The Dreaded ‘S’ Word
Since before President Obama was elected, the word “socialism” has been tossed about with great carelessness. Sarah Palin used it without acknowledging that the State of Alaska is, itself, socialist because it takes from the oil companies and re-distributes income to each and every citizen of the State. She also accused Bill Ayers of being a socialist, which, while being true, did not exactly educate the electorate, since he was also cast as a terrorist. And of course, she carried on about ACORN without once acknowledging what it was that ACORN actually did. Once President Obama was elected, the use of the ’s’ word increased dramatically and the electorate dutifully cowered in fear of the evil socialists. Now, with the financial crisis in full bore, there is even more fear being spread by the right wing populists (Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, Malkin, Beck, Coulter, et. al.), and not a single one of them has the slightest idea of what they are talking about. Jonah Goldberg, for instance, has even written Liberal Fascists, a book in which he calls the Nazis socialists, apparently because the full name of the party was the National Socialist German Workers Party. I get it – if the word “socialist” is part of the name, then that makes them socialist. Yes. Absolutely. But a disquisition on the logical fallacies of the right wing populists is the subject of a future post, perhaps.
Really. What is Socialism? Watch this video and see if you don’t have a better understanding of socialism after you finish. Note that this lecture was given on October 7, 2008. It is 38 minutes long, so grab a soft drink and find a comfortable chair before starting. If you don’t have a better understanding after watching the video, perhaps you might be sufficiently motivated to do some research into the subject. Clicking on the link to Monthly Review under the category Magazines in the sidebar will provide a starting point for you.
Capitalism Hits the Fan: A Marxian View from UVC-TV 19 on Vimeo.
Lecture by Professor Rick Wolff, Department of Economics at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst on October 7, 2008.
Americans are poorly educated in comparison to Western Europe. They don’t know much about political and economic systems. The fundamentalist Christian right-wing is keeping this stupidity to higher proportions. Using religion to cover up ideological agenda is an abomination. America has to undergo the “Enlightenment”, what Europe went through centuries ago. Otherwise it will stagnate in ignorance just like the fundamentalist arab countries.
Well, Rikki, I’m not sure it is quite that simple. From what I read, there is a virulent right-wing movement in Europe that is targeting immigrants, similar to the Minutemen here. I’m speaking here of Jean-Marie Le Pen and Joerg Haider, among others. And I believe that Europe suffers from the phenomenon of the Neo-Nazis, just as America does. While I would agree that Americans are probably among the worlds’ most entertained and least educated peoples, I’m not sure where they rank on a scale of populations. One of the driving forces behind the rise of the religious right in this country is a rejection of the principles of the Enlightenment, which is also true of the followers of Osama bin Laden.
I am always amazed and frankly, a bit scared, at how little we’ve changed over the course of history. I watch documentaries about pre-WWII Germany over and over as a study in group psychology during hard economic times. It could happen here.
Indeed it could, which is why I raised my tiny voice in an attempt to alert anyone who might be interested. Desperate times result in desperate actions. Those who believe in the Christian Apocalypse and the End Times and those who make logical fallacies when confronted with facts (like the right-wing populists) pose a serious danger to all of us.