On 11/20/18 4:31 PM, jim bell wrote:
On Tuesday, November 20, 2018, 12:08:58 PM PST, Razer <g2s@riseup.net> wrote:
There IS a "Left" and there IS a "Right"...
Yes, and the origin of that meme was the outcome of the French revolution in 1789 onwards. "The right", of that location and era, sat in the legislature on the "right", and "The Left", of that location and era, sat in the legislature on the "left".
Simple for post-revolutionary France. But applying that to other nations and at different times can be difficult. And, being only one-dimensional, it's quite inadequate and highly misleading.
In modern usage, the one dimensional Left/Right scale only measures how stupid, immoral, evil, etc. others are relative to oneself, as a function of the distance between them and oneself on the scale. At least, I have not seen it applied for any other purposes than demonization or self congratulation. The complexity of the rhetoric varies in proportion to the speaker's intelligence and vocabulary. Oddly enough, in this context the Left/Right scale works the same no matter which end of that scale gets which label. That feature enables people to have endless fun "proving" that whichever end the the scale they ain't on represents "the REAL Nazis." The larger the distance between a given Self and Other, the worse and therefore more "Nazi" the Other. One works backward from there to prove the conclusion. A couple of years ago I made graph similar to the Nolan chart but much simpler and more concrete, as its axes represent the distribution of political power in State and Private sectors among larger vs. smaller numbers of individuals. The X axis represents distribution of Private power into fewer hands (Capitalism) or more hands (Free Enterprise). The Y axis represents distribution of State power into fewer hands (Authoritarian) or more hands (Anarchist). I do not label the quadrants, leaving that as an exercise. Examining various "ideologies" in the context of this graph provides a bit of potentially educational fun. Which quadrant would you rather live in, and why? In this example I place the Right and Left on the graph: http://pilobilus.net/Political.Oritnetation.Grid.png My assignment of "Left" and "Right" to specific coordinates does not refer to abstract ideological constructs, but rather represents my observation of the aggregate behavior and practical objectives of people who strongly self-identify with Right and Left brand labels in the United States at present. I like this kind of model because I prefer an ecological approach to political studies: I view popular political ideologies as emotionally loaded verbal formulas used to manipulate people's cognitive processes and responses to commands, for the speaker's benefit at the audience's expense. Conversely, I think of "political reality" as the dynamic evolution of human power relationships in a changing material environment over time. (Lately I have been very gratified to see a discipline called Biophysical Economics on the rise in academia; I would describe it as "economics in a world where the laws of physics exist.") In political rhetoric, Fascism can mean whatever anyone with Fascist leanings needs it to mean, to pin the label on someone else. But academic historians do provide some useful guidelines for the rest of us. Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each: 1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays. 2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc. 3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc. 4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized. 5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution. 6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common. 7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses. 8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions. 9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite. 10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed. 11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked. 12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations. 13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders. 14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections. /quote Remind you of anyone you know? I count 11 out of 14 "direct hits" for our present U.S. DemoPublican party. To date the symptoms are in the Moderate to Severe range across most of these domains, and increasing steadily. :o/