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Thread ID: 83829 2007-10-15 00:53:00 anti-terror law robsonde (120) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
601526 2007-10-15 09:05:00 You know who else did dawn raids on private citizens don't you, yes that's right.

Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism
by x Tuesday, Jul. 17, 2007 at 12:07 PM

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:



1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Applies much more to America but we are headed in the same direction. 		zqwerty (97)
601527 2007-10-15 09:13:00 Zqwerty, Im interested in peoples views, But from that post I have no idea what yours are. Unless you would prefer to just copy some one elses thinking.

Could we have it again?, Your view, in your words? 		Metla (12)
601528 2007-10-15 09:31:00 The first sentence and the last one are mine, you decide how many of the others apply or partially apply here in NZ. As I said, a lot of them do in America and elsewhere. zqwerty (97)
601529 2007-10-15 09:38:00 You said nothing, You copied someones article .:stare: Metla (12)
601530 2007-10-15 09:43:00 It was released on the net as a cautionary warning to all. I just got this particular one.

www.google.com ascism

I'll spell it out for you, the police are using American style anti-terrorist laws to harass ordinary citizens, and doing it in dawn raids, I have just seen it on TV3 News. 		zqwerty (97)
601531 2007-10-15 10:04:00 I'll spell it out for you, the police are using American style anti-terrorist laws to harass ordinary citizens, and doing it in dawn raids, I have just seen it on TV3 News.

OK, let me get this straight - you think that the police raid on alleged organisers of training camps that teach methods of violent protest are harrassment?

Just wondering, if the police raided the homes of people that organised camps that taught methods of credit-card and cheque fraud - would you suggest that it was harrassment too?

I say that the education of criminals should be kept where it belongs - in prison... 		Deane F (8204)
601532 2007-10-15 13:06:00 It was released on the net as a cautionary warning to all. I just got this particular one.

www.google.com ascism

I'll spell it out for you, the police are using American style anti-terrorist laws to harass ordinary citizens, and doing it in dawn raids, I have just seen it on TV3 News.

The problem with a free Liberal society is that the measures needed to defend that society against terrorism, either home grown or imported are directly in conflict with the rights that the society holds dear. This is the unfortunate paradox of our times, but at a certain point the rights of individuals, if they are undermining society must become secondary to the defence of that society and the majority.

zqwerty, enjoys the right to question the actions of the police and the government, that is one of the benefits of a free society. In most of the so called peoples democracies citizens do not enjoy this right, and do so at their peril. Even in the reviled USA the people enjoy this right, and to suggest that the United States of America is a Fascist society, is as much in error as suggesting that the Soviet Union or East Germany prior to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe were democracies.

With respect to NZ's indigenous terrorist movement, one can only hope that they will be properly dealt to, rather than being hit over the wrist with a damp bus ticket. 		KenESmith (6287)
601533 2007-10-15 17:10:00 They have. Here is part of their apology to Ngai Tahu:

"The Crown hereby acknowledges the work of the Ngāi Tahu ancestors and makes this apology to them and to their descendants.

The Crown acknowledges that it acted unconscionably and in repeated breach of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in its dealings with Ngāi Tahu in the purchases of Ngāi Tahu land."I stand corrected. There are others however they have not yet settled with, or apologised to

Looking to the past will only trap you in it.Agreed. But for some reason, things like this are to be remembered (I must ask SWMBO why? one day) 		Myth (110)
601534 2007-10-16 00:20:00 There are others however they have not yet settled with, or apologised to

Yes - the Waitangi Tribunal likens it to completely filling a barrel with rocks. They have settled the really big claims like Ngai Tahu and Tainui. These are the big rocks that mainly fill the barrel. Now there are a multitude of small claims to hear and settle - the small rocks that will fill in the small spaces. These are claims from individual hapu as well as many cross-claims where different Iwi are making a claim on the same piece of land etc.


Agreed. But for some reason, things like this are to be remembered (I must ask SWMBO why? one day)

It is strange that people somehow think that the future is not linked to the past. Of course it is - how could it not be? Time does not heal the kinds of wounds that the Crown caused to Maori. Do we expect our justice system to ignore a theft or murder simply because it happened a long time ago? 		Deane F (8204)
601535 2007-10-16 01:38:00 yes, the people involved on both sides are long dead, bury the matter and move on. Metla (12)
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