08.11.06
The Children’s Guide to Islamo-Fascism
“the recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.”
-president george bush, august 11, 2006
“in world war ii we fought nazism and japanese imperialism. today we are fighting against islamic fascism.”
-senator rick santorum, july 20, 2006
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Islamo-fascist
Boogeyman that won’t withstand
New children’s crusade
psycho haiku by jhm
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a nation must first massacre language so as to later massacre other nations.
that is why we must be concerned by this new description of what our “enemy” is. this phoney war on terror is now a war against “islamic-fascists”, according to the president. if you have not heard this term before, then turn on your television or listen to the radio, but before you do that, give me the opportunity to innoculate you against this verbally transmitted mind toxin; this abuse of words by language pimps.
the word fascist is loaded with a historical memory.
the original fascist movement ruled italy under the dictatorship of benito mussolini from 1922 to 1943. the word fascism comes from fasces, which is the latin word for rods bundled around an axe. for the romans, the fasces represented the authority of the magistrates.
now that we know where the word fascism comes from, let’s examine what it was in practice.
fascism was developed as a reaction against communism and marxism, especially against the marxist concept of dialectical materialism. the marxist understanding that history was the product of class struggle was rejected by the fascists and they substituted that concept with the idea of a struggle between “races”. therefore, while the marxists viewed their struggle as an international battle for the rights of the international working class, the fascists were concerned with embracing nationalism and mysticism against humanism and rationalism. they embraced social darwinism and celebrated power as a means to legitimacy.
now let’s turn our attention to the word islam and what it means.
islam is an arabic word which means “to surrender”. it literally means to surrender to allah (god). the islamic religion is practiced by more than a billion people around the world and only about 20 percent of muslims are of arabic descent. the muslim religion is monotheistic as are the other “abrahamic” religions such as judaism and christianity. this religion was established in arabia during the seventh century.
finally, after the preceeding exposition, we are ready to proceed to the following article written by james boyce and posted on www.huffingtonpost.com/james-boyce/can-i-ask-a-dumb-question_b_27090.html
this article by mr. boyce will bundle together for us the rods of our inquiry into what isalmo-facism might be and provoke us to wonder if such a thing is possible. so as to whet your appetite, the following is the last paragraph of mr. boyce’s article:
“…Put the two together and you have? Well, a system of government oppressively controlled through terror and censorship where the religion is islam and there’s a policy of belligerant nationalism. But Osama Bin Laden does not run a government, the terrorists in Iraq are not a goverment, the 9/11 hijackers weren’t fascists, so who are the Republicans saying is a threat here?
Sounds to me like we’re not fighting terrorists anymore, because it sure sounds to me like we’re about to fight Iran.”
Tags: psycho haiku, When the Music Is Over, Islamo Fascism, javier hernandez miyares
MarshallDarts said,
August 12, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Islamo-What?
I was wondering, who was the lexicogicographical genius that came up with the term “Islamo-fascism?” What an awkward mouthful. Aren’t Bin Laden and his buddies just Islamic terrorists, or extremists, or fundamental…
That’s the problem. Bush and Fox News don’t want to refer to them as Islamic “fundamentalists.” It would invite comparisons with US Christian fundamentalist preachers and Boy George supporters like Jerry Falwell, John Hagee and Pat Robertson.
Some of the comparisons about intolerance, incorrect and self-serving interpretations of Scripture, demonization of foes, and trying to impose a theocracy on nation states might become a little too close for comfort for Boy George. Of course for Americans you’d also have to add the extra term “greed” since the TV evangelists are as rich as Croesus.
Yes. Stay away from the word “fundamentalism” George, it might reflect back upon you.
mbumba said,
August 12, 2006 at 8:54 pm
marshall,
excellent post.
you are a master of thought and it’s language.
i hope that this new bush terminolgy is only meant to obfuscate the similarity between xtian and muslim fundamentalism. i fear that it signals the broadening of a war against nations that dare to resist imperialism.