Is Totalitarianism on the rise on The Left?

hill16bhoy wrote: »

Trump is a consequence of the same strategy fascists have always employed - exploit anger over economic conditions, divide and conquer, and blame the easy target who is not to blame at all - immigrants and minorities.

Brexit is a consequence of something similar.

Both exploited an avalanche of lies and propaganda, again a well worn fascist tactic.

How many lies is it Trump has come out with since he's been president? 9,000 or something, isn't it?

Here's a list of fake stories used to stoke up dissenchantment with the EU.

https://tompride.wordpress.com/2017/12/05/see-20-years-of-fake-news-about-eu-by-uk-press-vote-for-your-favourite-here/?fbclid=IwAR1icKilAAyH2NsbIZcRu3OjNKpBEN6akRLjlACfWmGrc8CsVJ2l3ycVUd4

EC regulations to ban playgrounds – Daily Express
Rolling acres outlawed by Brussels – The Telegraph
EU to scrap British exams – Sunday Express
Obscure EU law halting the sale of English oak seeds – Mail on Sunday
EU may try to ban sweet and toy ads – The Times
EU to tell British farmers what they can grow – Daily Mail
EU ‘Bans Boozing’ – Daily Star
Light ale to be forced to change its name by Eurocrats – Daily Mail
EU fanatics to be forced to sing dire anthem about EU ‘Motherland’ – The Sun
British apple trees facing chop by EU – The Times
EC plan to ban noisy toys – Sunday People
EU to ban bagpipes and trapeze artists – The Sun
Children to be banned from blowing up balloons, under EU safety rules – Daily Telegraph
Straight cucumbers – The Sun
Curved bananas banned by Brussels bureaucrats – The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Express
Brussels bans barmaids from showing cleavage – The Sun, Daily Telegraph
Rumpole’s wig to scrapped by EU – Mail on Sunday
Church bells silenced by fear of EU law – Daily Telegraph
Motorists to be charged to drive in city centres under EU plans – Daily Telegraph
EU to stop binge drinking by slapping extra tax on our booze – The Sun
Brandy butter to be renamed ‘brandy spreadable fat’ – The European
British loaf of bread under threat from EU – Daily Mail
Truckers face EU ban on fry-ups – The Sun
EU to ban Union Flag from British meat packs – Daily Express
EU seeks to outlaw 60 dog breeds – Europa News Agency
Double-decker buses to be banned – Daily Telegraph
EU bans eating competition cakes – Timesonline
Now EU officials want control of your CANDLES – Daily Express
21-gun salutes are just too loud, Brussels tells the Royal Artillery – Mail on Sunday
Brussels threatens charity shops and car boot sales – Daily Mail
Plot to axe British number plates for standardised EU design – Daily Express
Women to be asked intimate details about sex lives in planned EU census – Daily Express
British cheese faces extinction under EU rules – PA News
EU meddlers ban kids on milk rounds – The Sun, The Telegraph
British chocolate to be renamed ‘vegelate’ under EU rules – Daily Mail
EU to ban church bells – Daily Telegraph
British film producers warn of new EU threat to industry – The Independent
Kilts to be branded womenswear by EU – Daily Record
EU to ban double decker buses – Daily Mail
Cod to be renamed ‘Gadus’ thanks to EU – Daily Mail
Brussels to restrict drinking habits of Britain’s coffee lovers – Daily Express
EU responsible for your hay fever – Daily Mail, The Times
Condom dimensions to be harmonised – Independent on Sunday
EU wants to BAN your photos of the London Eye – Daily Express
Corgis to be banned by EU – Daily Mail
EU forcing cows to wear nappies – Daily Mail
Eurocrats to ban crayons and colouring pencils – The Sun
Smoky bacon crisps face EU ban – Sunday Times
EU outlaws teeth whitening products – Daily Mail
Domain names – ‘.uk’ to be replaced by ‘.eu’ – Daily Mail
Brussels to ban HGV drivers from wearing glasses – The Times
New eggs cannot be called eggs – Daily Mail
EU to ban selling eggs by the dozen – Daily Mail
UK to be forced to adopt continental two pin plug – Daily Star, Daily Mail
EU targets traditional Sunday roast – Sun on Sunday
English Channel to be re-named ‘Anglo-French Pond’ – Daily Mail
Brussels to force EU flag on England shirts – Daily Mail
EU orders farmers to give toys to pigs – The Times
Firemen’s poles outlawed by EU – Daily Mail
Euro ban on food waste means swans cannot be fed – The Observer
Noise regulations to force football goers to wear earplugs – The Sun
Traditional Irish funeral under threat from EU – Daily Telegraph, The Times
EU to ban high-heel shoes for hairdressers – Daily Express
Commission to force fishermen to wear hairnets – Daily Telegraph
Brussels to ban herbal cures – Daily Express
Bureaucrats declare Britain is “not an island”– the Guardian
EU bid to ban life sentences for murderers – Daily Express
New EU map makes Kent part of France – Sunday Telegraph
EU tells Welsh how to grow their leeks – The Times
EU to ban lollipop ladies’ sticks – News of the World
EU plot to rename Trafalgar Square & Waterloo station – Daily Express
UK milk ‘pinta’ threatened by Brussels – The Sun
EU bans ‘mince’ pies – Daily Mail
Eurocrats say Santa must be a woman – The Sun
Now EU crackpots demand gypsy MPs – Daily Express
Brussels to outlaw mushy peas – The Sun, Daily Mail, Telegraph, Times
Brussels says shellfish must be given rest breaks on journeys – The Times
Pets must be pressure cooked after death – Sunday Telegraph
EU puts speed limit on children’s roundabouts – Daily Express
2-for-1 bargains to be scrapped by EU – Daily Mirror
EU madness: chat up bar girl and pub will be fined – Daily Star
Queen to be forced to get her own tea by EU – The Sun
EU tells women to hand in worn-out sex toys – The Sun
British rhubarb to be straight – The Sun
EU to ban rocking horses – The Sun
Scotch whisky rebranded a dangerous chemical by EU – Daily Telegraph
Brussels ban on pints of shandy – The Times
“High up” signs to be put on mountains – BBC
Euronotes cause impotence – Daily Mail
EU to ban under 16-year-olds from using Facebook – Daily Mail
Strawberries must be oval – The Sun
EU orders swings to be pulled down – Daily Express
Tea bags banned from being recycled – BBC
British lav to be replaced with Euro-loo – The Sun
Unwanted Valentine’s cards to be defined as sexual harrasment – Daily Telegraph
Bosses to be told what colour carpets to buy by EU – Daily Star
EU says British yoghurt to be renamed ‘Fermented Milk Pudding’ – Sunday Mirror
EU to ban zipper trousers – The Sun



Peter Casey also employed the exact same strategy beloved of fascists – “other” a vulnerable minority group, exploit latent bigotry, and whip up hatred against that “other” group.

We have chancers aplenty.

Nobody should be under any illusion that Ireland is immune to far right actors.

Gemma O'Doherty, Renua in its post-Lucinda Creighton incarnation, Leo Sherlock's “theliberal.ie”, the “National Party”, Identity Ireland, the Irish Yellow Vests, the Freeman on the Land crazies, the Irexiteer astro-turfers, the IONA “Institute”, all are promoting a quasi-theocratic, backward right-wing ideology, some more right-wing than others, but all crazy and all prepared to employ lies and propaganda to get what they want.


Are you talking about anti-racism?

How are feminism and anti-racism “populist”?

There are obvious reasons why feminism and anti-racism exist. If you need those explained to you you have a problem.

What's the reason for the existence of white identity politics? There is none.


I'm sorry? Trump, Putin, Erdogan, Salvini, Orban, the Polish government, Bolsonaro, Modi, Duterte, Farage, Le Pen, Wilders, AfD – can you tell me are any of these people in/are political parties, or are leading governments?


This thread isn't about any particular country. You've just fired out the most broad brush, generalised statement possible there – you've just repeated Trump's propaganda. Sure some of the US media is in the gutter – mainly right wing outlets like Fox, Sinclair and the Wall Street Journal.


So, to diagnose an intellectual crisis, you're telling us to read nothing, and look at nothing, yes? That doesn't seem like a very clever way to go about diagnosing an intellectual crisis to me.


Study after study show Trump's popularity is motivated by racism. If he romps home in 2020 it will likely be as a result of anti-democracy measures and vote rigging, which nobody should put past him. That's how fascists operate – they make sure they win.

I love your complete dismissal of identity politics – minority and marginalised identity politics I presume – while completely neglecting to mention Trump's entire appeal is white identity politics. Of course the label “identity politics” is only applied to minorities and the marginalised – funny that, and by funny, I mean not funny at all.


We live in an internet world. To a large extent this is unavoidable. The problem arises where data is used for malign means. The micro-targetting of people with lies and propaganda based on social media data by the Trump and Brexit campaigns is such a malign use of people's data. I didn't hear any Trump and Brexit supporters moaning about this. They cheerlead it.


We don't yet know the full effects of these things.

But here's the thing – who is going to protect workers against these things? It will be trade unions and those in politics who push for regulation, not those anarcho-capitalists who push for the destruction off trade unions, decent labour laws and regulation.


I love the way you paint the media as one singular, uniform entity. There are excellent media outlets and there are terrible media outlets. Education and critical thinking are key to enabling peple to decipher which is which. Coincidentally, or should I say not coincidentally at all, these are the exact things the Republican party want to destroy in the US.



Utter nonsense. The current US government has certainly abandoned science any form of intellectual rigour, however, and that is a growing problem with right-wing politics worldwide - the embrace of bull**** over reason.

What on earth is “gender populism”? Gender issues, I presume you're talking about things like transgenderism and relevant laws, are a minority issue. Does that that mean they are not important? Why do right-wing populists have such a problem with transgender people and recognising their rights? It's because they are an easy target because they are so few in number. The paranoid obsession in right-wing “populist” politics with denying transgender people their rights is utterly bizarre, neurotic and hateful.


What nonsense. Affirmative action programmes are an overwhelmingly good idea. They broaden minority and marginalised access to education, access to jobs, access to politics. Broad representation of minorites and marginalised communities makes for a healthier, more inclusive environment, whatever and wherever it is.


Anybody who doesn't think white male privilege is a real thing is almost certianly benefitting from it.

Public discourse is in the gutter largely because a full scale regressive right-wing disinformation war is taking place – it's taking place all over the world, and yes, Russia is behind a significant amount of it, though even you took Russia out of the equaltion, it's still going on everywhere. Our recent referendums in 2015 and 2018, and the recent presidential election are good examples of how Ireland has been targeted. Thankfullly Ireland remains an outlier and people here are less easily conned than elsewhere. Nobody should assume that will always remain the case, however, which is why education and critical thinking are of paramount importance in guarding against far right lies and propaganda.



Ireland was as informed as a populace could possibly be during the 8th Amendment referendum. The reasons for the change were set out clearly and it was overwhelmingly passed because those that voted for it knew exactly what they were voting for and what the sort of treatment of women that they were voting to prevent.

Again, that weird, creepy obsession that reactionary right-wingers have with transgenderism comes out.

Gender dysphoria is a very real thing, by the way.

istooptoconcur wrote: »

I found this jpeg on facebook or boards a while back (I suppose it has relevance to this tread) along with a downloadable computer model (which I didn't download) that purported to show the gradual (logically necessary) atrophy of capitalist societies based upon graduated increases / decreases in certain variables explicit in capitalist (especially anarcho-capitalist) structures. apart from foretelling of all our (that is, the majority of our) inevitable degeneration into slave thralls and the whittling down of our liberties, this model (and yes, it is only a model and hope springs eternal) suggests that capital is doomed to consume itself through unchecked resource consumption. could getting rid of state rivaling wealth be the lesser of two evils? I don't know, I'm just a girl.