By Dinesh D'Souza
In 1925 the Jewish philosopher Theodor Lessing spoke out against the repressive political climate of Weimar Germany.
Although Lessing’s explicit target was the cravenness of the Weimar regime of Paul von Hindenburg, his real target was the emerging power of Nazism, and he blamed the government for yielding to it.
The Nazis recognized immediately the threat posed by Lessing. Adolf Hitler youth at Lessing’s University of Hanover formed a “committee against Lessing.” They encouraged students to boycott his lectures.
Nazi youth then showed up and disrupted Lessing’s classes. Lessing was forced to give up his academic chair the following year.
In his account of what happened, Lessing later wrote that he could do nothing to prevent being “shouted down, threatened and denigrated” by student activists.
He was helpless, he said, “against the murderous bellowing of youngsters who accept no individual responsibilities but pose as spokesman for a group or an impersonal ideal, always talking in the royal ‘we’ while hurling personal insults … and claiming that everything is happening in the name of what’s true, good and beautiful.”
This was fascism, German style, in the 1920s.
Read more...
13 comments:
This isn't going to go over well, but it's the truth, and the left will not be able to handle it...it will be called "hate speech".
Mr. Paine, I must say I am disappointed with this essay, to equate Liberals with Fascism is a bridge too far. The Nazis and the KKK are now carrying the Republican banner with the implied support of the president.
As far as free speech goes we have the ACLU who has fought for the right of the KKK and Nazis organizations to speak and hold rallies. The Conservatives have no comparable organization to speak of.
Weather you like it or not those two groups are now part of the Republican brand and there will be more violence and killings in the future. I think your position will only get more uncomfortable as time goes on.
I know you are a good man and do not support the hate groups but they are on your side of the isle.
Shame. You are feeding the hate with ignorance and lies.
Why can’t we understand that it just makes con-sense that the Klan are still Democrats and Nazis are liberals?
Fascists don’t know they are fascists, and racists don’t know they are racists. They are too busy blaming and accusing liberals and others of being racists and Nazis.
Mr. Paine tells us Obama, not the Klan, not the Nazis, not FOX, not white nationalists, not con-servatives, but Obama, he is the real reason for rising racial tensions.
Blaming the Black Guy for racism proves you’re not racist. See the logic?
This country has descended into hate and madness.
Majormajor, your words are prophetic, sir! You have no idea. :)
James, it was not my intent to equate ALL liberals with fascism. Indeed an overwhelmingly vast majority of liberals absolutely are as against fascism as much as I am. There exists, however, a rising amount of folks, particularly on college campuses, that employ fascist tactics in curbing free speech and in shouting down, intimidating, or resorting to actual physical violence against anyone who dares to have the temerity to voice an opinion contrary to their own. It is a fascism born of the Alinsky model. It is truly ironic that these folks characterize themselves as anti-fascists when their hate of dissenting opinion is so chilling as in their hope to create a lock-step homogeneous world view that never strays from their PC dictates. When other liberals stand quietly by and allow this to happen in their name, then they are complicit. I recognize the same is true when the Republicans do not absolutely denounce the hate groups that attach themselves to their party too.
As for the Republicans, I long ago left that party and no longer identify with these craven cowards. Yes, there are some fringe hate groups that are fascistic in nature that claim to be Republicans. I denounce and condemn them unequivocally and more stridently than I do even the GOP. I, for one, am going to denounce it whether it is from the left or right.
This article from D'Souza struck me as an interesting perspective. I did not write my own commentary with this post to state my perspective, and perhaps that was a mistake. That said, I certainly don't think that you and 90% of all other progressives are fascists in their ideologies or tactics. I too recognize that you are a good man with nothing but good intentions. Please do not assume this article was directed at you or those good folks on the left that are similarly like you, my friend.
Mr. Dubya, you apparently see things only through the prism of color and identity politics, sir.
I don't blame President Obama because he is black. I blame president Obama because he agitated these racial tensions. He denigrated and endangered police officers before even having all of the facts in many cases, simply because the antagonists were black; I give you Trayvon Martin and Professor Gates as examples. His support of punks over the police simply because they were people of color, such as he did in Missouri with Michael Brown, is a catalyst for this rising hate. Michael Brown was a career criminal that tried to take an officer's gun from him and was shot because of it. This created the Ferguson riots. A black criminal trying to disarm an officer of his weapon getting shot is "obviously" a sign of racism.
You see everything based on the color of one's skin pigmentation. I try to look at things based on right or wrong... on the content of one's character.
It is strange how that ideal of Dr. King's has become a racist notion to some of our brothers and sisters today.
It is strange how that ideal of Dr. King's has become a racist notion to some of our brothers and sisters today.
BS. Accuse much? Evidence not required?
Students protesting against hate speech is not fascism.
Destruction is usually by anarchists, not liberals, if you care to learn that fact. This violence is NOT taught on campus. The high body count from Right wing nuts tell the true perspective. This is what you must ignore when you accuse liberals of being Nazis.
There you go again, blaming blacks for racism. You are utterly uninformed about Gates and the bully cop. The cop escalated the situation AFTER learning it was Gates house.
Suspecting an old man with luggage in broad daylight and ignoring his pleas to be left alone at his own home is the part you ignore. Shame on you.
You blame a murder victim for racism too, for God's sake!!!
Wake up. Your prejudice is showing. In the aftermath of Trump's support of "Good people" marching with Nazis you come off just as insensitive and uninformed.
It is strange how that ideal of Dr. King's has become a racist notion to some of our brothers and sisters today. ~ TP
BS. Accuse much? Evidence not required? ~ DD
How about your accusation with the implications of me being racist simply because I am "blaming the black man" for agitating race relations for which I DID give credible examples as evidence? ~ TP
Students protesting against hate speech is not fascism. ~ DD
No, it isn't. Indeed it is their protected right to protest. When they shout down others with opposing thoughts and resort to violence, THAT is fascistic. ~ TP
Destruction is usually by anarchists, not liberals, if you care to learn that fact. This violence is NOT taught on campus. The high body count from Right wing nuts tell the true perspective. This is what you must ignore when you accuse liberals of being Nazis. ~ DD
BS right back at you. And I don't accuse liberals of being Nazis. I accuse SOME liberals of using fascist tactics. There may be anarchists involved, but there are absolutely many lemming student progressives that are guilty of this too. And violence evidently may not necessarily be formally "taught" on campus, but it evidently is condoned and even advocated by some faculty. Indeed campus police departments often stand by as these violent protests ensue on campuses. As Ben Shapiro reported, "When I spoke to California State University at LA, one professor threatened students who sponsored me by offering to fight them. He then posted a slogan on the door of his office stating, 'The best response to microaggression is macroaggression.' " Doesn't that sound like "teaching violence" to you, Dave? ~ TP
You blame a murder victim for racism too, for God's sake!!! ~ DD
Wow. Are you truly that misinformed or simply that far gone in your support of the identity-politics-bovine-excrement mantra? Michael Brown was not murdered. Even President Obama's own Justice Department ruled accordingly:
"Based on this investigation, the Department has concluded that Darren Wilson's actions do not constitute prosecutable violations under the applicable federal criminal civil rights statute, 18 U.S>C. 242, which prohibits uses of deadly force that are "objectively unreasonable," as defined by the the United States Supreme Court. The evidence, when viewed as a whole, does not support the conclusion that Wilson's uses of deadly force were "objectively unreasonable" under the Supreme Court's definition. Accordingly, under the governing federal law and relevant standards set forth in the USAM, it is not appropriate to present this matter to a federal grand jury for indictment, and it should therefore be closed without prosecution."
It has become a very dangerous world indeed when your politics and its attached forms of demonization are so great that you accuse an innocent officer fearing for his own safety of murder! SHAME ON YOU, sir! ~ TP
Wake up. Your prejudice is showing. In the aftermath of Trump's support of "Good people" marching with Nazis you come off just as insensitive and uninformed. ~ DD
I certainly do not support the KKK, Neo-Nazis, or other white supremacists that protested in Charlotesville or anywhere else. I wholly condemn their vile and evil doctrines. That said, I think we have already proven who is uninformed and insensitive to say the least in this conversation. ~ TP
"When I spoke to California State University at LA, one professor threatened students who sponsored me by offering to fight them.
If you care for facts, the professor said "we have a mat in the gym if want to show us your white supremacy". Look it up.
The title of your post is "The Fascist Roots of the American Left". In light of what happened in Virginia, this is a most vile projection and false demonization of liberals. Nowhere did you quality this broad accusation.
Trayvon Martin is the murder victim you blame for racism.
That is what white racists do. Your MLK reference rings as hollow as Trump's moral center.
For moral grounding, I suggest a test. If what you write is something Trump would say, that is a flag.
Your ignorance of the Gates case shows you don't care to know the truth. But your exclusive blame for Blacks is exactly in line with White Supremacists, Nazis and the Klan. You expect to be respected for agreeing with racists?
Then you say liberals are fascists, in the wake of a Far Right fascist murder, yet. You have a lot of gall and no shame. Been to some meetings lately? You are repeating what they say.
Stop sounding like Trump. Is that too difficult?
For someone who claims not to have voted for him, you sound a lot like him. It conveys hate. Don't pretend otherwise. That is what Trump and his cult are all about.
I say this from a moral standpoint. You are blinded by hate and partisan ideology, old buddy. And I fear you will never have the insight or personal reflection to understand that.
BTW. Hitler was "fascism, German style, in the 1920s".
And damn you for comparing me to Nazis. Yes, saying I have "fascist roots" in Nazism is just that.
Apologize, or live with your hate.
If you care for facts, the professor said "we have a mat in the gym if want to show us your white supremacy". Look it up. ~ DD
Oh, so the professor's offer for fighting in the gym to prove his leftist points as well as his not-so-veiled call to violence... errrrrr.... I mean "macro-aggression" for those that micro-aggress against fragile PC college students is okay by you? It wouldn't be if he was a conservative teacher, I have no doubts. ~ TP
The title of your post is "The Fascist Roots of the American Left". In light of what happened in Virginia, this is a most vile projection and false demonization of liberals. Nowhere did you quality this broad accusation. ~ DD
Yep, you are correct. That was the title that Dinesh D'Souza wrote the article under. I did not provide any prologue or commentary other than to simply re-post the article. In retrospect, that was probably a mistake as I have already mentioned to Woodenman. Further, as I said, I personally only characterize a small, but growing, minority of very vocal leftists as using these fascist techniques. Most good folks on the left do not employ or support this form of fascism, even though their silence on the matter is disturbing. ~ TP
Trayvon Martin is the murder victim you blame for racism. ~ DD
OHHH! My apologies as I assumed you were speaking of the "gentle giant" Michael Brown. As for the son that President Obama never had, I don't recall his killing by a Hispanic man as being a murder. In fact, a jury acquitted Zimmerman of the charge. Was Zimmerman an idiot and acted foolishly thereby needlessly putting himself and Trayvon in dire harm? Yep. Lot's of blame can rightfully be heaped on Zimmerman, but according to a Florida jury, murder is not one of those things. Why President Obama felt it necessary to get involved in what amounted to a sad and deadly, albeit too common, local issue is what is really telling. There was no matter of national security or interest that should have caused President Obama to become so personally embroiled in this matter like he did. And if he had no business doing so for a case of accused murder, he sure as hell had no business being involved in Professor Gate's comparatively much more minor trespassing imbroglio. ~ TP
That is what white racists do. Your MLK reference rings as hollow as Trump's moral center. For moral grounding, I suggest a test. If what you write is something Trump would say, that is a flag. ~ DD
I know... I know... The fact that I don't see color when looking at fellow children of God must be absolutely bizarre to you. The fact that I can quote and whole-heartedly support Dr. King's pinnacle idea on race relations must seem a hoax to you. After all, only leftists are not racist in your eyes, right? As for Trump, well he is wrong a whole lot more than he is right. And when he is right, often times he states or characterizes his stance in a poor or wrong way. But sometimes he is right. When he is, I will support that. When he is not I will not. ~ TP
Your ignorance of the Gates case shows you don't care to know the truth. But your exclusive blame for Blacks is exactly in line with White Supremacists, Nazis and the Klan. You expect to be respected for agreeing with racists? Then you say liberals are fascists, in the wake of a Far Right fascist murder, yet. You have a lot of gall and no shame. Been to some meetings lately? You are repeating what they say. ~ DD
I am curious. Please show me where my blame is "exclusively" placed on Black people? How many times on my own blog and everywhere else I venture on the interwebs have you found me vehemently condemning and placing blame on racists, right and left? Why even the other day on Tom's site I commented by correcting Tom and stating that the right-wing racist that killed Heather was a domestic terrorist. Your response was to belittle my comment and cast doubt on my sincerity while claiming I am blaming blacks and "the black guy" in office for all of the racism. You are so filled with bitterness, anger, and politically-charged hate that you cannot even seen when someone is agreeing with you that racism in all of its forms is evil and should be something we ALL stand up against as Americans. ~ TP
Stop sounding like Trump. Is that too difficult? For someone who claims not to have voted for him, you sound a lot like him. It conveys hate. Don't pretend otherwise. That is what Trump and his cult are all about. I say this from a moral standpoint. You are blinded by hate and partisan ideology, old buddy. And I fear you will never have the insight or personal reflection to understand that. ~ DD
I am curious how am I sounding like Trump to your ears? The rest of your statement smacks of nothing more than projection, sir. ~ TP
BTW. Hitler was "fascism, German style, in the 1920s". And damn you for comparing me to Nazis. Yes, saying I have "fascist roots" in Nazism is just that. Apologize, or live with your hate. ~ DD
It is interesting how I can be falsely characterized , without a hint of proof to support your egregious assertion, as a racist and right-wing authoritarian by you on numerous occasions, and yet I am the one living in hate according to you. Dave, I don't hate you. If anything, I feel pity towards you. That said, you have routinely mischaracterized me and other conservatives, and even a moderate or two, for not towing to your ideologically pure beliefs. You have put words into my mouth that I have not said, attributed pernicious ideologies and thoughts that I do not have, and basically bullied others that had the temerity to disagree with your "enlightened" leftist ideology wherever you venture on the internet. That is akin to the Alinsky-fascist model that the militant left is using today, as is described in my newest posting today. That said, I don't think you are a fascist, anymore than I think a vast majority of the good folks on the Left are. They are not. I simply think that you are a bully and wish to mischaracterize anyone that disagrees with you on the right as full of C.R.A.P. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to head off to help out my Hispanic step-daughter. ~ TP
Dave, you make me weary. "Not one white person is blamed." REALLY? I regularly and repeatedly have condemned the "white persons" involved with racist and fascist groups. I blame Trump for continuing to divide, rather than unite our country. The difference is that you don't see that Obama did the same thing with his words and actions. He invited BLM to the White House forum. This is the same group that has incited violent protests and been seen chanting in the streets, "Pigs in a blanket. Fry them like bacon!" Now you tell me that Obama is blameless.
As for Trump, he said the violence was on "many sides". The comment was unnecessarily incendiary, but it was true. Indeed of the four people arrested, two were from the protesters and two were from the counter-protesters. Evidently that beam is still in your eye preventing you from seeing that it is just one group that is fomenting violence.
As for Gates, Obama should have acknowledged Gates as a friend, and said that it was a local matter being dealt with their and didn't need to be addressed on a national level by the White House. Your "yes massah" response is disgusting, by the way.
As for demonizing liberals, I simply disagree with them on issues. I will call out the extreme leftists when they stretch the boundaries of the law or engage in hypocritical acts. My doing so certainly does not mean that I condone it on the right though. I think that is what you fail to understand.
As for the press and educators, if they would stick to the facts, then they wouldn't need to be called out either. Allowing lies and propaganda to go unchallenged is hardly a Nazi tactic.
Dave, since it seems you haven't figured it out yet, I only call CERTAIN liberals commies and compare their tactics to the Nazis when THOSE CERTAIN liberals act accordingly. That is the truth.
You gripe about some of my sources, but the truth of the matter is that MSNBC, NY Times and all of the other mainstream liberal media often don't report on left-wing transgressions. When they do, it is often spun to minimize the left's culpability. Sometimes one must go to non-traditional or right of center sources to even find reporting on an event that the left MSM refuses to objectively cover.
Ya know what, after reading the rest of your comment, I am not even going to work in good faith to answer you anymore. You don't care about any perspective other than yours, let alone the truth of the matter. You simply want to come in and fling feces all over the place. You are one that simply wants to argue, accuse, and project. I don't have time to waste on you and will save my time to answer, converse, and debate with good folks on the left that are sincerely interested in discourse. Cheers to you anyway!
Post a Comment