The term “fascism” conjures up images of jackbooted thugs, swastikas, and a perverse love of violence. Politicians constantly denounce opposition policies as fascist or totalitarian. Fascism is a word often uttered but little understood. Robert Paxton’s recent book, The Anatomy of Fascism,1 puts the term back in historical context.
D.H. Melhem, Stigma & The Cave: Two Novels (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2007).
Then off they took you, off to the jail,
A hundred hooting after.
And you should have heard me at my house.
I cut my lungs with my laughter,
Laughter,
Laughter.
I cut my lungs with my laughter.
They dragged you into a dusty cell.
And a rat was in the corner.
And what was I doing? Laughing still.
Though never was a poor gal lorner,
Lorner,
Lorner,
Though never was a poor gal lorner.
This government does not torture people. -– George W. Bush
It’s a very different kind of person. -– Attorney General Michael Mukasey