Apropos of the Chomsky quote, Lorne, here are a couple of passages from Henry Giroux's "Zombie Politics, Democracy, and the Threat of Authoritarianism"
He writes of Bush/Cheney but you may find in this creepy traces of our own authoritarians:
"It would be difficulty to label such a government other than as shockingly and uniquely extremist, given a political legacy that included the rise of the security and torture state; the creation of legal illegalities in which civil liberties were trampled; the launching of an unjust war in Iraq legitimated through official lies; the passing of legislative policies that drained the federal surplus...; the enactment of a shameful policy of preemptive war; the endorsement of an inflated military budget at the expense of much-needed social programs; the selling off of as many government functions as possible to corporate interests; the resurrection of an imperial presidency; an incessant attack against unions; support for a muzzled and increasingly corporate-controlled media; the government production of fake news reports to gain consent for regressive policies; the use of an Orwellian vocabulary for disguising monstrous acts such as torture; the furtherance of a racist campaign of legal harassment and incarceration of Arabs, Muslims, and immigrants; the advancement of a prison binge through a repressive policy of criminalization; the establishment of an unregulated and ultimately devastating form of casino capitalism; the arrogant celebration and support for the interests and values of big business at the expense of citizens and the common good' and the dismantling of social services and social safety nets as part of a larger campaign of ushering in the corporate state and the reign of finance capital."
Giroux goes on to observe that many of us cannot identify fascist authoritarianism absent Nuremburg rallies and concentration camps stuffed with skeletal remains.
"As the late Susan Sontag suggested in another context, there is a willful ignorance of how emerging registers of power and governance 'dissolve politics into pathology.' It is generally believed that in a constitutional democracy, power is in the hands of the people, and that the long legacy of democratic ideals in America, however imperfect, is enough to prevent democracy from being subverted or lost. And yet the lessons of history provide clear examples of how the emergency of reactionary politics, the increasing power of the military, and the power of big business subverted democracy in Argentina, Chile, Germany, and Italy. In spite of these histories, there is no room in the public imagination to entertain what has become the unthinkable - that such an order in its contemporary form might be more nuanced, less theatrical, more cunning, less concerned with repressive modes of control than with manipulative modes of control - what one might call a mode of authoritarianism with a distinctly American character.'
So much of Giroux's analysis has frightening correspondence to the Harper regime, Mound, although increasingly, as Dear Leader lashes out and spins more and more out of control, his mad efforts at suppression and vilification are being seen for what they are by more and more people. More groups and individuals. it seems to me (Canadian Bar Association, Amanda Todd's mother come to immediate mind) are speaking out about an agenda that is no longer hidden.
Ah, Lord Noam of Dark Mountain.
ReplyDeleteMay we continue to be blessed by his dark insights for years to come.
DeleteApropos of the Chomsky quote, Lorne, here are a couple of passages from Henry Giroux's "Zombie Politics, Democracy, and the Threat of Authoritarianism"
ReplyDeleteHe writes of Bush/Cheney but you may find in this creepy traces of our own authoritarians:
"It would be difficulty to label such a government other than as shockingly and uniquely extremist, given a political legacy that included the rise of the security and torture state; the creation of legal illegalities in which civil liberties were trampled; the launching of an unjust war in Iraq legitimated through official lies; the passing of legislative policies that drained the federal surplus...; the enactment of a shameful policy of preemptive war; the endorsement of an inflated military budget at the expense of much-needed social programs; the selling off of as many government functions as possible to corporate interests; the resurrection of an imperial presidency; an incessant attack against unions; support for a muzzled and increasingly corporate-controlled media; the government production of fake news reports to gain consent for regressive policies; the use of an Orwellian vocabulary for disguising monstrous acts such as torture; the furtherance of a racist campaign of legal harassment and incarceration of Arabs, Muslims, and immigrants; the advancement of a prison binge through a repressive policy of criminalization; the establishment of an unregulated and ultimately devastating form of casino capitalism; the arrogant celebration and support for the interests and values of big business at the expense of citizens and the common good' and the dismantling of social services and social safety nets as part of a larger campaign of ushering in the corporate state and the reign of finance capital."
Giroux goes on to observe that many of us cannot identify fascist authoritarianism absent Nuremburg rallies and concentration camps stuffed with skeletal remains.
"As the late Susan Sontag suggested in another context, there is a willful ignorance of how emerging registers of power and governance 'dissolve politics into pathology.' It is generally believed that in a constitutional democracy, power is in the hands of the people, and that the long legacy of democratic ideals in America, however imperfect, is enough to prevent democracy from being subverted or lost. And yet the lessons of history provide clear examples of how the emergency of reactionary politics, the increasing power of the military, and the power of big business subverted democracy in Argentina, Chile, Germany, and Italy. In spite of these histories, there is no room in the public imagination to entertain what has become the unthinkable - that such an order in its contemporary form might be more nuanced, less theatrical, more cunning, less concerned with repressive modes of control than with manipulative modes of control - what one might call a mode of authoritarianism with a distinctly American character.'
So much of Giroux's analysis has frightening correspondence to the Harper regime, Mound, although increasingly, as Dear Leader lashes out and spins more and more out of control, his mad efforts at suppression and vilification are being seen for what they are by more and more people. More groups and individuals. it seems to me (Canadian Bar Association, Amanda Todd's mother come to immediate mind) are speaking out about an agenda that is no longer hidden.
Delete