[PEN-L:1828] Nostalgia for fascism redux (was Polanyi vs. Hayek)

[knoWWare@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Tom Walker)]

A little over a month ago, I posted a message criticizing the reflex (and
unreflective) use of the word "fascism" to describe any right-wing
totalitarian ideology that comes along. It's a little like calling any
terminal disease "cancer". Although it may effectively express one's
dislike, it doesn't really help in developing an effective response.

Since the word seems to have nine lives as a catch all term of revulsion, I
will repeat my speculation that "fascism" is a favored term because of a
rough and ready "we beat 'em before and we'll beat 'em again" attitude. Lest
we forget, last time "we" beat 'em, "we" had the Soviet Union on our side.
So either the analogy doesn't hold or the prognosis is considerably darker.

The greatest danger in mislabeling a repugnant ideology is that we neglect
to study its specific strengths and specific weaknesses and rely instead on
our foggy notion of the generic strengths and weaknesses of things we're
against. What was that quote about generals always preparing to fight the
last war?

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"Only in mediocre art does life unfold as fate." -- Michael Ignatieff

Tom Walker
knoWWare Communications
http://mindlink.net/knowware/