My friend Moti asked me the other day about Naomi Wolf’s article/book on "Fascist America, in 10 Easy Steps"
Interesting article, but not a rigorous one. The article lists a bunch of bad authoritarian behavior but doesn’t list thresh-holds. Calling someone a traitor isn’t the same as arresting them. Denial of travel rights isn’t the same as full detention. There’s a fair amount of bad stuff going on, but speaking as an analyst, going by those metrics the authoritarian risk isn’t yet critical.
Going off her list, I’ll give her points 1 and 4 unqualified. 2 and 3 have major warning signs. 5 and 8 have some rather bad cases. 6, 7, 9, and 10 I think she’s seriously pushing it. So I think the article mostly works on the "another reason all this stuff is bad" but despite a lot of anecdotes doesn’t get to the level of putting this all in a historical or theoretical context.
After the break, more details on the her 10 steps.
Infrastructure there: 1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy; 4. Set up an internal surveillance system.
The "War on Terror" does provide a template for an indefinite conflict that provides a substantial strengthening of the executive branch. Fortunately, I think both that term and the "Long War" are ebbing. On the internal surveillance system, frankly modern electronics just makes this a whole lot easier.
Isolated but significant examples: 2. Create a gulag; 3. Develop a thug caste.
Guantanamo (and other secret prisons) and Professional Military Contractors are doing some scary things to the legal code but so far have been limited in scope. Padilla is back in the civilian justice system and the use of armed contractors in America is still pretty minimal.
Unpleasantness: 5. Harass citizens’ group; 8. Control the press
There’s some bad stuff here, but I think there’s a examples of worse in American history.
Not really: 6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release; 7. Target key individuals; 9. Dissent equals treason; 10. Suspend the rule of law.
The examples she cited were certainly bad stuff. However, before an authoritarian take-over things get way worse for a while. High profile people get arrested or shot, that sort of thing. That doesn’t just happen when the coup goes down, the Nazis were murdering people long before they really got power.
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