As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one. ~Godwin's Law
Hard to beat Keith Obermann's excellent reply to SecDef Rummy's example of Godwin's Law in action last week, labeling those disagreeing with the administration's terrorism policy equivalent to "morally confused" Nazi appeasers. Rummy's remarks followed Bush's earlier confirmation of Godwin's law in invoking the not so recently coined term "Islamo-fascism".
Since comparing things to fascism is so in vogue, I think it's time we take a quick look at the definition of fascism.
Merriam Webster says:
...a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
While Islamic radical fundamentalists most definitely enjoy imposing "severe economic and social regimentation and forcible suppression of opposition" like any good fundie theocrat would want, I'm missing the exalting of "nation" or "race". As far as radical Islam is concerned religion trumps "state" and "race". After all they are just as eagerly willing to blow the crap out of their country and people for their sectarian objectives.
Clearly fascists can be dictators but not every dictator is a fascist. I never thought I'd be quoting or agreeing with Joseph Sobran...
In other words, Islamofascism is nothing but an empty propaganda term. And wartime propaganda is usually, if not always, crafted to produce hysteria, the destruction of any sense of proportion. Such words, undefined and unmeasured, are used by people more interested in making us lose our heads than in keeping their own.
So how do we know when a dictatorship is fascist? What are the tenets of fascism? Robert Paxton in The Anatomy of Fascism offers examples for the basic essence of fascism. Let's look at those and some selected quotes from our SecDefs speech.
1. a sense of overwhelming crisis beyond reach of
traditional solutions;
"Can we afford the luxury of pretending that the threats today are simply law enforcement problems, like robbing a bank or stealing a car; rather than threats of a fundamentally different nature requiring fundamentally different approaches?"
2. belief one's group is the victim, justifying any action without legal or moral limits;
"And it's a time when Amnesty International refers to the military facility at Guantanamo Bay -- which holds terrorists who have vowed to kill Americans and which is arguably the best run and most scrutinized detention facility in the history of warfare -- as "the gulag of our times." It's inexcusable."
3. need for authority by a natural leader above the law, relying on the superiority of his instincts;
"It seems that in some quarters there's more of a focus on dividing our country than acting with unity against the gathering threats."
4. right of the chosen people to dominate others without legal or moral restraint;
"And that is important in any long struggle or long war, where any kind of moral or intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong, can weaken the ability of free societies to persevere."
5. fear of foreign `contamination';
"(Our enemies) ...manipulate the media to try to demoralize public opinion. They doctor photographs of casualties. They use civilians as human shields. And then they try to provoke an outcry when civilians are killed in their midst, which of course was their intent."
Well so much for comparisons. Clearly it's much easier to label one fascist or fascist appeaser than it is to substantively argue the issues.