I am half way through this book and it is enlightening and scary at the same time. Naomi Wolf is a liberal and not all of you will agree w/ her premise, but it is worth considering (and discussing). It is: There are 10 characteristics that are present in a dictatorship and all 10 are already present in the good ol' USA. If you go to the book site (scroll down for reviews, etc.) you can see what they are from the chapter headings. When I am done maybe I'll do a longer synopsis of the book.
As always, I am not necessarily recommending buying the book, or buying thru Amazon, as most of these books are in the library if you don't want to buy them. If you do buy it, read it and pass it on.
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4 comments:
Shades of Sinclair Lewis's ironically titled, "It Can't Happen Here." Our local Pride and Joy predicted all this stuff in 1936, only he wrote what actually happens in the end (gulp). I look forward to reading the Naomi Wolf version, and hope we come to our senses soon.
Aside: We had the honor and pleasure of having Sauk Centre's other Pride and Joy, Michael (Pride) and Phyllis (Joy)in our midst last week (Pride and Joy--sounds like a couple of dish detergents). Unfortunately, I had to leave early due to a tragic event in our family--my cousin, John McDonald, was one of the victims in the mall shooting in Omaha. The funeral at St. John's Catholic Church on the Creighton University campus in Omaha was the biggest I've ever seen. My cousin, Father Dan McDonald, flew to Omaha from the Vatican to preside at the funeral. It was a very sad occasion. I was proud that our family prayed equally for all the victims, including the troubled young man who did the shooting.
Here is the link to Sinclair L. that D. Bill mentioned.
http://www.amazon.com/Cant-Happen-Here-Sinclair-Lewis/dp/045121658X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197859504&sr=8-1
It Can't Happen Here (Hardcover) synopsis / review from Amazon
Surprisingly, Sinclair Lewis' darkly humorous tale of a fascist takeover in the US, "It Can't Happen Here," is not merely out-of-print, but also quite hard to find. As dated as it is (1935), its themes will be quite familiar to Americans today. It starts with the highly contested election of an oafish yet strangely charismatic president, who talks like a "reformer" but is really in the pocket of big business, who claims to be a home-spun "humanist," while appealing to religious extremists, and who speaks of "liberating" women and minorities, as he gradually strips them of all their rights. One character, when describing him, says, "I can't tell if he's a crook or a religious fanatic."
After he becomes elected, he puts the media - at that time, radio and newspapers - under the supervision of the military and slowly begins buying up or closing down media outlets. William Randolph Hearst, the Rupert Murdoch of his times, directs his newspapers to heap unqualified praise upon the president and his policies, and gradually comes to develop a special relationship with the government. The president, taking advantage of an economic crisis, strong-arms Congress into signing blank checks over to the military and passing stringent and possibly unconstitutional laws, e.g. punishing universities when they don't permit military recruiting or are not vociferous enough in their approval of his policies. Eventually, he takes advantage of the crisis to convene military tribunals for civilians, and denounce all of his detractors as unpatriotic and possibly treasonous.
I'll stop here, as I don't want to ruin the story -- I can imagine that you can see where all this is going.
Oops, this may not work for the link.
Go to Amazon.com and search Sinclair Lewis and "It can't happen here" should pop up.
Good job with the synopsis of "ICHH," but now I'm really scared! Thanks.
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