Emptywheel
Emptywheel
Supreme Court majority implicated in US government hacking incident.
fascism
Reuters
ReutersThe soldiers, some of whom told Reuters they did not get involved in arrests, are officially in Washington to support a federal crackdown on what President Donald Trump calls a crime epidemic. But that depiction appears to run counter to the fact that crime rates overall have shrunk in recent years.What are they doing there beyond creating a media spectacle?
apnews.com
apnews.comOn Saturday, postal services around Europe announced that they are suspending the shipment of many packages to the United States amid confusion over new import duties. Postal services in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Italy said they will stop shipping most merchandise to the U.S. effective immediately. France and Austria will follow on Monday.It's like the US imposed sanctions on itself. Elections have consequences.
apnews.com
Dallas-area Rep. Linda Garcia said she drove three hours home from Austin with an officer following her. When she went grocery shopping, he went down every aisle with her, pretending to shop, she said. As she spoke to The Associated Press by phone, two unmarked cars with officers inside were parked outside her home.Texas Republicans are completely unhinged.
Anti-Authoritarian Immune System
ugh.
You know, we have a strong history of opposing authoritarianism. I'd like to believe that opposition is like an immune system response that kicks in.
In 1995 Umberto Eco tried to put together a description of Fascism that basically has a listicle in the middle. It might as well be called You Won't Believe these 14 Elements of Fascism. He called it, Ur-Fascism. It's hard to click and read a dry article about political theory from an Italian semiotician, so here are the highlights of Eco's Ur-Fascism:
In 2004 I collected some of my favorite books about the media: Guerilla Media Literacy List. I still think that's a great list and I plan to revisit some of those books now. (I might add Aristotle's Poetics to that list if I wrote it today.) I think we have a lot of art and literature we can turn to that helps us prepare for living with a more authoritarian system. We still have to do the work. But we can start to get our immune system prepared.
You know, we have a strong history of opposing authoritarianism. I'd like to believe that opposition is like an immune system response that kicks in.
In 1995 Umberto Eco tried to put together a description of Fascism that basically has a listicle in the middle. It might as well be called You Won't Believe these 14 Elements of Fascism. He called it, Ur-Fascism. It's hard to click and read a dry article about political theory from an Italian semiotician, so here are the highlights of Eco's Ur-Fascism:
- cult of tradition
- rejection of modernism
- action for action's sake
- disagreement is treason
- fear of difference
- appeal to a frustrated middle class
- obsession with a plot
- enemies are portrayed as both too strong and too weak
- pacifism is trafficking with the enemy
- contempt for the weak
- everybody is educated to become a hero
- machismo via weapons
- selective populism
- use of an impoverished vocabulary
In 2004 I collected some of my favorite books about the media: Guerilla Media Literacy List. I still think that's a great list and I plan to revisit some of those books now. (I might add Aristotle's Poetics to that list if I wrote it today.) I think we have a lot of art and literature we can turn to that helps us prepare for living with a more authoritarian system. We still have to do the work. But we can start to get our immune system prepared.