I love words. I love looking up the etymology of them. I find it fascinating, so I was just thinking about a number of words that are being bandied about regarding President Obama's vision for health care reform. I really wish that people using these words understood what they mean as too many people I've heard invoking them are using them incorrectly. I would just like to provide some definitions as a public service!!
Words can be used to promote positive change, and they can also be used to control and deceive people. The words I'll be discussing are being used by some people to deceive. Let us not be sucked into their deception but rise above it by having knowledge of what these terms really mean. In explaining the terms, I'm using a number of books I have on concepts in cultural theory, concepts in sociology, and concepts in philosophy. So, let's get started!
Fascism: Protester's sign--"No Health Care Reform! President Obama is a Fascist!" When I first heard someone say this, I had a number of reactions, one of which was bemusement followed by amusement. Did you know that part of the political philosophy of the fascists was racial purity?? Think about it--Barack Obama, a biracial man, as a fascist advocating racial purity?!! Another aspect of it was its denunciation of liberalism. Interesting. Yet another aspect of fascism was its intense hatred, yes hatred, of communism. One last point about fascism that you might find interesting--social support for fascism came from the military and the middle-class. Interesting indeed! Hm, President Obama as a liberal and a fascist.
Socialism: Protester's sign--"No Health Care Reform! President Obama Advocates Socialism and He's a Fascist!" As a political theory, socialism actually has equality as its most basic ideal. Socialists believed that it was to everyone's benefit to wrest the control and means of production from the few who owned the resources, and redistribute the control and means of production for the general welfare of the population. Socialists, however, disagreed as to who should control the means of production in a socialist society. "Socialists are particularly opposed to the individualism of liberal capitalist society." (Edgar, A., & Sedgwick, P. (Eds.). (1999). Key concepts in cultural theory. London: Routledge.) Hm, so President Obama is a liberal, fascist, socialist, capitalist individualist. Very interesting.
Communism: Protester's sign--"No Health Care Reform! President Obama is a Socialist Fascist Who Advocates Communism!" Communism reflects the belief that there should be no social division of classes, no ownership of property (private), and no divisions within the labor force. Communism rejects the premise of individual liberty and rights and liberalism, and believes it is the collective conscience of a people that is important. So, President Obama is a liberal, fascist, socialist, capitalist, communist individualist. Makes one's head spin!
Now for something else to think about: Many people who are shouting out their resistance to health care reform are saying that they don't want the government to run health care because the government shouldn't be in control of things like that. It should be privately run because the government doesn't do a good job of running institutions.
One question then for these naysayers: Do you want the military to be privately run? Seems to me like the government has been doing a fairly good job of running it for a couple of hundred years.
Using today's topic as a segue, my next post will address those people who have been shouting "Keep the government out of my Medicare!"
Words can be used to promote positive change, and they can also be used to control and deceive people. The words I'll be discussing are being used by some people to deceive. Let us not be sucked into their deception but rise above it by having knowledge of what these terms really mean. In explaining the terms, I'm using a number of books I have on concepts in cultural theory, concepts in sociology, and concepts in philosophy. So, let's get started!
Fascism: Protester's sign--"No Health Care Reform! President Obama is a Fascist!" When I first heard someone say this, I had a number of reactions, one of which was bemusement followed by amusement. Did you know that part of the political philosophy of the fascists was racial purity?? Think about it--Barack Obama, a biracial man, as a fascist advocating racial purity?!! Another aspect of it was its denunciation of liberalism. Interesting. Yet another aspect of fascism was its intense hatred, yes hatred, of communism. One last point about fascism that you might find interesting--social support for fascism came from the military and the middle-class. Interesting indeed! Hm, President Obama as a liberal and a fascist.
Socialism: Protester's sign--"No Health Care Reform! President Obama Advocates Socialism and He's a Fascist!" As a political theory, socialism actually has equality as its most basic ideal. Socialists believed that it was to everyone's benefit to wrest the control and means of production from the few who owned the resources, and redistribute the control and means of production for the general welfare of the population. Socialists, however, disagreed as to who should control the means of production in a socialist society. "Socialists are particularly opposed to the individualism of liberal capitalist society." (Edgar, A., & Sedgwick, P. (Eds.). (1999). Key concepts in cultural theory. London: Routledge.) Hm, so President Obama is a liberal, fascist, socialist, capitalist individualist. Very interesting.
Communism: Protester's sign--"No Health Care Reform! President Obama is a Socialist Fascist Who Advocates Communism!" Communism reflects the belief that there should be no social division of classes, no ownership of property (private), and no divisions within the labor force. Communism rejects the premise of individual liberty and rights and liberalism, and believes it is the collective conscience of a people that is important. So, President Obama is a liberal, fascist, socialist, capitalist, communist individualist. Makes one's head spin!
Now for something else to think about: Many people who are shouting out their resistance to health care reform are saying that they don't want the government to run health care because the government shouldn't be in control of things like that. It should be privately run because the government doesn't do a good job of running institutions.
One question then for these naysayers: Do you want the military to be privately run? Seems to me like the government has been doing a fairly good job of running it for a couple of hundred years.
Using today's topic as a segue, my next post will address those people who have been shouting "Keep the government out of my Medicare!"
I wonder, due to their long history of misuse, if words like fascism and socialism and communism have almost come to mean different things. For example, calling someone a fascist or communist today is really just way of telling someone he is unAmerican or is seemingly against traditional American values, whatever those are. The saddest part of watching the town halls this summer is that, as a country, we seem to have lost the ability to hold honest dialogues without getting personal.
ReplyDeleteI think it might be part of their use of these words but not all. I believe they've listened to right-wingers like Palin, Limbaugh, and people of that ilk, and they are scared and believe that it's communism/fascism/socialism. They've heard these words but haven't taken the time to understand the true meaning of them. I realize words do change, just as cultures change, and these words are used by some simply as pejoratives, but then why also say someone is unAmerican and fascist in the same sentence? I think it's more attributable to ignorance.
ReplyDelete