Authoritarianism Transcends the Pseudo-Political Divide

Here are a couple of recent postings from The Intercept that I found to be relevant.

https://theintercept.com/2017/08/25/even-wikileaks-haters-shouldnt-want-it-labeled-a-hostile-intelligence-agency/

While the author (Biddle) is hardly friendly to Wikileaks, he raises some interesting points with regard to the direction the US government is heading. Mike Pompeo, head of the CIA seems to be leading the charge. Of course as I and many others have pointed out, there's been quite a reversal on Wikileaks by figures within the GOP and Trump Administration. During the campaign they praised Assange, now they want him dead.

Likewise, this Greenwald article sounds a warning.

https://theintercept.com/2017/08/29/in-europe-hate-speech-laws-are-often-used-to-suppress-and-punish-left-wing-viewpoints/

In this case he's being critical of figures like Newt Gingrich but his condemnation of the Left is perhaps even greater. Liberalism as an ideal used to mean something and today those that claim the label seem to have forgotten the concepts and values it historically represented.

Of course I hear many Christians express outrage over political correctness and the new wide-ranging spectrum of thought-crime and historical revision. And yet, all I can say is... it's rough getting a dose of your own medicine. For many years, even before McCarthy the Right (and at least since the 1980s the Christian Right) led the charge when it came to this sort of thing. No, they didn't have to pull down statues but they did utilise the police and the courts as a form of violence. In other contexts such as the South, Right-wing violence was fairly common.

The Right while it claimed to adhere to Classical Liberalism consistently demonstrated a hostility to free speech and expression. Long before weak attempts at boycott they used the censor and the judiciary to silence anyone who questioned the status quo. They established the state bureaucracy and legal precedent that have now been turned against them.

They engaged in historical revision, whitewashing sins and suppressing figures and narratives that questioned the grand metanarrative.

At this point though they still wield some political power, they've lost the culture war and are way behind the power-curve. I fear what would happen if the Far Right ever really did get a grip on society. They would have to use a lot of force to accomplish their goals and thus far under Trump they've been fairly timid. I'm no fan of Paul Ryan or his agenda but thus far I have to believe the Right must be disappointed with his almost non-existent leadership of the House. Truly they have (thus far) all but squandered their tremendous political moment.

While Trump was wrong in failing to condemn Neo-Nazis, he's right in one sense... there's plenty of bad characters and actions on both sides. The air has become toxic and if the conditions are just right... the fabric of American society could be quickly ripped apart. There's not much left as it is. Of course Trump and the street-level supporters who stand with him are hardly the folks that are going to bind up social wounds.

In the meantime it's been sixteen years since 9/11 and we now have a generation of young adults that don't or just barely remember it. They've grown up in a vortex of social change. Manufactured fear, authoritarianism, militarism and a technological revolution has born and bred a generation that thinks very differently about the world. Many 'Leftists' aren't what I would call Leftists at all. While they may champion the rights of freaks and moral deviants their commitment to authoritarian nationalism and the economic system that supports the American way of life is far from traditional 'leftist' concerns or Liberal values. Many of these folks have no problem with American bombs being dropped... they just want them dropped on the right country and in the right context. Many of them have fallen for the illusion (and indeed delusion) of so-called humanitarian wars which are in reality just another means of media manipulation by the Establishment.

The actual Left in this country is so miniscule that it escapes notice and is reckoned as an extremist fringe by those affiliated with the largely Right-wing DNC. Once again it's really telling that apart from identity-politics generating street protests there is no genuine Leftist opposition in this country. There is certainly no anti-war movement. Apart from the flash in the pan protests of early 2003, the movement is largely non-existent and is represented only by small groups on the fringe... groups now targeted by Facebook, Google and a host of media outlets wed to the Corporatocracy.