America's Stalinist Right

[empath]

America's Stalinist Right
It is a cliche of American conservatives that liberal and even centrist Democrats are sympathetic to Communism. Yet today it is the Republican Party leadership and rank-and-file right-wing activists who are using Stalinist techniques in an attempt to intimidate opposition, create an alternate, ideologically-based "reality," and enforce acceptance of that false "reality." Behind these techniques is an even more frightening reality - Stalinist-style rhetoric and ways of thought now dominate the political discourses of the American Right.

I should state right now that obviously the Bush administration and its supporters do not have Stalinist economic policies and do not engage in domestic mass murder of the Stalinist sort. I'm saying rather that there are important parallels in mentality, propaganda, and methods of intimidating dissent between the Republican Party leadership today and the Stalinist regime

As a student of the origins of Stalinist culture and propaganda, I have become more and more aware of the Stalinist tactics and mentality of much of the American Right since the virulent Clinton-hating publicity campaigns of the 1990s. The words "treason," "traitors," "unity," and "patriotism" are a good place to start in understanding this. Stalin was a great patriot and hunter of "traitors." Accusing political opponents of treason, lack of patriotism, or lack of resolution in the face of an external threat is quintessentially Stalinist. It has become a staple of Republican rhetoric since the September 11, 2001 al-Qaeda massacre. On right-wing talk radio and conservative websites, and in publications of such commentators as Ann Coulter it is routine to accuse the entire Democratic party of treason. These accusations erode the assumption, essential for a functioning democracy, that there can be a patriotic "loyal opposition" to the party in power.

Relentless insistence on unity, on the existence of an unprecedented and overwhelming external threat, and on the total moral depravity of political opposition were all integral to Stalinist propaganda, and they are a growing part of conservative rhetoric in the United States today. Hate campaigns against "wealthy" peasants, "bourgeois" engineers and professors, and "enemies of the people" became central to Stalinism. A hate campaign against gays and lesbians is a keystone of President Bush's reelection campaign, and expressions of hatred against all Muslims on right-wing websites and by talk show commentators such as Jay Severin and Michael Savage are common. "Liberals" are constant targets of charges of treason and psychopathology. Calls for their elimination (means unspecified) by Rush Limbaugh and his ilk are not uncommon.

Stalinism was a populist mass movement, although it is doubtful that a majority of Soviet subjects ever loved the dictator. But an important and large subset of the population did. Stalin gathered support by deliberately appealing to the inchoate rage of the millions of young working-class men recruited by the Communist Party in the first years of Bolshevik rule. These were boys and young men scarred by World War I and the Russian Civil War. Most of them had very little formal education. I have read hundreds of their letters from the late 1920s in Soviet archives. These letters express despair, rage, and frustration at hunger, lack of opportunity, and oppression by local party officials, and they blame "traitors" among the "bougeoisie," the kulaks, and Communist Party leaders opposed to Stalin. Many of them call on Stalin to "shoot the bastards" or "cut off their heads." This kind of rhetoric was the prelude to a terrific acceleration of state murder in the Soviet Union.

It is not considered polite among the political commentariat to discuss such matters, but when I read posts on right-wing websites and blogs such as Free Republic or Little Green Footballs, I am reminded strongly of the rage and rhetoric of the young Communist Party activists in the late 1920s. I do not think that anyone in the Bush administration is deliberately planning police repression of political opponents, but incitement of hatred and fear can have extraordinary unforeseen consequences.

Various conservatives' attempts to control public discussion by sending mass hate mail to dissenters, dispatching hecklers to shout down Democratic speakers, and even making death threats (it is routine for prominent public figures opposed to the presidential administration and its policies to receive death threats) all resemble Stalinist tactics. The administration's own efforts to script tightly and control participation in all public events, intimidate journalists by cutting them off from access, and destroy prominent political opponents with lies about their past and private lives also have direct parallels from Stalin's rule.

Efforts at intimidation and scripting public discussion are aimed at enforcing the administration’s view of reality. Increasingly the administration's "reality" is completely at odds with the real world. Huge federal deficits do not affect the economy, our operations in Iraq have been a big success, human-caused global warming is not occurring - these "facts" are gigantic falsehoods. Incompetence and ideology caused the administration to make two catastrophic mistakes, invading Iraq and passing major tax cuts regardless of budget deficits. As the real world consequences of these mistakes develop the administration and its supporters have been forced to work harder and harder to disseminate and enforce their "reality."

Perhaps following Jeffrey Brooks' analysis of Soviet propaganda after Stalin's forced collectivization of the peasantry we should call the administration's reality a "hyperreality." Brooks argues that collectivization was such a huge mistake that Stalin's regime had not choice but embark on a wholesale falsification of reality to cover up. This falsification diverged so radically from what really was that Brooks dubs it a "hyperreality." To cover its own terrible mistakes the Bush adminstration and its allies will have to intensify their distortions, lies, and intimidation to sustain their hyperreality.

The drive to sustain the administration's alternative world, and the blind hatred and rage of many of President Bush's supporters, may well have disastrous consequences for America. The only answer is relentless efforts to puncture the "hyperreality" and expose publicly those who use accusations of treason, false personal accusations, and raw rage to make political gain.

Matthew Lenoe
Assistant Professor of History
Assumption College

author of CLOSER TO THE MASSES. STALINIST CULTURE, SOCIAL REVOLUTION, AND SOVIET NEWSPAPERS (Harvard University Press, 2004)

[nietzsche]

"the blind hatred and rage of many of President Bush's supporters..."

but the blind hatred and rage of many of President Bush's critics is highly productive, I suppose.

[gabriel]

blind? we've seen for the past 4 years ;)

[blinded]

i dont know if this makes any sence but here we go, this is what i beleve:

people who unknowing and unconsciously believing in there government, take in the media advertisements and what the media is saying as if god had told them to do it.
The same with how Americans follow there leaders blindly through there livers living in a hyper-realty not knowing what is ‘real’ from real, but the people can not be blamed for acting like blind sheep.
Large populations of people are more willing to believe in the ‘real’ world.
But it the government that control the people, but the media controls them, so there is no realty to the blind.

[Wedge]

i dont know if this makes any sence but here we go, this is what i beleve:

people who unknowing and unconsciously believing in there government, take in the media advertisements and what the media is saying as if god had told them to do it.
The same with how Americans follow there leaders blindly through there livers living in a hyper-realty not knowing what is ‘real’ from real, but the people can not be blamed for acting like blind sheep.
Large populations of people are more willing to believe in the ‘real’ world.
But it the government that control the people, but the media controls them, so there is no realty to the blind.What?

[Methodus]

Various conservatives' attempts to control public discussion by sending mass hate mail to dissenters, dispatching hecklers to shout down Democratic speakers, and even making death threats (it is routine for prominent public figures opposed to the presidential administration and its policies to receive death threats) all resemble Stalinist tactics. The administration's own efforts to script tightly and control participation in all public events, intimidate journalists by cutting them off from access, and destroy prominent political opponents with lies about their past and private lives also have direct parallels from Stalin's rule.

This guy has a few screws loose. Most of the things listed here are commonplace, and the heckling of Speakers usually means the heckling of conservative speakers. So I guess the Democrats must be utilizing Stalinistic techniques as well! Oh my!

[BizarroCub]

This guy has a few screws loose. Most of the things listed here are commonplace, and the heckling of Speakers usually means the heckling of conservative speakers. So I guess the Democrats must be utilizing Stalinistic techniques as well! Oh my!

Got anything to back that up?

[Methodus]

Got anything to back that up?

Back what up? It's common sense. And the heckling of conservatives? Hmm.. Coulter gets pie in the face. And there was some debate we were talking about on here a few months back where the conservative guy got heckled (someone yelled LIAR or something....). I'd have to do a search. Just to name a few...

[BizarroCub]

Back what up? It's common sense.

Common sense? Oh please...maybe in your world...but that's not how it works...

And the heckling of conservatives? Hmm.. Coulter gets pie in the face. And there was some debate we were talking about on here a few months back where the conservative guy got heckled (someone yelled LIAR or something....). I'd have to do a search. Just to name a few...[/QUOTE]

And how many times were liberals called terrorist supporters and Saddam lovers and the like? Or been accused of supporting the Gay Agenda? Or get told they want to go out and kill babies?

Come on now...the door swings both ways...

There really isn't any way you can prove that it's "more" or "less" either way, which makes it a baseless assertion, which was my point...

Coulter got hit with a pie in the face...so what...I've personall been spit at and on by so called Conservative Family groups, so you can spare me that argument man...

[Methodus]

Common sense? Oh please...maybe in your world...but that's not how it works...

And how many times were liberals called terrorist supporters and Saddam lovers and the like? Or been accused of supporting the Gay Agenda? Or get told they want to go out and kill babies?

Publicly? Prominent democrats being accused of being terrorist supporters? Never, as far as I know...

Come on now...the door swings both ways...

There really isn't any way you can prove that it's "more" or "less" either way, which makes it a baseless assertion, which was my point...

Interesting.. That's kind of my point as well. It's commonplace. Oh... I think I just said that. Yeah, so how is any one party more "Stalinistic" than the other?

Also, you are not a Democratic speaker.

[BizarroCub]

Publicly? Prominent democrats being accused of being terrorist supporters? Never, as far as I know...

You'd be mistaken...

Yeah, so how is any one party more "Stalinistic" than the other?

Well...if you narrow it down to that one single indigent point...but there was a lot more written about there than that one simplistic point...

Also, you are not a Democratic speaker.

Irrrrrrelevant...

[Gizmo]

i dont know if this makes any sence but here we go, this is what i beleve:

people who unknowing and unconsciously believing in there government, take in the media advertisements and what the media is saying as if god had told them to do it.
The same with how Americans follow there leaders blindly through there livers living in a hyper-realty not knowing what is ‘real’ from real, but the people can not be blamed for acting like blind sheep.
Large populations of people are more willing to believe in the ‘real’ world.
But it the government that control the people, but the media controls them, so there is no realty to the blind.

what?

"Most people are idiots. They believe whatever their government tells them to believe. You can't blame them for that. The media controls the people's perception of the government, so there is no way to know what is reality and what isn't."

[Methodus]

You'd be mistaken...

Care to back that up?



Irrrrrrelevant...

Completely relevant. Let's review:

Various conservatives' attempts to control public discussion by sending mass hate mail to dissenters, dispatching hecklers to shout down Democratic speakers, and even making death threats....

[BizarroCub]

Care to back that up?

Back what up? It's common sense.

There yah go...

[Wedge]

"Most people are idiots. They believe whatever their government tells them to believe. You can't blame them for that. The media controls the people's perception of the government, so there is no way to know what is reality and what isn't."I dub thee, Interpreter of stupid.

[Methodus]

There yah go...

No, I backed up what needed to explained. You did not. Nice try.

[BizarroCub]

No, I backed up what needed to explained. You did not. Nice try.

You did? You didn't show me at all any sort of proof that Democrats heckle republicans more in government other than...

"It's common sense..."

...which was your original assertion. Nice try.

So...answer my question and I'll answer yours...aaaaaaaaand...go...

However, I'll give an easy one off hand...I'd say Cheney outright saying if you elect Kerry terrorists will attack us.

[Methodus]

You did? You didn't show me at all any sort of proof that Democrats heckle republicans more in government other than...

"It's common sense..."

...which was your original assertion. Nice try.

So...answer my question and I'll answer yours...aaaaaaaaand...go...

No, I explained how Anne Coulter got pie thrown in her face. I explained the situation where a Richard Perle was heckled (Shoe was tossed at him). Funny.. didn't you post that article, Grizz?

http://www.buzzdc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52710&page=2&pp=15
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/18/dean.perle.ap/index.html

[Methodus]

However, I'll give an easy one off hand...I'd say Cheney outright saying if you elect Kerry terrorists will attack us.

BTW, that's not heckling. That was Cheney (and many conservatives belief), that electing the wrong President would embolden the terrorists. Anyways, you apparently have totally missed the authors point.

[BizarroCub]

No, I explained how Anne Coulter got pie thrown in her face. I explained the situation where a Richard Perle was heckled (Shoe was tossed at him).

And how does that equate to Democrats heckling Republicans more? It doesn't.

Which is what I'm asking for and you're not giving.


Funny.. didn't you post that article, Grizz?

http://www.buzzdc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52710&page=2&pp=15
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/18/dean.perle.ap/index.html


Yep...I sure did, but that still in no way somehow proves that Democrats heckle Republicans more, which is what you asserted and what I'm waiting to see you back up...

That's two instances. How does that equate to a disparity in who it's happening to?

[Methodus]

And how does that equate to Democrats heckling Republicans more? It doesn't.

Which is what I'm asking for and you're not giving.





Yep...I sure did, but that still in no way somehow proves that Democrats heckle Republicans more, which is what you asserted and what I'm waiting to see you back up...

That's two instances. How does that equate to a disparity in who it's happening to?

I never said that they did it more. I just said that they did it as well, which negates the authors point. However, I do think they do it more, since I can't think of any instances where republicans have done that to democrats (lately).

[BizarroCub]

BTW, that's not heckling. That was Cheney (and many conservatives belief), that electing the wrong President would embolden the terrorists. Anyways, you apparently have totally missed the authors point.

Okay...how about conservative groups like Focus on the Family picketing the funerals of prominent gay activists or heckling the speakers and attenders of these events?

Ooooor conservative Pro-Life groups badgering women going into abortion clinics and attending speakers at abortion rallies?

Like I said, the door swings both ways and there is no way you can catagorically claim that someone is doing it more than the other, which is what you initially asserted...

[BizarroCub]

I never said that they did it more. I just said that they did it as well, which negates the authors point.

the heckling of Speakers usually means the heckling of conservative speakers.

Well...if the heckling going on usually means it's conservatives are the ones being heckled, that inherantly implies a disparity in amounts...

Unless that wasn't what you really meant, but it is certainly what you said...

[Gizmo]

No, I explained how Anne Coulter got pie thrown in her face. I explained the situation where a Richard Perle was heckled (Shoe was tossed at him)

Honestly! Who throws his shoe?

[ramz]

oh, come on now... To call someone/something Stalinist very clearly associates the two entities as having a similar/identical belief system. To use the similar marketing techniques does not an identical belief system make... It certainly doesn't make it right, but dropping S-bombs serves only to dramaticize the situation to no constructive end.

[ramz]

Honestly! Who throws his shoe?saboteurs... :wink:

[empath]

+1 Obscure

[method]

+10 etomology

[BizarroCub]

I see folks have been watching their Star Trek V...

[NYGblue]

This is a load of crap... Stalin's main tactic was to annihilate his opponents, their family, their friends, even their fucking dog... Republicans are very nationalistic in there rhetoric, but NOTHING close to Stalin. Besides Stalin incorporated things like treason and what have you as a REASON to kill. Most people use it just for political gain or whatever.

[Methodus]

Okay...how about conservative groups like Focus on the Family picketing the funerals of prominent gay activists or heckling the speakers and attenders of these events?

Ooooor conservative Pro-Life groups badgering women going into abortion clinics and attending speakers at abortion rallies?

Like I said, the door swings both ways and there is no way you can catagorically claim that someone is doing it more than the other, which is what you initially asserted...

Funny, you still havent mentioned a prominent Democratic speaker.

[Methodus]

Honestly! Who throws his shoe?

:haha:

[BizarroCub]

Funny, you still havent mentioned a prominent Democratic speaker.

Well...a.) I can't google-fu at work...and b.) Since when was Anne Coulter a priminent Republican speaker?

[Gizmo]

I see folks have been watching their Star Trek V...

IV had more quotables.

[Methodus]

Well...a.) I can't google-fu at work...and b.) Since when was Anne Coulter a priminent Republican speaker?

Since the Whitewater and Lewinsky scandals I guess...

:shrug:

[BizarroCub]

IV had more quotables.

Well...Double Dumb Ass on You!

[ramz]

me? a Trekkie? :no:

[Gizmo]

we are looking for nuclear wessels

[BizarroCub]

Since the Whitewater and Lewinsky scandals I guess...

:shrug:

Well...you want a specific democrat...I can't look it up...

However, that doesn't change what I said, I've personally had to endure heckling at these events when promnent speakers, for liberal causes, have had to endure heckling from the conservative groups protesting the speakers. So, you're deflecting...

Ah...Here's one...Harvey Milk, mind you this is 20 years ago, but it did spring to mind...

[Wedge]

For purely comedic value someone left me some negative rep and told me to "fuck off redneck". I think that's the first time I've been called a redneck! YEEEEEEHAAWWW BITCHES. I should deffinitely start wearing a cowboy hat.

[blinded]

the whole world is fake

[blinded]

we should be able to make our own minds up on to be blind or not.
this whole word is a copy and not real.
i am not very good at getting my point across so this might help you under stand:
it's by jean baudrillard'

America has constructed itself a world that is more "real" than Real, and where those inhabiting it are obsessed with timelessness, perfection, and objectification of the self. Furthermore, authenticity has been replaced by copy (thus reality is replaced by a substitute), and nothing is "real," though those engaged in the illusion are incapable of seeing it. Instead of having experiences, people observe spectacles, via real or metaphorical control screens. Instead of the real, we have simulation and simulacra.Hyperreality tricks the consciousness into detaching from any real emotional engagement, instead opting for artificial simulation, and endless reproductions of fundamentally empty appearance.

[blinded]

we are looking for nuclear wessels
there are right behind you

[NYGblue]

we should be able to make our own minds up on to be blind or not.
this whole word is a copy and not real.
i am not very good at getting my point across so this might help you under stand:
it's by jean baudrillard'

America has constructed itself a world that is more "real" than Real, and where those inhabiting it are obsessed with timelessness, perfection, and objectification of the self. Furthermore, authenticity has been replaced by copy (thus reality is replaced by a substitute), and nothing is "real," though those engaged in the illusion are incapable of seeing it. Instead of having experiences, people observe spectacles, via real or metaphorical control screens. Instead of the real, we have simulation and simulacra.Hyperreality tricks the consciousness into detaching from any real emotional engagement, instead opting for artificial simulation, and endless reproductions of fundamentally empty appearance.

Ummmm not really, but nice try. I don't know how you convinced yourself of this, but I will inform you that people and their lives are very real. Certainly a lot of the things you see, do, buy whatever... isn't natural, its man-made, but being man-made, whether it is ideas, concepts or things does not make them fake. Surreal things do exist and I agree with that, but this statement is nonsense, you need to find new reading material.

[Methodus]

hey man... pass the acid man...

yeah.... the world is fake man... yeah man.. rock on..

/chong

[blinded]

Ummmm not really, but nice try. I don't know how you convinced yourself of this, but I will inform you that people and their lives are very real. Certainly a lot of the things you see, do, buy whatever... isn't natural, its man-made, but being man-made, whether it is ideas, concepts or things does not make them fake. Surreal things do exist and I agree with that, but this statement is nonsense, you need to find new reading material.

i study art and design, i've been doing this all my life this is what i was brought up Believing, This is what they teach use, and i believe in it. even tho i know it's a Contradiction on everthing.
anyway surrealism is not the same as hyper-reality you can't get the too mixed up they are very diffrent. but i understand what your saying, thanks.

[Wedge]

i study art and designSHOCKER.

[blinded]

SHOCKER? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!?

[Methodus]

SHOCKER? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!?

:haha:

[method]

blinded, don't mind wedge, he's a wedge of spite. i think people are giving you shit because your quote seems to over-blur the distinction between perception and reality, which many of us (including myself) find to be a crock of shit.

we shouldn't take the baudrillard quote too seriously/literally - the guy is french, so we should rubuke it only after consideration of the translative barrier and the french love affair with dramaticism (i.e. overstating the similarity between perception and reality)

[blinded]

blinded, don't mind wedge, he's a wedge of spite. i think people are giving you shit because your quote seems to over-blur the distinction between perception and reality, which many of us (including myself) find to be a crock of shit.

we shouldn't take the baudrillard quote too seriously/literally - the guy is french, so we should rubuke it only after consideration of the translative barrier and the french love affair with dramaticism (i.e. overstating the similarity between perception and reality)

That’s cool; I get it all the time.
I understand that you are saying.
But how can you tell the difference between perception and reality.
I understand what baudrillard is saying, but I believe in the ideas that he has created about his work.
I see what you are saying tho, I have quite a lot a French friends and hell they like to embellish and dramatise, but it makes them more interesting.
thanks.

[blinded]

:traviswork:

[elad]

you guys are blowing my mind.

[method]

But how can you tell the difference between perception and reality.

i believe that overexposure to pop-media is also altering the way we think in the manner in which he's saying - in that capacity i agree. i just think that his tact seems to superimpose deontological effects which aren't either provable or plausible.

[ramz]

i just think that his tact seems to superimpose deontological effects which aren't either provable or plausible.:chairfall:

[Cutter]

Ramz is right. They are over dramatizing it. But if you don't go way over the top you don't get air play...

He does have some points and does draw some fair lines. Fascism is becoming an increasingly accepted part of life in America.

[method]

:chairfall:

eh? i'm just trying to encourage the noob...was there something particularly hilarious?

[ramz]

eh? i'm just trying to encourage the noob...was there something particularly hilarious?ah... I was thinking you were providing a expositive caricature so as to didactically evince jocularity through the latitudinous application of sagacious persiflage. :shrug:

[BizarroCub]

Oh will you two quit your uber-floral speech...

You're both being overly-loquacious in a pedantic attempt to flex your intellectual avarice into perpetutity...

[ramz]

Oh will you two quit your uber-floral speech...

You're both being overly-loquacious in a pedantic attempt to flex your intellectual avarice into perpetutity...ooo...good one... this must be how Oxford students play the dozens...

[BizarroCub]

ooo...good one... this must be how Oxford students play the dozens...

Naw...they just have drive by arguments...

[ramz]

I'm just picturing pasty brits with 90's Hugh Grant hair and Harry Potter robes standing toe to toe with their homies behind them, folding over frequently, yelling "ooooo....diss!", "damn", et al. :D

[method]

ah... I was thinking you were providing a expositive caricature so as to didactically evince jocularity through the latitudinous application of sagacious persiflage.

wow - remind me never to play you in scrabble.

nah - those were just the words that first came to mind. i'm a dork.

[blinded]

I'm just picturing pasty brits with 90's Hugh Grant hair and Harry Potter robes standing toe to toe with their homies behind them, folding over frequently, yelling "ooooo....diss!", "damn", et al. :D

hay the brits are not pasty! and how can you say that! have you ever meet a brit before!

[blinded]

i believe that overexposure to pop-media is also altering the way we think in the manner in which he's saying - in that capacity i agree. i just think that his tact seems to superimpose deontological effects which aren't either provable or plausible.

it's not just pop-media that is the problem, everyone seems to but blame onto the pop culture,( I personal cant stand pop music), it may alter the way we think and perceive things, but that happens all around us. With different types of media working together against the public.
Any way people bring it on them selves sewing each other for stupid things, just because they can. This effects everywhere in America and know it’s slowly infecting Europe, which is not good. And I worry about this, and what is going to happen.