I got some interesting email about my post yesterday in reference to Naomi Wolf’s book The End of America. For a very, very condensed explanation of the ten steps that move a a country towards fascism, the following was posted to Wikipedia.
The ten steps
- Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
- Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
- Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens.
- Set up an internal surveillance system.
- Harass citizens’ groups.
- Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
- Target key individuals.
- Control the press.
- Declare all dissent to be treason.
- Suspend the rule of law.
It is amazing to me, if these ten steps are to be believed, how much of this has already taken place or is taking place. For example, couldn’t Black Water be a perfect example of #3? And we all know that #1 and #2 are in place. Again, points to ponder.
And in a separate but related incident, we have an interesting example of how secrecy is maintained to hide what the government is doing. Read this entry on Psychsound. This one is disturbing on three fronts – 1) that a confession was coerced, 2) that is was subsequently deemed confidential, and 3) if it really was confidential it shows an amazingly sloppy system that lets the info out in the first place.
Man, this blog has become way too serious recently. But, as the bumper sticker says, “If you aren’t outraged, you aren’t paying attention.”
