Liberal Fascism (Jonah Goldberg) on C-SPAN2 Book TV @ 10PM Central 1/12/08

C-SPAN ^ | 1/12/08 | Jonah Goldberg

[Monitor]

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

Author: Jonah Goldberg

Upcoming Schedule

Saturday, January 12, at 10:00 PM Sunday, January 13, at 3:30 AM Sunday, January 13, at 10:00 AM Monday, January 14, at 1:00 AM

About the Program

Jonah Goldberg explores the political theories of fascism and contends that there are several colloaries between the politics of the left and fascist ideology. Jonah Goldberg presents his book at The Heritage Foundation in Washington DC.

About the Author

Jonah Goldberg is contributing editor for the National Review and a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Goldberg's writing has appeared in several publications, including "The New Yorker," "Wall Street Journal" and "USA Today."

[ketsu]

Goldberg doesn't understand fascism. He's conflating fascism and totalitarianism.

Fascism is inherently reactionary, it's an attempt to return to a utopian past.

Liberalism is inherently radical, it assumes that human reason(as defined by whatever svengali is in charge) can bring about an ideal society.

In essence, liberalism is forward thinking totalitarianism, fascism is *backward* thinking totalitarianism.

[bahblahbah]

[synbad600]

Thanks for the info. Jonah Goldberg rocks.

[synbad600]

He’s funny! Check in, all!

[Stegall Tx]

Is your headline accurate? My listings say the times are 10 pm, 3:30 am, and 10 am Eastern.

[Stegall Tx]

Oh, and by the way, you can listen to a interview with Jonah on Dennis Prager’s show. It is streamed on. You will have to search around for the Dennis Prager show and look down the list for hour 2 of Thursday.

Dennis Prager Hour 2 Thursday 10 January, 2008. I don't know how long the link will be valid.

[NeoCaveman]

Bought the book.

Just barely started seems to be a rather decent piece of scholarship. I just hope he added some of his humor to it.

[NeoCaveman]

Jonah probably studied fascism more than you have.

And he doesn’t equate liberal/progressivism with fascism. He considers it a second cousin or so with certain family resemblances.

[ketsu]

Jonah probably studied fascism more than you have.

And he doesn’t equate liberal/progressivism with fascism. He considers it a second cousin or so with certain family resemblances.

The verecundiam boat doesn't float.

Anyway, as I pointed out in my first post, fascism and liberalism are inherently opposite.

Think of the following analogy. Black and white are fundamentally opposite(fascism and liberalism) but they both come from the same group(colors i.e. totalitarian ideologies).

The whole liberalism is fascism carnard doesn't inform debate, it just inflames emotions and rallies the faithful.

Conservatives are better than that.

[pilipo]

The verecundiam boat doesn't float.

Nor does the pedantry boat.

[ketsu]

Nor does the pedantry boat.

:roll eyes:

[Monitor]

Is your headline accurate? My listings say the times are 10 pm, 3:30 am, and 10 am Eastern.

Doh!

[tflabo]

Although the true meanings of liberalism and fascism are different it seems that modern day liberals (or progressives) are keen to adopting fascist like tactics. E.g federal economic control, propaganda (MSM) and silencing of opposition, (ACLU) etc... Read the Webster’s Dictionary meanings of both terms and then examine modern day liberalism. Both Jonah Goldberg and Michael Savage have been highlighting the link between modern liberalism and fascism.

[Delacon]

I recorded it and am watching it right now. Great talk. I will definitely be buying this book today on Amazon. Bump.

[RussP]

“The whole liberalism is fascism carnard doesn’t inform debate, it just inflames emotions and rallies the faithful.”

The “canard” is the notion that conservatives are somehow fascists. And that is the great myth that Goldberg is puncturing. You should be happy about that.

As Goldberg points out, the “whole liberalism is fascism canard” was started by H.G. Wells, one of the most influential writers of the pre WWII era.

And please, let’s not get confused between classical liberalism and “modern” liberalism. The two are nearly opposites.

Get a clue, dude. You’re stinking up an otherwise good website.

[ketsu]

The “canard” is the notion that conservatives are somehow fascists. And that is the great myth that Goldberg is puncturing. You should be happy about that.

As Goldberg points out, the “whole liberalism is fascism canard” was started by H.G. Wells, one of the most influential writers of the pre WWII era.

And please, let’s not get confused between classical liberalism and “modern” liberalism. The two are nearly opposites.

Get a clue, dude. You’re stinking up an otherwise good website.

Nobody here has said anything about conservatives being fascists. Unless you're confusing "is" with "kind of" relationships.

H.G. Wells idea of "liberal fascism" was as different from the traditional definition of fascism as Goebbels' definition of socialism was to socialism. Wells was arguing that a liberal vanguard would create a utopian state. Totalitarian, yes; Fascist, no.

I'm quite aware of the differences between classical and modern liberalism.

Sorry "dude", you're the one who "needs a clue".

[RussP]

“Nobody here has said anything about conservatives being fascists. Unless you’re confusing “is” with “kind of” relationships.”

Of course nobody “here” said it. This is Free Republic. But if you are unaware that conservatives have been mislabeled and slandered as fascists for three or four decades now, you’re out to lunch permanently, dude.

[ketsu]

Of course nobody “here” said it. This is Free Republic. But if you are unaware that conservatives have been mislabeled and slandered as fascists for three or four decades now, you’re out to lunch permanently, dude.

That wasn't the topic of discussion.

Goldberg's thesis, that conservatives can't be fascist because fascism is really a liberal ideology, doesn't work. I've already enumerated the reasons in this thread.Ideologies aren't hot potatoes.

A far better way of dealing with liberal accusations of fascism is to show how conservatism(which is now equated with classical or "neo" liberalism) doesn't involve the state worship or deification of symbols of fascism.

[RussP]

“Goldberg’s thesis, that conservatives can’t be fascist because fascism is really a liberal ideology, doesn’t work.”

If you are a conservative, you believe in minimal government intervention into the free market. If you are a fascist, you most certainly do *not* believe that. So as far as economics is concerned, you cannot be both conservative and fascist. But you can certainly be both “liberal” (modern sense) and fascist. It’s really about as simple as that.