You make a good point that "fascism" has been updated, and that some of the tactics used in the 1930s have now been supplanted by more efficient means of controlling us.
I'd like to see dig a little further into the 2020 election than "I have seen no evidence that the 2020 election was fraudulent". It was the most opaque presidential election in American history because exit polling was impossible and almost all votes were counted on machines that ran secret software. Still, there were signs that rules were manipulated in my home state of PA, and signs that votes were switched in Georgia.
In this context, the idea that anyone who questioned the results of the election was an "insurrectionist" is troubling. The right to ask for recounts and verification is de facto lost now, and we'll have to fight to regain any foundation of trust in our elections. https://mitteldorf.substack.com/p/windfall-for-an-election-software
Thank you, Josh. There are some claims, such as election-rigging in 2020, that although I'm not prepared to defend them or make a case in support of them, I would also not bet against them being true. Since I live in Oregon where we have 100% "vote by mail" and there have been no significant instances of fraud (about 1-2 dozen cases have been detected in 20 years), I have a suspicion that some of the allegations come from people who just are uncomfortable with the new practice of voting by mail in their state. As an election reform activist from 2004-2005, there seem to have been "red shifts" in several elections (the official results diverged from the exit polls in favor of the Republican candidate) and, as far as I'm aware, we've never measured exit poll divergence in favor of the Democratic candidate (except in the primaries when the shift was in favor of the establishment Dem over the progressive opponents). This makes it difficult for me to accept claims of rigging in favor of the Democrat without similar evidence, but, again, neither would I claim it hasn't happened. I just wish all parties that suspect election fraud could work together to change our election systems to make them verifiable, since they currently are not.
Your idea to query Chat GPT about fascism under Biden is just brilliant! It somewhat hilariously (if it weren't so sickening....) catches AI in its true role, which is to serve the interests of the corporate/governmental elite. I also find your point about nationalism having been replaced by globalism for the fascist at heart extremely insightful.
For the record, my liberal credentials are impeccable, and I don't care for Trump any more than when he was president.
Recalling the Anita Hill hearing and BIden's disturbing role, I would question your claim that Biden isn't sexist, or that the country is less sexist. Could it be, rather, that given the clear onset of senility, Biden doesn't have the bandwidth to be inappropriate with women? A good number of women came forward at the outset of Biden's presidential campaign to accuse him of behaviors that, if not precisely inappropriate in several cases, left them feeling deeply uncomfortable; and the accusations run in a pattern. Several of the accusations do involve overtly sexual, unwanted behavior. (There are reasons to argue your point that sexism is less of a thing under Biden than before but that's a topic for another day.)
I also wonder about giving this administration a pass concerning entwinement of government and religion. While it is true that religion, per se, does not have the central significance in our culture that it had in years past, government controls the messaging of spiritual organizations of many kinds through tax exemptions. Thus, numerous places of worships were in danger of losing tax exempt status if they did not comply with Covid messaging. This government intrusion was made easy by tax code that long predated this administration (another long subject!), but certainly under Biden nothing was done to protect freedom of religious expression during the Covid scare. Actually, shutting down spiritual centers as nonessential was a huge act of government messaging, no less so than if they were "entwined" with governments in the same way as under previous fascist regimes! The outcome of manipulating messaging about the spiritual dimension, and of frightening spiritual leaders into compliance, was ultimately all to similar to ignore, I would say.
In all the other respects, I agree wholeheartedly. This is a deeply fascist regime, perhaps more so than you are saying.
All in all, a great piece. (Love that Chat GPT bit!!) Thanks, Martin!
Thanks, Martin!
You make a good point that "fascism" has been updated, and that some of the tactics used in the 1930s have now been supplanted by more efficient means of controlling us.
I'd like to see dig a little further into the 2020 election than "I have seen no evidence that the 2020 election was fraudulent". It was the most opaque presidential election in American history because exit polling was impossible and almost all votes were counted on machines that ran secret software. Still, there were signs that rules were manipulated in my home state of PA, and signs that votes were switched in Georgia.
In this context, the idea that anyone who questioned the results of the election was an "insurrectionist" is troubling. The right to ask for recounts and verification is de facto lost now, and we'll have to fight to regain any foundation of trust in our elections. https://mitteldorf.substack.com/p/windfall-for-an-election-software
Thank you, Josh. There are some claims, such as election-rigging in 2020, that although I'm not prepared to defend them or make a case in support of them, I would also not bet against them being true. Since I live in Oregon where we have 100% "vote by mail" and there have been no significant instances of fraud (about 1-2 dozen cases have been detected in 20 years), I have a suspicion that some of the allegations come from people who just are uncomfortable with the new practice of voting by mail in their state. As an election reform activist from 2004-2005, there seem to have been "red shifts" in several elections (the official results diverged from the exit polls in favor of the Republican candidate) and, as far as I'm aware, we've never measured exit poll divergence in favor of the Democratic candidate (except in the primaries when the shift was in favor of the establishment Dem over the progressive opponents). This makes it difficult for me to accept claims of rigging in favor of the Democrat without similar evidence, but, again, neither would I claim it hasn't happened. I just wish all parties that suspect election fraud could work together to change our election systems to make them verifiable, since they currently are not.
Your idea to query Chat GPT about fascism under Biden is just brilliant! It somewhat hilariously (if it weren't so sickening....) catches AI in its true role, which is to serve the interests of the corporate/governmental elite. I also find your point about nationalism having been replaced by globalism for the fascist at heart extremely insightful.
For the record, my liberal credentials are impeccable, and I don't care for Trump any more than when he was president.
Recalling the Anita Hill hearing and BIden's disturbing role, I would question your claim that Biden isn't sexist, or that the country is less sexist. Could it be, rather, that given the clear onset of senility, Biden doesn't have the bandwidth to be inappropriate with women? A good number of women came forward at the outset of Biden's presidential campaign to accuse him of behaviors that, if not precisely inappropriate in several cases, left them feeling deeply uncomfortable; and the accusations run in a pattern. Several of the accusations do involve overtly sexual, unwanted behavior. (There are reasons to argue your point that sexism is less of a thing under Biden than before but that's a topic for another day.)
I also wonder about giving this administration a pass concerning entwinement of government and religion. While it is true that religion, per se, does not have the central significance in our culture that it had in years past, government controls the messaging of spiritual organizations of many kinds through tax exemptions. Thus, numerous places of worships were in danger of losing tax exempt status if they did not comply with Covid messaging. This government intrusion was made easy by tax code that long predated this administration (another long subject!), but certainly under Biden nothing was done to protect freedom of religious expression during the Covid scare. Actually, shutting down spiritual centers as nonessential was a huge act of government messaging, no less so than if they were "entwined" with governments in the same way as under previous fascist regimes! The outcome of manipulating messaging about the spiritual dimension, and of frightening spiritual leaders into compliance, was ultimately all to similar to ignore, I would say.
In all the other respects, I agree wholeheartedly. This is a deeply fascist regime, perhaps more so than you are saying.
All in all, a great piece. (Love that Chat GPT bit!!) Thanks, Martin!