Great article on RW mythology - "Stabbed in the Back"

[NewJeffCT]

Read the whole thing, please. I found it riveting, and very informative.

Stabbed in the Back!

The past and future of a right-wing myth

By Kevin Baker.
First drink, hero, from my horn:
I spiced the draught well for you
To waken your memory clearly
So that the past shall not slip your mind!

—Hagen to Siegfried
Die Götterdämmerung

Every state must have its enemies. Great powers must have especially monstrous foes. Above all, these foes must arise from within, for national pride does not admit that a great nation can be defeated by any outside force. That is why, though its origins are elsewhere, the stab in the back has become the sustaining myth of modern American nationalism. Since the end of World War II it has been the device by which the American right wing has both revitalized itself and repeatedly avoided responsibility for its own worst blunders. Indeed, the right has distilled its tale of betrayal into a formula: Advocate some momentarily popular but reckless policy. Deny culpability when that policy is exposed as disastrous. Blame the disaster on internal enemies who hate America. Repeat, always making sure to increase the number of internal enemies.

As the United States staggers past the third anniversary of its misadventure in Iraq, the dagger is already poised, the myth is already being perpetuated. To understand just how this strategy is likely to unfold—and why this time it may well fail—we must return to the birth of a legend.
<<< snip>>>
A lot more at the link.

http://www.harpers.org/StabbedInTheBack.html

[wicket]

1. K & R

:kick:

[madmunchie]

2. K&R

That was a mouthful. I'll have re read it tomorrow, with a clearer head.

[catnhatnh]

3. K n' F'n R.....

the best explanation of republicans from ww2 till today I have ever read...long, and intricate, with a base explanation of Norse Gods and the rise of Hitler, it of itself explains anything I ever needed to know about our opposition...

[NewJeffCT]

10. The author links it all together really well

Scary how effective the same tactics have been for over 50 years now, though.

[NewJeffCT]

15. afternoon kick

I love this article.

[NewJeffCT]

28. Friday kick

[Speck Tater]

4. An awesome read. KnR (nt)

[struggle4progress]

5. Excellent piece

[many a good man]

6. This one of the greatest articles you'll ever read!

Thanks so much for bringing it to our attention.

The answer, I think, lies in Richard Nixon’s ability to expand the Siegfried myth from the halls of power out into the streets. Government conspiracies are still culpable, of course; ironically, it was Nixon’s own administration that first “left behind” American POWs in North Vietnam. Yet this makes little difference to the American right, which never considered Nixon ideologically pure enough to be a member in good standing, and which has always made hay by railing against government, even now that they are it. What Nixon and a few of his contemporaries did for the right was to make culture war the permanent condition of American politics.

On domestic issues as well as ones of foreign policy, from Ronald Reagan’s mythical “welfare queens” through George Wallace’s “pointy-headed intellectuals”; from Lee Atwater’s characterization of Democrats as anti-family, anti-life, anti-God, down through the open, deliberate attempts of Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove to constantly describe opponents in words that made them seem bizarre, deviant, and “out of the mainstream,” the entire vernacular of American politics has been altered since Vietnam. Culture war has become the organizing principle of the right, unalterably convinced as it is that conservatives are an embattled majority, one that must stand ever vigilant against its unnatural enemies—from the “gay agenda,” to the advocates of Darwinism, to the “war against Christmas” last year.

This has become such an ingrained part of the right wing’s belief system that the Bush Administration has now become the first government in our nation’s history to fight a major war without seeking any sort of national solidarity. Far from it. The whole purpose of the war in Iraq—and the “war on terrorism”—seems to have been to foment division and to win elections by forcing Americans to choose between starkly different visions of what their country should be. Again and again, Bush and his confederates have used the cover of national security to push through an uncompromising right-wing agenda. Ignoring the broad leeway already provided the federal government to fight terrorists and conduct domestic surveillance, the administration has gone out of its way to claim vast new powers to detain, spy on, and imprison its own citizens, and to abduct and even torture foreigners—a subject we shall return to. It has used the cover of the war to push through enormous tax cuts, attempt to dismantle the Social Security system, and alter the very social covenant of the nation. Incidents from the Terri Schiavo case to the teaching of “intelligent design” are periodically exploited to start new cultural battles.

Given this state of permanent culture war, it is not surprising that the Bush White House trotted out the stab-in-the-back myth when its Iraq project began to run out of steam early last summer. It was first given a spin, as usual, by the right’s media shock troops, and directed at both Democratic and renegade Republican lawmakers who had dared to criticize either the strategic conduct of the war or our treatment of detainees. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page opined, “Where the terrorists are gaining ground is in Washington, D.C.” and noted that General John Abizaid, of the U.S. Central Command, had said, “When my soldiers say to me and ask me the question whether or not they’ve got support from the American people or not, that worries me. And they’re starting to do that.”

[Mr_Spock]

7. That is a very informative article.

I really learned a lot about the RW psyche.

Thanks for posting this!

[NewJeffCT]

9. You're welcome

I learned a lot as well.

[VOX]

8. Excellent piece. Thanks for posting, NewJeffCT. n/t

[DiverDave]

11. The people that need to read this

and UNDERSTAND IT will never trouble themselves to read it.

I thought it was a well researched and thoughtful article, I am saving it to show some folks who need to read it.

K+R

[NewJeffCT]

12. would be nice if it was in the right hands

so many have lost that historical perspective.

[Freeusfromthechurch]

21. I'm doing the same

I would love to post it throughout my town

[Bigmack]

13. "politically correct war"

Snapped the AM radio on yesterday.... whoever it was said the sentence "... if we're going to fight this war in the politically correct way we have been... we could actually lose."

Snapped the radio off again.

Politically Correct? Fallujah? Depleted Uranium? Civilian deaths? Abu Graib? And on and on.....

Those assholes are setting up the "Stabbed in the back by the liberals and the media" bullshit defense for the neocon fuckups.

[NewJeffCT]

14. "Nuke Their Ass and Take their Gas"

It's a bumper sticker I've seen here in Connecticut saying "Nuke their ass and take their gas" I think many RWers won't be happy until we nuke the shit out of the Middle East.

I always want to ask the person that has those bumper stickers, "If we nuke them, who is going to go into the radioactive wasteland to actually rebuild the oil pumps, pipelines, etc, and transport it to tankers?"

[Kber]

16. Wasn't that the same theme the Nazi's used?

"We would have won WWI if we hadn't been stabbed in the back by the Jews and Intellectuals in the homeland". Rings a familiar chord.

[NewJeffCT]

17. Yes

If you read the whole article, they stated that is how the RW started the whole process - A british general stated something like "you would have won if you hadn't been stabbed in the back" to his german counterpart, and the german took that to heart.

[pscot]

24. My college roommate was a member of YAF

Young Americans for Freedom. His political views were somewhat to the right of Attila the Hun. His two articles of faith were that Roosevelt had sold us out to the Commies at Yalta, and that Truman had lost China by refusing to "unleash" Chiang Kai Shek. He was also deeply paranoid. It's amazing that Republicans have not evolved one inch in fifty years.

[EstimatedProphet]

26. Of course they haven't evolved. They don't believe in evolution

[NewJeffCT]

27. Chiang Kai Shek dug his own grave

He could have contained the Communists in Manchuria and dealt with the occasional rebellion in his own country and been allied with the West. Mao & the Communists in poor Manchuria would have been in similar straits as eastern Europe (Poland, Yugoslavia, etc) and supported by the USSR. If the Soviets had to support yet another country, it might have brought about their downfall sooner... and China would have been whole again.

But, no, Chiang had that "One China" concept in his mind that has been ingrained into Chinese since Emperor Qin was crowned over 2,000 years ago. So, he had to go invade the Communist stronghold of Manchuria in a vain attempt to unite China... a strategic decision that may have been even worse than the US invading Iraq. But, at least they had cause.

[Mr_Spock]

18. kick - a must read article for all DUers!

If you read only one long article here, read this one...

[NewJeffCT]

19. A long read, but worth it

self-kick again.

[underpants]

20. Printing for read at home

It seems to be highly recommended

[Ian_rd]

22. Absolutely fascinating history. Everyone take the time to read this. nt

[AntiFascist]

23. K&R, the right wing has come full circle with Bush now looking in the....

mirror and seeing himself as the traitor to his nation's own principles.

[gatorboy]

25. I'm K n' R-ing this so I can read it later.

Sounds like an interesting article.

[gatorboy]

32. One more..

:kick:

[Mr_Spock]

29. C'mon people,

educate yourselves!

[DiverDave]

30. I thought that the last paragraph was the best

An American president, wandering the halls of Eastern European palaces, denounces his own nation in order to appease his hosts into torturing secret prisoners. Our heroic age surely has come to an end.

Have we gone so far down?

[many a good man]

31. Everbuddy c'mon!

This is the first thing I've ever called a MUST READ!!!

:kick:shadow government

[Mr_Spock]

33. Must read - look how the Republican cowards are trying to blame Clinton

for 9/11!!

Read the article!