Monday, January 26, 2009

Dumb Letters: The Fascist States of America

There are certain topics to which we continually return. The Bush administration's Culture of Fear isn't going away just because they did. Those left behind are already blaming Obama for the next terrorist attack. Did we expect otherwise?

Here's another gem from today's LA Times.

Obama jump-starts his presidency by announcing the closing of Guantanamo just two days after he warned killers and terrorists, "we will defeat you." He wants to fight a war on terrorism consistent with American ideals and goals. With this rhetoric, he is making the same crucial mistake his predecessor made -- America is not in a war with terrorists, it is in a fight to the death with militant Islam.

Okay, let's stop for a second. I've got two problems here. The first is that the writer uses the term "rhetoric", which is always used disparagingly. But it usually means that the person doesn't mean what they say. It's just talk. "Did you mean it or was that just rhetoric?" The writer's problem seems to be that Obama does mean it. So he gets to call it rhetoric while lamenting its truthfulness. Sorry. No.

My second problem is not about the false use of language (rhetoric?). It's that he conflates Obama's "mistake" with Bush's. This makes it seem as though the writer is purely bipartisan. But it looks like his problem with Bush, if he really had one, was that he wasn't militant enough. I would dispute that. Bush used the "war on terror" line to scare us and sell his wars, but he knew exactly who he was fighting, even as he used that vague term "terror" to assure the widest berth possible.

Okay, actually I have a third problem. "We will defeat you" is portrayed as antithetical to Obama's plans. This fits in very nicely with the right-wing trope that anything less than fascism on our part is tantamount to willful surrender. Bite me.

As for potentially releasing jihadists at Gitmo, so be it. It is clear these detainees are only following the teachings of their prophet that implore Muslims to kill nonbelievers. Guantanamo will be closed, and future jihadists destroying Western civilization will have the right to remain silent if captured. Freedom of religion will thrive. And the overthrow of America will be nearer.

Harry Heath
Claremont

Here we go again. Every single person at Gitmo is not only a proven terrorist, but they are sworn by their religion to kill all of us. Yes, the Qu'ran says infidels should be killed. It also says we should all love each other. You'll find the same contradictions in your precious Holy Bible. Read it sometimes. It's fun. I'll point you to the right parts, if you'd like. They're really nasty. The book of Joshua alone should turn any peace-loving person off from Judeo-Christianity, but there's plenty more.

I love the "It is clear" line and the concept that every last one of them will immediately start attacking us as soon as they are released. I can pretty much guarantee that some of them earned their hatred of us because they were imprisoned at Gitmo, not the other way around.

Once again, we apparently must make a choice between safety and liberty. We must become as bad as our enemies in order to defeat them. I'm so sick of reading this. I'm so sick of writing about this.

America is not a bunch of people who happen to be living in a certain geographical area. It is a bunch of people who live under the ideals and laws in our constitution. If we decide to act as the Bush administration has acted, then America already has been overthrown. All of you fascists can go start your own country. I don't care what you call it. But our constitution stays with us.

3 comments:

Mrs. Chili said...

I love you.

MAB said...

And it's not just the letter writers, of course.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/26/ap/index.html

There's a reason people are misinformed. And it isn't just Faux News.

Kizz said...

This is my favorite part, "All of you fascists can go start your own country. I don't care what you call it. But our constitution stays with us."

I've been having a melt down over the "NOW THE CLOCK IS COUNTING DOWN TO ANOTHER ATTACK!" people. But of course a chunk of those people are people who lost family members on 9/11 so anything one says against them just sounds like so much assiness. GAH!