grotesque sinner-turned-saint story, you may reasonably suspect it of being a similar sort of falsehood.
He then considers fundie virility, creationism, homophobia, and how Christian rock is a sort of Hitler Youth.
It’s an uncomfortable truth, but this movement is real. It’s well funded, well organized, and very, very determined to achieve its goals. I can’t look into the future and say whether or not they will succeed, but from everything I’ve seen since my own childhood, they are better funded and organized than either the Nazis or Mussolini’s regime.
Commenter Kevin R Brown pointed out that that may be excessively pessimistic, that by the end of 1944, the Nazis "had raised a generation of completely useless & incompetent heirs to their ideology. They can praise their leaders and very little else." He claimed that the Religious Right was aging into oblivion, but old people vote much more than young people.
He did concede that Sarah Palin was someone to keep an eye on - she's young and charismatic.
I’m particularly happy that this book was written by a Christian. I would feel comfortable — compelled — to recommend it to any moderate to liberal Christians. Without the stigma of having been written by a non-believer, the accusations and thorough documentation will most likely be received with less automatic gainsaying. And if this movement is to be marginalized, it’s crucial that the mainstream Christian community helps in the process. After all, it’s been said over and over that a theocracy is a threat to each and every religion – and denomination – not legally espoused by the government. For moderate and liberal Christians to continue to receive the freedom to practice their beliefs, they need to recognize the power of their own far right flock members to legislate them into second class citizenship.
That's certainly correct. Too many liberal Xians have been remarkably masochistic toward the Religious Right, almost as if they'd enjoy being sent to RR "re-education camps".
American Fascists is an exposé of the powerful and growing fundamentalist Christian movement whose leaders are bent on creating a Christian America, based not on Constitutional equality, but the literal interpretation of the Bible as the ultimate source of law and morality. Instead of the normal introduction, Hedges reprints Umberto Eco’sEternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt, which outlines the commonly accepted 14 characteristics of a fascist state. Here is a brief recap:
1. The first feature of Ur-Fascism is the cult of tradition.
2. Traditionalism implies the rejection of modernism.
3. Irrationalism also depends on the cult of action for action’s sake.
4. The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism… For Ur-Fascism,disagreement is treason.
5. Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity. Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference.
6. Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration.
7. To people who feel deprived of a clear social identiy, Ur-Fascism says that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country. This is the origin of nationalism.
8. The followers must feel humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies.
9. For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle. Thus, pacifism is trafficking with the enemy.
10. Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology, insofar as it is fundamentally aristocratic, and aristocratic and militaristic elitism cruelly implies contempt for the weak.
11. In such a perspective everybody is educated to become a hero.
12. Since both permanent war and heroism are difficult games to play, the Ur-Fascist transfers his will to power to sexual matters.
13. Ur-Fascism is based upon a selective populism, a qualitative populism, one might say.
14. Ur-Fascism speaks [Orwellian] Newspeak.
For those of us who are familiar with the Christian Fascist movement this introduction is powerful enough. I recognized virtually all 14 points in the teachings and practices of several of the Southern Baptists churches I grew up in.
hambydammit got annoyed about how Chris Hedges took it for granted that Xianity is supposed to be "a religion of uncertainty and striving towards egalitarianism." But he quickly leaves that aside and turns to the main business of the book.
In chapter 3, he has an interesting bit about conversion:
Hedges attended a training session by Dr. D. James Kennedy, one of the most outspoken Christian fascists. While he was there, he saw first hand the outright lies peddled by missionaries. There is a formula for a conversion experience, and if that’s not what the evangelist’s story is really like, he is instructed in no uncertain terms to make up a better story. (I’ll add my personal voucher for this part of the chapter. I attended a similar retreat as a teenager, and was told that my conversion story was not interesting enough. The word “lie” wasn’t used, but I was left with a very bitter taste in my mouth thinking about the morality of lying to potential converts.)
So if you see some grotesque sinner-turned-saint story, you may reasonably suspect it of being a similar sort of falsehood.
He then considers fundie virility, creationism, homophobia, and how Christian rock is a sort of Hitler Youth.
It’s an uncomfortable truth, but this movement is real. It’s well funded, well organized, and very, very determined to achieve its goals. I can’t look into the future and say whether or not they will succeed, but from everything I’ve seen since my own childhood, they are better funded and organized than either the Nazis or Mussolini’s regime.
Commenter Kevin R Brown pointed out that that may be excessively pessimistic, that by the end of 1944, the Nazis "had raised a generation of completely useless & incompetent heirs to their ideology. They can praise their leaders and very little else." He claimed that the Religious Right was aging into oblivion, but old people vote much more than young people.
He did concede that Sarah Palin was someone to keep an eye on - she's young and charismatic.
I’m particularly happy that this book was written by a Christian. I would feel comfortable — compelled — to recommend it to any moderate to liberal Christians. Without the stigma of having been written by a non-believer, the accusations and thorough documentation will most likely be received with less automatic gainsaying. And if this movement is to be marginalized, it’s crucial that the mainstream Christian community helps in the process. After all, it’s been said over and over that a theocracy is a threat to each and every religion – and denomination – not legally espoused by the government. For moderate and liberal Christians to continue to receive the freedom to practice their beliefs, they need to recognize the power of their own far right flock members to legislate them into second class citizenship.
That's certainly correct. Too many liberal Xians have been remarkably masochistic toward the Religious Right, almost as if they'd enjoy being sent to RR "re-education camps".