Also, unless I missed it, I didn’t see a response to Jane’s initial question about how the neo-poor can afford to give so much to the wackos? Or is it like that scene in Repo Man, where the parents send the college fund to a corrupt dingbat to “buy Bibles for El Salvador”?
You and I both worked in Salvador; so I couldn’t resist that one. But how would you reply to it?

Finally, one thing that most people ignore, or are ignorant of, is that Fascism is grounded in large part by the idea of the corporate-state, which is subsidized, protected and guaranteed monopoly or oligopoly status by the government.
Fascist ideology seeks social control, but it has nothing to do with killing Jews.

Cheers.

Also, unless I missed it, I didn’t see a response to Jane’s initial question about how the neo-poor can afford to give so much to the wackos? Or is it like that scene in Repo Man, where the parents send the college fund to a corrupt dingbat to “buy Bibles for El Salvador”?
You and I both worked in Salvador; I couldn’t resist that one. But how would you explain it?

Finally, one thing that most people ignore, or are ignorant of, is that Fascism is grounded in large part by the idea of the corporate-state, which is subsidized, protected and guaranteed monopoly or oligopoly status by the government.
Fascist ideology seeks social control, but it has nothing to do with killing Jews.

Cheers.

Our struggle for the democratic republic is with corporate facism backed by fundie Christian revisionism. Our struggle is NOT with politics.

I see no way the people of this nation will lay it on the line and fight for their survival.

Get what’s yours, and dig in to survive.
Or get out.

Haven’t read your book, Chris, but caught you on Barsamian’s “Alternative Radio” a while back. Excellent discussion (there and here). I appreciate the quote you provided today about the “good fight;” I think we progressives especially need that reminder after the Blue Dog betrayal of 5/26. (I know I do, anyway; I want to chuck the lot of ‘em.) Thanks for being such a generous soul.

Chris Hedges @ 9

Jim, As you know the paradox of tolerance is a phrase lifted from the great political philosopher Karl Popper, who was driven out of Austria by the Nazis and spent the rest of his life writing about the open society and how to protect it. The trip wire, for both Popper and myself, is when a mass movement, such as the radical Christian Right, gains political legitimacy and is able to create a parallel information system (read Christian radio and television) that locks its followers out of normal public discourse and poisons civil and political discourse. Add to this Christian schools and colleges and you are in trouble. This moevment reminds me of the ethnic nationalist movements — who in the name of identity and culture — turned neighbor against neighbor and destroyed Yugoslavia.

The notion of a parallel information system is one that’s recently been fascinating to me. It weaves together so many tentacles that used to seem disparate. The idea of home schooling or voucher schools where information can be controlled to the mighty wurlitzer you describe that depends on endless repetition of misinformation for its impact, and then there’s this — well, the articles of faith in the fundie world view are getting awfully complex and difficult to keep track of.

The most amazing thing is, as Digby noted yesterday, that the traditional media seems to be in denial that such a system exists.

FDL is a parallel social structure, growing up from the failures of traditional media.

The Telling

wgg: rogue scholar @ 159

Jane Hamsher @ 120

The scariest thing I’ve seen recently came when I was driving across the country and every small town has the exact same shopping center. It’s got a Staples and a Dress Barn and a Best Buys and maybe a Bed, Bath & Beyond or a Pier 1. Anyway they are ubiquitous. Much scarier than WalMart to me, I don’t know why but they seem to be a sign that these towns are interchangeable and no longer have any distinct identity to anchor them.

I find the specter quite haunting and ominous.

imho, those places are just wal-marts with fancier names, innit?
all the consumerage is still made in china…
.

I see the visual homgenization as a loss of cultural and regional diversity – a real and permanent erasure of local knowledge and – through absentee owners – local wealth.

Now the provenance of the stuff on the shelves – different issue.

i was out of the country between 1967 and 1975. i’d left during civil rights riots in newark, where i worked! i came home, turned on the news and saw a black man and a hispanic woman and a wasp male and was ecstatic thinking the fights had all paid off. there was diversity in the anchors. then they started talking and they all sounded exactly like the wasp males. i thought not only hadn’t we gained, but we’d lost something very valuable. i was very sad that night about that. and have been ever since.

I see the visual homgenization as a loss of cultural and regional diversity – a real and permanent erasure of local knowledge and – through absentee owners – local wealth.

Now the provenance of the stuff on the shelves – different issue.

kirk, the globalization–really the outsourcing–of the means of production can be seen as a further–even a primary–form of alienation…the globalized marketplace appropriates, standardizes, and commodifies the uniqueness the loss of which you properly notice. regional diversity is a block to ‘efficient’ marketing. only when orthodoxy prevails–in the confessional AND the check-out line is profitability assured…
innit?

Jane Hamsher @ 120

The scariest thing I’ve seen recently came when I was driving across the country and every small town has the exact same shopping center. It’s got a Staples and a Dress Barn and a Best Buys and maybe a Bed, Bath & Beyond or a Pier 1. Anyway they are ubiquitous. Much scarier than WalMart to me, I don’t know why but they seem to be a sign that these towns are interchangeable and no longer have any distinct identity to anchor them.

I find the specter quite haunting and ominous.

imho, those places are just wal-marts with fancier names, innit?
all the consumerage is still made in china…
.

I see the visual homgenization as a loss of cultural and regional diversity – a real and permanent erasure of local knowledge and – through absentee owners – local wealth.

Now the provenance of the stuff on the shelves – different issue.