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the F word

August 10th, 2009 by Paul Daniel Ash

Got back from a long trip yesterday, and seems like everybody is calling everybody else “fascist…” like it’s the in thing to do. It’s not enough to say that somebody’s wrong: they have to be as bad as Goebbels. And so, here we are in the 21st century, with high-speed Internet to every household and our political discourse looking like a crappy USENET flame war from 1989.

The problem with the Nazi analogy isn’t just that it’s wrong, though it is all kinds of that. Nazis were not socialists, pace Jonah Goldberg… but calling teabaggers brownshirts is almost as bad a stretch. The main problem we have now – and the one we will continue to have for as far as I can see into the future – is that left and right do not talk to each other. At all. Ever.

Even at family gatherings, there isn’t really any space for dialogue about Obama, health care, Sarah Palin, or the war, or any other contested issue in our politics. Most people are on one side or the other, and you’re either a bloodthirsty imperialist or a deluded tree-hugger. Nothing to talk about.

As IOZ noted in passing recently, in other countries you can have a spirited debate over coffee about the issues of the day. In America, it’s almost considered rude to talk about politics or religion at the dinner table.

I think it’s generally dumb to try and analogize present-day America to other times and places. Human nature is what it is, but this society has its own unique qualities that don’t make for easy comparison with, say, the Germany of nearly a century ago. The problem we have now is that we have to share a crowded, crumbling, heavily armed continent with our brothers and sisters that we’re not even talking to. This doesn’t mean hiding our differences, but it does mean at least trying to listen: not to the hot-button baby-killer vs. woman-hater rhetoric, but to the real concerns that are behind the shouting.

I’m one that believes a civil war in this country is possible in our lifetime. Hell, I wrote a novel about it. In addition to it sucking if my fiction were to turn into non-fiction, the simple fact remains that no one wins a civil war. Even if there’s a “victory” on the battlefield, the scars last for generations. And something tells me there would be no Appomattox in this war.

I have strong beliefs, but I don’t want to see my home turn into Afghanistan. Fuck that.

3 Responses

Michelle | Bleeding Espresso writes:

August 10th, 2009 at 11:01 am

Ben detto. Uberly so.

Paul Daniel Ash writes:

August 10th, 2009 at 11:11 am

how trilingualicious of you, vielen grazie.

Narcissa writes:

August 10th, 2009 at 5:35 pm

I think you’re correct about the lack of discourse between “sides,” and the problem with forcing people (or leading them) to choose one thing or another. But Sara at Orcinus has a good post titled “Fascist America: Are We There Yet?” crossposted here: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009083205/fascist-america-are-we-there-yet, which talks about how societies in general descend into fascism and whether or not the US is on its way. And while I am still loathe to call anything “fascist,” I don’t want to blind myself to the possibility that it could happen. People that are being summoned to the townhall meetings aren’t willing to participate in one of the most basic democratic processes, and instead, use all their power to shut them down. I think we can still get ourselves out of this situation, but it has to be done quickly.