April 8, 2003
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The Strange and Quirky World of America's Future Fascists
by Maureen Farrell
"When I heard the whistling, and the boos," director Pedro Almodovar said of the reaction to Michael Moore's Oscar speech, "it seemed like an enormous shame and it shows the condition that the country is in."
Our pitiful Joan Crawford/Bette Davis level of debate aside, (one can almost hear Karl Rove taunting impotent Democrats with, "But you are, Blanche, you are in a wheelchair"), there are countless lesser-known symptoms of "the condition the country is in." Though we don't hear about them often, these disquieting, often amusing quirks make us realize, dear Toto, that even Kansas isn't in Kansas anymore.
Some of the more bizarre stories could be filed under "John Ashcroft's Parenting Tips" or "Future Fascists of America." And at a glance, they appear to be but blips on a sea of tension-filled, fear-laden normalcy. But as these incidents meld into larger trends, they become problematic. And like the Nazi goosestep, their threat lies not only in their existence, but in their unexamined acceptance. So, in the interest of liberty and oddity, consider the following:
1) The Right Lessons:
Though Lynn Cheney and Daniel Pipes have complied lists of America's Most Patriotically Incorrect Profs, it's still surprising to read that University of Montana professor Dennis Holt was suspended for airing uncomfortable truths.
Describing Holt's behavior as "bizarre" and "erratic" frightened students alerted campus security after he railed against the neoconservatives' illegal hijacking of America and expressed his belief that "something has gone seriously wrong with this country since 2000 and not enough people are talking about it."
Granted, those nurtured on network news might find Holt's impassioned rant startlingly revolutionary, but given that these junior Stepford citizens are in college, not grade school, perhaps they might consider growing a spine and reading some U.S. History? Citing a "lack of knowledge about civil disobedience in the United States," Holt understood his students' distress, while adding, "I'm sure some of it seemed kind of crazy." http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2003/04/01/news/local/news02.txt
The lesson in this, of course, is not only that suppressed truth ALWAYS sounds crazy, but, as Noble Prize winner I.I. Rabi said, "It is a fact in this country that you have free speech, but everybody is afraid to use it."
2) Attack of the Rigid Wingnuts:
Remember when Ashcroft accused "those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty," of "aid[ing] terrorists" and "giv[ing] ammunition to America's enemies?" You thought nobody took him seriously, didn't you?
Unfortunately, America is full of cautionary tales of "patriotic" citizens trying to repress the rights of those who don't conform to their world view. Recently, for example, an unnamed Tucson-area resident launched a website placing local antiwar protesters' photographs aside hateful text http://traitorsoftucson.tripod.com, prompting the Arizona Daily Star to counterattack http://www.azstarnet.com/star/wed/30402edittraitor.html.
Meanwhile, as Oregon legislators debate whether or not protesters are "terrorists" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14942-2003Apr2.html, and proposed Alice Kravitzian provisions fuel Patriot Act II speculation, it's obvious that even without formal vigilantism, some citizens are encouraging such tactics. "[A]ssign people to attend the demonstrations, take pictures of the people and post their names, address and places of employment on the site." Don on a Delphi Forums site advised, "Then send those link[s] to the respective employers. If the demonstrators put our military at greater risk, then they can risk their jobs... I figure... Har!"
3) Homeland Security Camps for Troubled Teens:
One of the nation's first "homeland security training summer camps for teenagers," Secure Corps is poised to enter its second summer of operation. Introducing troubled teens to the "booming" homeland security business, the camp will once again be providing juvenile delinquents and learning-disabled teens an education in CPR, first aid training and terrorism response. Made possible though a grant through Bucks County Pennsylvania's Office of Employment and Training, the program is tuition-free and participants, mostly from low income backgrounds, are paid minimum wage to attend.
"If I have 40 acres of forest," a "typical" camp problem poses, "how many search dogs will I need to find a fugitive?" http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/3724243.htm Under normal circumstances, this fugitive/frothing beast/angry youth scenario would be frightening enough. But given that these camps are springing up in other parts of the country and the ACLU is warning that Patriot Act II would resuscitate John Ashcroft's TIPS program, even good intentions might eventually come wrapped in brown-shirted packages.
Then too, considering that the Project for a New American Century predicts a future wherein "advanced forms of biological warfare that can target specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool" (see page 60, http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf), perhaps by the time China is confronted (a tactic that's also part of the advertised PNAC plan), there will be camps for scientifically gifted kids with coercive, genocidal tendencies. "If Fort Dietrich manufactures a disease targeting Asians," one question might read, "how many vials of the virus will it take to bring Hong Kong to her knees?"
4) Wee Christian Soldiers:
Had John Ashcroft not recently appeared at a "Stand for Israel" meeting and shared a podium with a Christian Zionist who openly declared the Palestinians "the enemy," http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1218227, "the Presidential Prayer Kids" http://pptkids.org/ might just seem like a fringe group. Yet, when government officials openly flaunt association with groups interested in "transferring" the Palestinians in order to create biblically required conditions for the second coming of Christ, it's time to take this would-be Saturday Night Live skit seriously.
As our own fundamentalists and neocon nuts encourage Armageddon-provoking conditions, and Antonin Scalia seems to prefer theocracy over democracy (Article Link) the wall between Church and State has become thinner than Matt Lauer's hair. And considering that: 1) Presidential decrees are peppered with references to God's will; 2) Battlefield-bound soldiers are asked to pray for our Christian Solider in Chief; 3) An Army chaplain coerces soldiers into accepting baptism in return for water; 4) Fort Bragg 's Army major general invites a Southern Baptist minister to hold an on-base "revival meeting"; and 5) Billy Graham's missionaries are poised to fulfill Ann Coulter's suggestion that "we should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity," perhaps we're not far removed from theocratic rule after all.
5) A "Chip" Off Big Brother's Block:
Last summer's season of the missing child (despite FBI statistics showing that kidnappings are not on the rise) was even more hyper-sensationalized than the previous summer of the sharks. A particular low point came when a mother from Texas, whose infant was stolen the day before, was coerced into giving a nationally televised press conference, even though she didn't speak English and her baby was returned unharmed. It was yet another pointless media exercise in scaring Americans into accepting God knows what.
Creepily enough, the following day, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a front page story on why parents should consider having their children implanted with microchips, as global satellite positioning systems babysit America's most branded. Saying that phones at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were "ringing off the hook" with parents seeking information and child-security device companies looking for endorsements, the article addressed the possibility of these devices becoming commonplace. "I expect we're going to see a substantial growth in the use of systems that will be able to track people using GPS," Robert McCrie, a professor of security management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York admitted.
Applied
Digital spokesperson Matthew Cossolo took things a step further. "We
have [global positioning system] units for our cars," he said. "If
your car is stolen, we can locate it. Do we love our cars more than
our children?" Yessireebob. Have your kids "chipped" or
the terrorists have won.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3867956.htm
What Have We Become?
Like unnamed scholar in Milton Mayor's They Thought they Were Free, many Americans are so "fascinated, by the machinations of the 'national enemies,' without and within, that we [have] no time to think about these dreadful things that [are] growing, little by little, all around us." http://www.thirdreich.net/Thought_They_Were_Free.html
According to a new Los Angeles Times' poll, more than 75% of Americans now support the decision to go to war in Iraq, with the majority of supporters saying it doesn't matter if Saddam has weapons of mass destruction or not. And before this war is over, half of all Americans are willing to go to war with Iran while 42% would back military action against Syria. http://ktla.trb.com/news/nationworld/iraq/stv-la-war-poll5apr05,0,3868104.story
Given that nearly 80% of Americans accept the Bush administration's lies regarding the Al Qaeda/Iraq links and more than half of Americans believe Saddam "bears at least some responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks," it's hard not to wonder, if in moments of brutal honesty, self-aware and well-informed citizens don't realize that we, like Mayor's narrator, have "accepted things" we would "not have accepted five years ago, a year ago," things our fathers ... could never have imagined."
Maureen Farrell is a writer and media consultant who specializes in helping other writers get television and radio exposure.
© Copyright 2003, Maureen Farrell
