Labeling Terrorism Islamic-Fascism: I Know You Are, But What Am I?

The Bush administration's new label for the terrorists has become, in part, the new buzzword for the Republican Party heading into the mid-term elections this fall. Islamo-Fascism. Fascists. For many, the word evokes thoughts of WWII, and the global struggle against intolerant dictatorships. For others, it brings to mind the KKK, the ANP, and other radical fringe elements of Western culture.

But is it an apt label to apply to the people our government has declared war on, or is it simply a political ploy to maintain fear and hatred of the enemy?

White House aides and outside Republican strategists said the new description is an attempt to more clearly identify the ideology that motivates many organized terrorist groups, representing a shift in emphasis from the general to the specific.

Depicting the struggle as one against Islamic fascists is "an appropriate definition of the war that we're in," said GOP pollster Ed Goeas. "I think it's effective in that it definitively defines the enemy in a way that we can't because they're not in uniforms."

While "fascism" once referred to the rigid nationalistic one-party dictatorship first instituted in Italy, it has "been used very loosely in all kinds of ways for a long time," said Wayne Fields, a specialist in presidential rhetoric at Washington University in St. Louis.

"It helps dramatize what we're up against. They are not just some ragtag terrorists. They are people with a plan to take over the world and eliminate everybody except them," said Charles Black, a longtime GOP consultant with close ties to both the first Bush administration and the current White House.

Stephen J. Wayne, a professor of government at Georgetown University, suggested White House strategists "probably had a focus group and they found the word `fascist.'

"Most people are against fascists of whatever form. By definition, fascists are bad. If you're going to demonize, you might as well use the toughest words you can," Wayne said.

After all, the hard-line Iranian newspaper Jomhuri Eskami did just that in an editorial last week blasting Bush's "Islamic fascism" phrase. It called Bush a "21st century Hitler" and British Prime Minister Tony Blair a "21st century Mussolini."

link

The new label for the enemy in the WOT brings to my mind, as the thread title suggests, the old circular school-yard retort "I know you are, but what am I?" used when one child has been called a name by the other they can't one-up, a name that possibly fits the bill. The phrase is repeated over and over until all meaning is lost.

I have noticed time and time again the Bush administration describe the enemy and their tactics in terms that could just as easily be applied to the administration itself. Its almost like watching someone shadowbox in the mirror.

I know you are, but what am I?

Originally posted by Icarus Rising
...in terms that could just as easily be applied to the administration itself.

Yeah but if you try to do that, another schoolyard phenomenon takes place... "pile on the rabbit" (well that's what we used to call it anyway).

I expect the next three months to get crazy as the mid-terms elections approach. Don't you just love the fact that we go through this every two years now instead of four?
.

We used to call it "smear the queer", but those were much less culturally sensitive days, I think, and the term is offensive today. No offense to my brothers and sisters out there who happen to be of different sexual orientation.

This whole mess just makes me want to find some place safe to hide, if such a place still exists, and wait it out until everybody who wants to fight to the finish does, then come out and try to pick up the pieces and move on.

The Lord is my refuge.

Fascists? Look who's talking

Asia Times Online
September 2, 2006

WASHINGTON - The aggressive new campaign by the administration of President George W Bush to depict US foes in the Middle East as "fascists" and its domestic critics as "appeasers" owes a great deal to steadily intensifying efforts by the right-wing press over the past several months to draw the same comparison.

As noted by the Associated Press (AP) this week, "fascism" or "Islamic fascism", a phrase used by Bush himself two weeks ago and used to encompass everything from Sunni insurgents, al-Qaeda and Hamas to Shi'ite Hezbollah and Iran to secular Syria, has become the "new buzzword" for Republicans.

A search on Nexis for articles and columns that included "Iran" and "fascist" or "fascism" found that the Sun and the Times topped the newspaper list by a substantial margin, as did the Review, the Spectator, and the Standard among the magazines and journals. Nearly one-third of all such references over the past year were published in August, according to the survey.

Nexis, which also surveys the Canadian press, found that newspapers owned by CanWest Global Communications, a group that owns the country's Global Television Network as well as the National Post, the Ottawa Citizen and the Montreal Gazette and several other regional newspapers, were also among the most consistent propagators of the "fascism" paradigm and ranked far ahead of other Canadian outlets in the frequency with which they used keywords such as "appeasement" and "fascist" in connection with Iraq and Iran.

The CanWest Global group is run by members of the Asper family whose foreign-policy views have been linked to prominent hardline neo-conservatives in the US and the right-wing Likud Party in Israel.

(Inter Press Service)

They also talk about Fox, Murdoch, the Moonies etc. and give a lot more stats from the Lexis-Nexis survey. Interesting that nearly one third of the references occurred in August. Who was it in the Bush Administration who was quoted as saying that Fall was the ideal time to launch a new war campaign?

I should remind people that Canwest Global was also behind the recent Iranian Coloured Badges Psy-Op to evoke images of Nazi Germany. I also note that the only mention of a paper that is supposedly not playing the game in the US, The Wall Street Journal, was behind the whole August 22 nuclear attack rumours.

The masses are being conditioned.
.

Fore-warned is fore-armed. Thanks for the excellent reference and analysis. I have to pray that if a big doofus like me can see through this charade, there are others out there that can, as well.

The psychological term for this is projection.

2a. Freudian Projection
The following is a collection of definitions of projection from orthodox psychology texts. In this system the distinct mechanism of projecting own unconscious or undesirable characteristics onto an opponent is called Freudian Projection.

"A defense mechanism in which the individual attributes to other people impulses and traits that he himself has but cannot accept. It is especially likely to occur when the person lacks insight into his own impulses and traits."

"The externalisation of internal unconscious wishes, desires or emotions on to other people. So, for example, someone who feels subconsciously that they have a powerful latent homosexual drive may not acknowledge this consciously, but it may show in their readiness to suspect others of being homosexual."

"Attributing one's own undesirable traits to other people or agencies, e.g., an aggressive man accuses other people of being hostile."

"The individual perceives in others the motive he denies having himself. Thus the cheat is sure that everyone else is dishonest. The would-be adulterer accuses his wife of infidelity."

"People attribute their own undesirable traits onto others. An individual who unconsciously recognises his or her aggressive tendencies may then see other people acting in an excessively aggressive way."

"Projection is the opposite defence mechanism to identification. We project our own unpleasant feelings onto someone else and blame them for having thoughts that we really have."

[edit on 1-9-2006 by Icarus Rising]

What this War On Terror has done is Hijack the majority of vote buying/grabbing platforms out from under the Democrats. For so many years thier baillywick ..their forte..in vote grabbing/buying was social programs. In short it has neutered many of thier voting blocks and their ability to get votes with the standard give away and victimization platforms for which they have survived for so long.

Hence the attempt ,and predictably so, must be to short circuit the War on Terror by any means...and this means mostly spreading doubt, criticism, and lack of credibility of this administration...through their favorite shills...the news media.

THis is another Vote grabbing technique

The Republicans on the other hand are using the War on Terror to solidify thier vote grabbing technique and political power base by denying the Democrats thiers.

Both of the Dominant Political partys are preying on the public's fears..

You know that standard Mantra..."He played on our fears."

My point is ..that this stuff gets wolfie when you see it coming from both partys. At times it becomes predictable. This point I recall was implied by one of the other posters on this thread.

Pardon the crudity but I call this technique by both political partys...Jerking the public off. Public Masterbation by sewing fear and doubt in the mind and soul of the public.

Both political partys are doing it ..not just one.

Will the public catch on ...I doubt it..not before its to late....and all is ashes.

One of the best things that can happen to the American Public is to turn off their TV and Radio sets to get away from this type of mantra for votes. Less chance of them being pimped out by both partys.

Thanks,
Orangetom

I recognize that the Democratic Party is just as guilty of dirty tactics as the GOP. They are all pimps trying to turn us all into whores.

However, this thread has a narrow focus on a single facet of the whorehouse. That is, the GOP projecting their own image on the latest crop of would be whores.

I agree with your usage of the words Pimp and Whore/Whoredom to define the Idolatry of the Body Politic here in America. I have used such words myself in describing just this Idolotry. And I am describing a Religion here with very zealous adherents/diciples.

I know what point you are trying to get across. I merely point out that there is another side not shown to the average emotionally programmed robot of an American ..preconditioned by Phil Donahue and later genre.. to respond to the latest emotional news release/technique to get them properly on the bandwagon.
In otherwords I am not giving you a free default to play through and will point out that both partys will do the same thing but in different types of applications. When you peel back the vineer...it is the same technique with the same goal.

THe real loser in this is continually the American Public.


I know this because politics is the only buisness..and it is a buisness..where one can advertise a product ..and never deliver ..and the American public is so dumb they dont even think there is something unusual about this. Republican and Democrat.

Any honest buisness which does not deliver the product advertised would have gone out of buisness long ago..but not politics. Anyone who can think outside the blocks of what passes for public education(television emotional jerk off programming) knows this is true. Yet the American public seldome hears this view from political commentators...this cannot be accidental. Yet the American dummy keeps going back to the voting booth hoping if they pull enought levers something will change. They are never given enough information to realize that something is very wrong with the system..Republican and Democrat. And any honest third party that attempts to enter will be hijacked to one of the other two partys if they dont already secretly work of one of the two.

I am saying that both partys will whore out and put the American public on the Yo Yo string while reeling them in. Sooner or later even the dumbest American starts go catch on. However few there are out here.

As I have posted in another thread..I am very quick to vote with my remote controller when watching the news on the boob tube..or even the radio...as even radios now have remote controllers.

I do not appreciate jerk off politics from any party....it gets very olde after awhile...
I began seeing this increased intensity of this type of conditioning/fingerprint ..some time in late July and early August. It will intensify by both partys between now and November. It has to ..as the average American doesnt have that long a attention span...How about those Redskins...Amereican Idol ..et al..!!

The viewer/listener beware...be warned...!!

THanks,
Orangetom

Again, I completely agree with what you are saying, regardless of the fact that it is outside the narrow scope of this thread.

Thanks for posting your insightful reasoning.