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    Persecution Politics: Nazi Fever

    By Michael Wolraich on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 10:16am | Politics

    One of the recent propaganda tactics of the right wing has been to appropriate the leftist language of discrimination and civil rights to argue that liberal elites are persecuting white Christian conservatives. The most extreme form of this tactic is the Nazi attack, according to which liberals are portrayed as Nazis or fascists in order to represent them as brutal oppressors of helpless conservative victims. Commentators on the right have revised history to represent fascism as a leftist movement. They have invented or exaggerated associations between Democrats and Nazis. They have belabored the slightest similarities between Nazi doctrine and liberalism. And they have darkly hinted at the possibility of a fascist revolution in America.

    But perhaps I should just let them speak for themselves...

    Discover everything that you never wanted to know about conservative paranoia at my Persecution Politics series at dagblog.com.

    Topics: 
    Politics
    Series: 
    Persecution Politics

    Comments

    Look, it's well known that Hitler was in cahoots with the Commies. That whole slaughtering thing was just a cover. That you can't see the obviousness of it all just shows you've drunken the kool-aid.


    by Nebton on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 10:20am

    I had to stop the video half way, because I couldn't take anymore. But I did make it to the point where Michael Savage says that Media Matters are the Nazis of our day (or something like that) because they're tracking conservative media commentators, "trying to trip them up."

    I'm sorry, but that is freaking hilarious. He's calling Media Matters fascist for holding media figures accountable for what they say in public. Seriously. Is he listening to himself. He's whining about his own words being used against him to prove that he's inconsistent or a hypocrite or a bigot or whatever? Here's a little tip for Michael Savage: If you STFU, nobody will be able to use your words against you.


    by Orlando on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 11:02am

    It's worth watching to the end. The Beck clip DF mentioned is priceless.

    As for wingnut hatred of Media Matters, it is indeed freaking hilarious, since 99% of MM content consists of unedited clips of right-wing commentators. They should pay MM for the PR. You should see O'Reilly go bonkers about it. He's called MM "vile," "anti-American," and "the most vicious element in our society today." He also has his own complex conspiracy theory about a plot between Soros and MM.

    The thing is, Savage, O'Reilly, and friends don't really want help with MM. They need MM, Crooks & Liars, etc. to be the bogeyman in their paranoid conspiracy theories. It's like when Obama ditched Van Jones. Sure, the firing boosted Beck's wingnut cred, but it also deprived him of his favorite conspirator.


    by Michael Wolraich on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 2:12pm

    I don't get the right-wing fascination with Soros.  Maybe it's just that he's the exception to the rule, being a lefty billionaire.  They sure don't complain about the Koch family, etc.


    by DF on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 3:05pm

    A great question and worthy of its own blog post. It is weird and a bit creepy, and I'd like to delve further into it, but here's my first blush answer...

    Modern conservative paranoia is rooted in Illuminati conspiracy theories. For instance, Pat Robertson's influential book, The New World Order, is basically a repackaging of classic Illuminati paranoia shorn of the overt anti-semitism. As a rich, international Jew, Soros is the model of an Illuminati conspirator. Google soros illuminati, and you'll see what I mean.

    Does that mean that the right-wing Soros haters are anti-semitic? Not necessarily. People like O'Reilly and Beck have simply promulgated the watered down conspiracy theories that the real anti-semites invented. In a sense, O'Reilly and company inherited the Soros-hatred from the anti-semitic Illuminati folks.

    Of course, it helps that Soros is very rich and very ambitious. I don't think that his vision is nearly as progressive or sweeping as the right wing imagine, but I understand why his ambitions would attract their attention.


    by Michael Wolraich on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 3:49pm

    I think you're giving O'Reilly and Beck too much credit. It's possible their hatred of Soros isn't at all rooted in anti-Semitism, but I think it's more likely that it is rooted in anti-Semitism..


    by Nebton on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 4:19pm

    Perhaps, but I won't make that accusation without better evidence. Hating Soros doesn't entail anti-Semitism, and I'm sure that there are conspiracy-minded Jews who hate him as well.


    by Michael Wolraich on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 4:30pm

    No, I wouldn't support leveling the accusation against them, either. I just don't want to come close to clearing them of that accusation.


    by Nebton on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 4:40pm

    It's simple:

    1.  He's a Democrat; and,

    2.  He's high-profile visible.

    (Psssstttt!!!!  Pass the word: he's also an immigrant and a fer'ner and a Jew.)

     


    by JNagarya (not verified) on Thu, 11/26/2009 - 12:53pm

    Wow, I've heard numerous theories about how the rise of the Nazi party could have been prevented, but never "read the Constitution - act Constitutionally."  I guess those silly Germans should have just read it.  Duh!


    by DF on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 1:52pm

    I love Beck's response. So Palinesque.

    PS I haven't had a chance to read the Kansas critique. I'll respond on the other thread when I get to it.


    by Michael Wolraich on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 1:56pm

    Ah, cool.  If you find it compelling, Frank did write a lengthy response to Bartels (and then Bartels wrote an op-ed responding to that), but I think Bartels makes a pretty damning case that Frank isn't as right as many seem to think.


    by DF on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 1:57pm

    Couldn't get the video to work. Lucky me.


    by acanuck on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 5:01pm

    Must be blocked by the vast right-wing conspiracy.

    It's on youtube. Try the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ogZiSN9iI


    by Michael Wolraich on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 5:38pm

    "One of the recent propaganda tactics of the right wing has been to appropriate the leftist language of discrimination and civil rights to argue that liberal elites are persecuting white Christian conservatives."

    That began with Reagan, when he set the tone that unleashed this minority hoard of racists by saying "You have a RIGHT to be racist." 

     


    by JNagarya (not verified) on Thu, 11/26/2009 - 12:50pm

    Thanks for stopping by JNagarya. It goes back even before Reagan to complaints of "reverse discrimination" in response to desegregation policies. Reagan certainly contributed as well. But it really took off in the 90's with the whole "thought police" backlash to so-called "political correctness," and the idea of Christian persecution has now been fully incorporated into right-wing fundamentalist ideology.


    by Michael Wolraich on Thu, 11/26/2009 - 1:58pm