From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sun May 22 2005 - 22:38:03 BST
Mark, Mark, Ant and all MOQers:
Ant McWatt quoted Robert Pirsig from his letter of October 24th 2003:
"X sounds like a very decent person but his talk about leadership gives me a
creepy Wagnerian feeling. In Minnesota, where I come from... the population
is
heavily Germanic in ethnic descent. (I'm one of them.) I heard a lot of that
word in grade school before World War II where they were always talking
about training us to be leaders. Then the German word for leader, 'führer,'
dominated the scene and seemed to put the whole idea of leadership out of
favor, and I was glad to see it go. Talk about leadership places social
patterns as the thing to think about rather than the quality and ideas that
the people should follow whether there are any 'leaders' or not. Saddam
Hussein has been a leader in every sense of the word. Albert Einstein has
acted as though he never heard of the word."
Mark Maxwell said to Platt:
You very seriously need to begin reading 'Deterring democracy' by
Noam Chomsky. For example, are you aware how much the American
government approved of Mussolini when he came to power? Mussolini was
described as, "a splendid chap." Mussolini was supported, as was
Hitler, and both described as 'moderates' by the US government of the
time.
Mark Maxwell also said:
A 1937 state department report concluded that "fascism is becoming
the soul of Italy," having "brought order out of chaos, discipline
out of licence, and solvency out of bankruptcy." To "accomplish so
much in a short time severe measures have been necessary," the report
concluded. Deterring democracy. p. 41.
Mark Maxwell also said:
The American charge d'affaires in Berlin wrote to Washington in 1933
that the hope for Germany lay in "the more moderate section of the
[Nazi] party, headed by Hitler himself...which appeal(s) to all
civilised and reasonable people," and seems to have "the upper hand"
over the violent fringe. In 1937, the State department saw fascism as
compatible with US economic interests. ibid.
dmb quotes from VATICAN IN WORLD POLITICS by Avro Manhattan, 1949:
"Father Couglin had thousands of readers of his paper Social Justice, and
millions of listeners to his broadcasts. What did he preach? He simply
preached the kind of Authoritarianism which was then so successful in
Catholic Europe, combined with a mixture of Fascism and Nazism harmonized to
a certain extent to suit American society and temperment.
But Father coughlin, besides preaching, also acted, His tactis, were not
those employed by the Europena sponsors of Authoritarianism, Catholic or
othersie, for he bore in mind that the country in question was the United
States of America. Yet they did remind one of similar and successful moves
in Europe.
Father Coughlin, in fact, tried to use non-Catholic elements which
nevertheless had in common with Catholoicism and with him the same hatred of
certan things and the same goals in social and political matters. By
skillful maneuvering he managed to secure a majority control, 80%, of
"America First", an organization formed mainly by super-nationalist elements
and business magnates."
Father Couglin and the leaders of this movement had already made plans to
transform "America First" by amalgamation of members with the million of his
radio followers, into a mightly political party. In imitation of Europena
Fascism they went so far at the early stage as to orgainze a kind of private
army which was screened behind the formation of the "Christian Front". It
was to have been the herald of Coughlin's "Christian Revolution". ...
On more than one occasion Father Coughlin stated that he wold seek power,
even by violent means; as, for instance, when he declared; 'Rest assured we
will fing you, Franco's way" (Social Justice, quoted by J. Carlson).
Futhermore, he even dared to predict, at the outbreak of the 2nd world war,
that he would be in power with the next decade: 'We predict that... the
National Socialists of America, orgainzed under that or some other name,
eventually will take contro of the Government on this Continent... We
predict, lastly, the end of Democracy in America...' (Father Coughlin, in
Social Justice, September 1, 1939.) ...
In 1936 Bishop Gallagher, Coughlin's superior, on his return from a visit to
the Vatican, made so that he could discuss, with the Pope, Coughlin's
activities, declared; 'Father Coughlin is and outstanding priest, and his
voice ...is the voice of God..'
In 1941 a Franciscan compared Father Coughlin to a 'Second Christ' (New
York, July 29, 1941), and in the following year Catholic prelates asked
opely for Coughlin's return, so that he might organize his revolution; 'The
days are coming when this country will need a Couglin and need him badly. We
must get strong and keep organized for that day'. (Father Edward Brophy, a
'Christian Front' leader, June 1942).
All this while, in the background, leaders of the American Hierarchy itself
were often sympathizers with Fascism. Such, for instance, were Cardinal
Hayes of New York, decorated four times by Mussolini, and Cardinal
O'Connell, who call Mussolini 'that genius given to Italy by God'.
By 1941 'American First' and Father Coughlin had about 15,000,000 followers
and sympathizers."
dmb comments:
There is lots to say about the connections between what Maxwell said via
Chomsky, what McWatt said via Pirsig and what I said via this author I never
heard of before today, but I figure the readers fall into two camps; the
ones that don't need to hear it and the ones who won't hear it. But let me
just say that I found this exerpt while investigating my own grandmother's
priest. I remember the church on Woodward Avenue and had heard he was quite
a monster, but then couldn't help but think of the political discussions
going on here. And that's the point. We have to learn to recognize Fascism
in our own culture and in our own home towns if it is to be defeated.
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