Jonah Goldberg: The Toughest Whore in Opposite Town
The great flaw in the liberal tradition is the obligation to respect other people's arguments, even when that other person is a nitwit.
It's the downside of the dialectic. We're expected to engage with everyone, whether or not their facts are wrong, their ideas are immoral or they're obviously just using the vocabulary of politics to express problems at home. Result: Laura Ingraham.
And, you know, Plato's Republic.
Point, counterpoint. It's an intellectual duty, like cleaning up after your dog. That's why, starting next week, we're expected to get our pants in a bunch about Doubleday's proud new contribution to the discourse: Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning.
Or, A German-Owned Publisher Calls a Rabbi a Nazi and That's Just the Title.
(Doubleday is Bertelsmann. The phrase "politics of meaning" was coined by Tikkun founder Michael Lerner. Creepy? Sure. But it's all just for fun.)
The author is our old friend Jonah Goldberg, whose other intellectual achievements include being the fat guy who knows every episode of The Simpsons by heart, and rising to the dizzying heights of the KCIA's National Review from his humble origins, being born in a whorehouse.
And that's not really fair. The Korean CIA doesn't technically run the National Review.
It's more of an imprint. Like Doubleday and Bertelsmann.
Where was I?
Jonah Goldberg, the lovable contrarian gadfly, is looking to push your buttons, and from the available excerpts and the reviews so far, it seems he'll be doing it by sticking it to Woodrow Wilson, who's been getting a free ride for far too long.
You're next, William H. Seward.
Woodrow Wilson? We're supposed to get steamed that someone is talking smack about Woodrow Wilson? It's like blaspheming against Phar Lap.
You think Jonah Goldberg must be joking, but that can't be it, because he's not quoting The Simpsons, and he doesn't have dip on his hands. And you're not thinking: I hate this party, I want to go home.
How did Goldberg get stuck with the unenviable task of trying to be irreverent about Woodrow Wilson? Because the Kennedys and FDR are played out. Christopher Hitchens has already done Mother Teresa and Ann Coulter cashed in on re-evaluating the last polarizing historical figure a few living people could actually pick out of a police line-up, Joseph McCarthy.
(One advantage Goldberg has over Coulter? His tits are real.)
So it was Woodrow Wilson or nothing. Hillary had better get elected soon, or conservatives will have nothing to hate but themselves.
But there's more to "liberal fascism" than just the iron heel of the League of Nations. Goldberg's secret history also proves that everyone who wasn't a fascist really was a fascist, pacifism is violence, secularism is religious oppression, social security is Stalinism, compassion is censorship, black is white, anarchy is totalitarianism, slavery is freedom and the only right more precious than racism is mining.
It's that book again.
It's not an argument, exactly, but it will make your teachers dread having to teach you, and attention is good.
The whole point of a book like Liberal Fascism -- besides degrading publishing so TV doesn't look so bad - is to make liberals mad. Cornel West says, "You have got to engage," but sometimes you don't. Sometimes the best thing to do is walk away.
Forget it, Jake. It's Opposite Town.
--
Wait, something about the book's cover just jumped out at me.
Ooooooo! See, he's subverting the Happy Face! (Take that, 1963!) My blood is boiling so hot I could tie-dye a shirt in it. But it isn't even an original twist. Remember the white supremacist sister act, Prussian Blue? Here they are four years ago:
Not liberal fascism. Just plain old fascism.
Jonah Goldberg is so tragically lame, to sell a book he'd steal a logo from a racist child.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
What idiot puts a hitler-mustache on the Walmart mascot and calls it liberal fascism?
oh, yeah, that's right. Jonah Goldberg.
This is a lot attention to pay to a moron.
See Steven Weber's Profile
And after Kristol does his OpEd for The Times, Goldberg does the crossword. I'm not funny, just weary.
Jonah Goldberg is a legacy propagandist. No one should be asked to read his trash.
In 1917 there was a socialist revolution in Russia that succeeded. Socialism at that time was based on Marx-Engels which aspired to take over the planet. Since there was much wrong with capitalism at that time, the capitalists were desperate to stop what they saw as the inevitability of socialism. Each country devised a protection against communism. Fascism was used in Italy and Germany. Esssentially the corpocracy pushed a candidate (Mussolini and Hitler) who was actually right wing capitalist but pretended to be socialist, thereby succeeding to hijack the socialist revolution and bring it under the control of the capitalists.
The United States was fortunate enough to have the genius of democrat FDR who actually encouraged a mild, beneficial socialism while retaining control of the levers of government and the integrity of our institutions. The republicans of that era were encouraging fascism of the Hitler brand which would have been disastrous for our fair nation. After the war, Roosevelt's socialists were persecuted by the right in the red scare altho they had done nothing wrong and, in fact, had served a constructive purpose in deflecting the public from a more inimical socialism and a much worse fascism from the right.
I write this to warn readers of Goldberg's book, that the leftist leanings of Hitler and Mussolini were really the sheep's clothing of the corporate wolf. Goldberg's book is bound to give a glowing description of the sheep without explaining anything about the wolf beneath.
See Steven Weber's Profile
If Ann's tits aren't real then why do they seep milky white discharge?
You've really been unfair to Mr. Goldberg. An even-handed piece would praise him for advancing to the intellectual level of an adolescent home-schooled neonazi girl. It's really quite an improvement for him.
This is an old, old argument he's rehashing. According to conservative revisionist history, Hitler and Mussolini were liberal proto-hippies and it was the conservatives, not the liberal FDR or extreme-left Stalin that led the charge against him, but the American conservatives like Precott Bush. You know, the guy who helped the Nazis funnel money out of Germany, and incidentally the grandfather of our current President.
To quote the great Dorothy Parker:
"This is not a book to be set aside lightly. It should be flung with great force."
Rethugs are the greatest "projectionist" in history!
All you people should never forget one thing about Goldberg,when you take a real look at the substance of writing,he's nothing more than the OP.ED version of "Mallard Fillmore"
The basis of the whole problem is the insistence by US news media that there's two sides to every story, and their lawyers' advice that the best way to avoid lawsuits from the "under-reported" side is to give equal coverage to both.
Thus you get some corporate shill who would sell his sister's ass on a street corner using made-up statistics and sophistry to debate a Nobel laureate on climate change.
The far right has figured this out, and knows full well that they can get all kinds of free coverage for an argument that is utterly without merit, all in the name of "fairness" and "balance".
On those rare occasions when somebody actually tracks down the lies, it's far too late to undo the damage with a "correction".
Liberal fascism? How can he say something like that after what Bush has done? There is so much contradiction in the Republican party. They're completely oblivious to the crimes of Bush.
The right wing in this country has literally become fascist. That's why they have been doing their Luntz-inspired best to distort the term "fascism" until it is impossible to define. That's what the "Isalmofascist" nonsense was about. That's what the arch-liar Goldberg's new set of lies — branding the anti-fascist liberals as fascist — is all about. They hope to rob the term of all meaning and confuse their brainless boob followers — so they can continue to practice fascist principles with impunity.
Jonah Goldberg is a writer for the National Review, as is Ramesh Ponnuru who wrote "Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life." Well, not only is that one of the longest titles in the history of "literature," but one can get a feel for the bastion of intellectual stimulation and inquiry the National Review must be. Of course, it is still useful in cleaning up one's dog poop.
I would go so far as to say that Goldberg was influenced by Prussian Blue. Compare:
Prussian Blue "official website":
"In a day and age when most bands are working hard to remain within self-imposed limits of Politically Correct Thought, Prussian Blue pushes the envelope."
Liberal Fascism editorial review on Amazon:
"Replacing conveniently manufactured myths with surprising and enlightening research, Jonah Goldberg reminds us that the original fascists were really on the left..."
About Prussian Blue:
"Personal beliefs and experiaences [sic] are delicately woven with upbeat rhythms and poignant lyrics to create something that is guaranteed to catch the listener off guard and create a reaction."
About Liberal Facism:
"These assertions may sound strange to modern ears, but that is because we have forgotten what fascism is. In this angry, funny, smart, contentious book, Jonah Goldberg turns our preconceptions inside out and shows us the true meaning of Liberal Fascism."
Jonah Goldberg:
"We accept cash, personal checks and money orders"
Prussian Blue website:
"We accept cash, personal checks and money orders"
Coincidence?
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
