"Our Weapon Is Fear"

On Halloween, just ahead of Tuesday's local elections, we received a second attack flyer in the mail from conservative activists. This one was entitled "Save Our City." (Save it from progressive, radical, extremist socialists, that is.)

Last February, Mark Liebovich penned a New York Times column entitled, "'Socialism!' Boo, Hiss, Repeat," describing the resurgence of "socialist" as the rhetorical weapon of choice among conservatives. Their "permanent Republican majority" washed away by Democratic victories in 2006 and 2008 (and by the waters of Lake Pontchartrain), conservatives resurrected "socialist" to smear anyone to the left of Genghis Khan as anti-American or a heretic.

Last week, a squad of Republican cardinals bagged a "heretic," New York Republican assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava. Her voting record was only "slightly more conservative" than average for New York, making her utterly unacceptable to the tea-party Hard Corps. Scozzafava dropped out of the three-way race for NY-23 and endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, who Tuesday night won a seat held by Republicans for over a hundred years. Next, Newt Gingrich may have a date with the comfy chair.

But back to those socialists. Joshua Bolin of Augusta, Ga., founder of a Web site, "Reagan.org," calls socialism "something new for us to hit Obama over the head with." Exactly. It is a cudgel with all the intellectual content of "When did you stop beating your wife?" It is not meant to spark debate (intelligent or otherwise), but to stop it cold. It is a rhetorical taser for the fear center of the lizard brain.

As Bolin hints, facts are irrelevant. A fact is merely the stick closest at hand, and useful for hitting opponents over the head. Once the stick breaks (or is publicly debunked), it is disposable. Another will do just fine. Truth is just as disposable. A real fact, a "true fact" conforms to conservative orthodoxy and makes a suitable weapon against "socialists."

In a YouTube clip making the rounds on the right-wing spam circuit, the 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, a former Maggie Thatcher advisor and climate change skeptic, claims that a United States president, Barack Obama, will help create a "communist world government" in Copenhagen this December. "[U]nless you stop it," Lord Christopher Monckton warns melodramatically, "your president will sign your freedom, your democracy and your prosperity away forever, and neither you nor any subsequent government you may elect will have any power whatsoever to take it back again."

(Like when another president gave away forever America's power to torture people?)

To borrow from another Christopher (Buckley), does the modern conservative get "moist on his own petard" delivering such fear-mongering twaddle? Or after decades of looking for commies hiding in woodpiles, are they incapable of letting go of the S-bombs and the red-baiting? Is it because the vaunted collapse of communism was just another "Mission Accomplished" or because it is another case of "I wish I knew how to quit you."

Since losing the White House last November, America's disenCheneyed far right has renewed its obsession with rooting out the socialist menace they told us Ronald Reagan defeated when the Cold War ended twenty years ago.

And they wonder why in 2006 and 2008 American voters chose leaders who live in the 21st century, not in the last one.

 

Comments

[Swift2]

The subtext of today's conservatives -- really, radicals, as Sam Tannenhaus says -- is bizarrely tinged with '60s rhetoric, long after the mainstream has given up on all that. They often remind me of the underinformed and overdressed square who goes to the hippie party to pick up chicks, and starts quoting Dylan out of context.

[protagonia]

Always refuse that which your opponent requires of you. Starve them of the thing they want.

NO FEAR FOR THE VAMPIRES. It is what they run on.

[LWS]

In Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, M.D., describes coercive methods used to alter the thoughts of individuals without their knowledge, these techniques were used on prisoners of war in Korea and China.

1: Loading the Language. Words and phrases used as thought-terminating jargon.
”Stick. Head. Repeat.” Republican are not presenting reasoned debate, their “facts are irrelevant. A fact is merely the stick closest at hand, and useful for hitting opponents over the head.” This is about dehumanizing the opposition.

2:Sacred Science. Liberal doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute. Truth is not to be found outside the group. (i.e. Stick. Head. Repeat.") Factual evidence is not required to condemn a Republican, only a bald assertion.

3:Doctrine over person. Denial of personal experiences and opinions of those outside the group. Factual evidence opposing Liberal position is denied. Truth is disposable.

4:Erasing existence. Those in the (Liberal) group have a right to exist, others do not. Outsiders are less than human, or unenlightened, or unconscious -- erased as human beings from the group’s reality. They are paranoid, liars, “tea-baggers.” Thus, the outside world loses all credibility.

[Rogan]

I would think someone like you, who knows lots of big words, also knows what "projection" means...

There's also the matter of "I know you are but what am I" responses, being what they are, no matter how many big words they're dressed up in...

[Tom Sullivan - Huffpost Blogger]

I lost track , for example, of how many justifications for invading Iraq the Bush White House concocted -- a grad student did a study and counted twenty-someting -- each disposable as soon as it no longer dominated the news cycle. Bush went through them like a plate of hot wings. When one was no longer useful or got debunked, he'd move on to another. That's what facts being irrelevant means.

I said nothing about anyone's right to exist, only noted the fearmongering and the use of socialism as a stick (see the NYT article and reagan.org).

[humanbeing-rick]

The well funded and well heeled neo-conservatives trot out their propoganada from their think tanks using the best talent available at brain-washing and psychological tricks. Using labels like "socialism" and "liberalism" turning them into bad words, or something evil. There is nothing wrong with them at all, they are just the other end of the pole from "corporatism" and "neo-conservatism".
A healthy society is one that strikes a healthy and fair balance between the two extremes.
We need a balance of socialism and capitalism, and balance of liberal and conservative, to meet the needs of all the pople of America. Not just one side or the other. We dont want to be polarized.

To be fair, the conservatives have had their way for way too long. It is high time for the liberals to come into power and have their way for a while too. We must be fair and balanced.

[1will]

Good column. After all, there's nothing socialist about wanting to control the banks, the auto industry, healthcare and energy. Nope....nothing at all.

[Tom Sullivan - Huffpost Blogger]

Stick. Head. Repeat.

[1will]

That's the best rebuttal a professional columist could come up with. I guess they will put anyone's column on the Huffpost if it's sufficiently anti American, anti Christian or anti Capitalism. Keep up the good work. With a little effort you may one day find yourself able to form a well reasoned argument (of course your column doesn't suggest this).

[ThinkCreeps]

To paraphrase,

`Amongst our weapons are fear, stupidity, and a fanatical devotion to the pope'

[pons1595]

These lizard-brained "pathetics" are so obviously arrogant and full of self-hate one can't muster even an iota of pity for them. Their existence is a bane to true conservatism. They are beyond extremism; they are bound for inglorious disaster. They seek with their sound and fury Dante's 8th and 9th circles.

[sociocanuck]

I think you might have insulted Ghengis Khan, there.

[Tom Sullivan - Huffpost Blogger]

Just as long as I didn't insult John "The Conqueror" Wayne: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049092/

"Well, all right, you Mongols..."

[Nikkiefied]

I can understand using fear to motivate people. When you dont have compassion, love, reason, or even common sense behind your argument, what else is left?

http://speakonit.com/

[blizb]

Wonderful comment!
I don't see any legitmate arguments coming from the right.

They certainly don't care about the future of our country otherwise they would have plans, proposals, information, and provide support in a bipartisan way.

Instead just shouting, lying, putting forth false information, creating fear and creating mistrust.

The only thing I have seen recently and was the Republican candidate Dede, bowing out due to pressure from her own party and endosing the Democrat.

That took a lot of courage and I respect her enormously.

The right, Pawlenty, Sarah Palin, and pals who spent big bucks going after their own Party member did so only because of the "choice" issue. They abandoned their own to support another candidate not from the district he was running in, based on his pro-life stance even though he wasn't qualified for the postiion.

[seawolf77]

It goes all the way down to your 2 bit run of the mill middle manager yelling and screaming at an underling first thing in the morning before he;s even woke up or gotten a cup o coffee. It's all just a question of scale. The world they live in they are always the scarers, never the scarees. And you are right it is their aphrodisisac. I just laugh at them now. Drivs them crazy.

[bujudude]

Demagogues love to use fear and hate since they are the only tools they have to work with. The far-right has used these tactics for decades and can barely contain their hate and contempt of the American people. This is why they have always been opposed to public education and have fought to eliminate the Dept. of Education. A fearful, ignorant public is easier to manipulate. They want sheep that will either become soliders for their endless wars, or compliant consumers who will buy whatever BS they are peddling. This is much true for political pandering as it is for whatever the market is pushing. Fear must be defeated by knowledge, love and compassion, the antithesis of FOX, Limbaugh and the birthers/tea baggers.

[TryToBeFlexible]

When you attempt to seize power by using fear, isn't that the definition of terrorist?

[protagonia]

Yes. The right is our internal foe.