The Journolist ‘controversy’
As it happens, this awesome controversy was discussed for about 30 seconds on newsroom-l (new window) when one of the list’s few conservatives (not a journalist, but some guy from Arizona) posted an item about it, to which I replied as follows forthwith:
On 7/23/2010 1:02 PM, [name and email suppressed] to newsroom-l (new window) wrote:
On /Journolist/, the question was whether the protesters were garden-variety fascists or actual Nazis. “You know, at the risk of violating Godwin’s law, is anyone starting to see parallels here between the teabaggers and their tactics and the rise of the Brownshirts?” asked Bloomberg’s Ryan Donmoyer. “Esp. Now that it’s getting violent? Reminds me of the Beer Hall fracases of the 1920s.”
Seems like a perfectly reasonable point to me. I’ve noticed a lot of similarities to the Weimar period, including the fascination with the occult, tattoos and the like. The possible impending failure of the pension system is an especially grim portent.
Same goes for the other statements. You and your friends are a nasty bunch. If you’re so upset about what self-described liberal reporters think about you, maybe you should stop supplying us with so much great copy.
You are the real face of the GOP. The pathetic part is that your organizations are riddled with spies and informers. Everything you do is being reported to some security agency. The right has become so blatantly insane that is has called into existence its own worst fears.
The only difference between you and the Brownshirts is that you are mostly wannabes and the FBI is watching your every move. This seems only prudent to me, based on the consequences of the Weimar government’s failure to understand the Nazi threat when it still might have been possible to contain.
I think you better calm down and be thankful we’re still making jokes about you. You’re still defending Joe McCarthy, who was financed and tutored by the China Lobby, a morphine addict (not that there’s anything wrong with that), an alcoholic and above all, a traitor who damaged the strategic interests of the United States for personal gain. Well, McCarthyist techniques can work both ways. And this time the security apparatus is overwhelming.
You want to be taken seriously. You are being taken seriously. You don’t like that, don’t go around waving guns at presidential events. That’s the image of the right today. How far behind can the straitjacket be?
Incidentally, if you do go to the list archives, you’ll notice that there are only a few weeks’ posts. That’s because we migrated from a Listserv that closed down to another hosting service and the archives still haven’t followed us. Nathan, you hear me? When are the friggin’ archives going to be moved?
