Dropping the other F-Bomb--fascism, without sounding like a babbling lunatic can be a daunting task. Nevertheless it needs dropping. The usual response on my first few tries with co-workers was of course the dismissive eye roll. That, or they look at you like you have a dick growing out of your neck. A definite no, no in the American lexicon. I have however succeeded recently.
Unfortunately when most people hear the word `fascism' they think of swastikas and gas chambers and since they don't see any evidence of that they think your engaging in hyperbole or you've had too much to drink. It's not like everybody in this nation of 280 million have read the infamous list by Dr. Lawrence Britt: "The14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism". (I have tacked it up on a few bulletin boards) Despite the fact that it can now be found on at least 279,999,999 blogs, the likelihood of your average citizen being able to recognize the telltale signs of a fascist state is highly unlikely--I couldn't until I did some research. Moreover, much of the country is far to wrapped up in the spectacle of American Idol, cars turning left over and over again on the NASCAR track, or the buggery of Michael Jackson, to fully understand their own government. What's more, fascism, a political system or stance that resembles Mussolini's, is much like good art--not always easy to point out or ascertain--and, much like so called good art, ugly as shit.
I however, jumped into a conversation recently and dropped the F-bomb with positive results. The trick is this: Wait until they start talking about politics and current events, do not start it yourself, or else you look like a partisan with an axe to grind. Next, soften them up with facts and observations, open the door to reality for them--and then drop it.
Something like this: "Damn, look at the way things are going these days. We have people like Armstrong Williams that paid off pundit. We had that fake right wing news reporter Jeff Gannon in the White House. I read that they spent almost a quarter of a billion on fake news stories--do they really need all that propaganda when they have FOX News, Hannity, Limbaugh and all those assholes? All the while they're censoring TV and radio. Remember the flap over Janet's jug? Listen to all the fear mongering. Look at all the cronyism and all the corruption over looked. How about that asshole Tom Delay. Look at the cozy relationship with big business when they passed that personal bankruptcy law legislation recently. That was all for the credit card companies. No legislation however on businesses filing bankruptcy. Hell no. Look at how they manipulate public opinion with their bastardized version of Christianity, and how they distract people from real issues with all that God mongering--not to mention how all these Talibangelical thugs put anti gay marriage amendments on the ballots in order to get all the religious bigots to the polls. Gays are now our most popular scapegoats--big threats to our families you see. (You might want to reconsider Talibangelical, just in case someone interrupts by requesting that you repeat that word. You don't want interruptions at this point when you're on a roll.) How about the 14 military bases in Iraq? Hell the reason those bunglers don't have an exit strategy is because there was never any intention to leave--we're just expanding our empire. And I don't care what anybody says--they manipulated the fucking vote in Ohio, the battle ground state they needed to win. Come on, they had people waiting until 2 in the damn morning to vote in the Democratic districts."
You should have their attention now, so take a deep breath and give them the run down before they scurry off.
"Propaganda, corruption and cronyism, flag waving, the creation of scapegoats, fear mongering, God mongering, war mongering, empire building, economic regimentation, censorship, fraudulent elections, hell all this used to be called..." Drop the motherfucker now. " Fascism."
Let them chew on that for a while. Walk off, get a drink of water, you probably need it. Some of them might dismiss it and some might look at you kind of funny for while but somebody's going to get it--and they'll talk with someone else and that can't be bad. If enough people dropped the F-bomb it could most likely lead to a better understanding of what we're dealing with. Besides, Fascist is a lot easier to say than "Talibangelical".
