The GOP Stampede Toward Fascism After the Paris Attacks

[marmar]

The GOP Stampede Toward Fascism After the Paris Attacks
We are witnessing one of the most morally calamitous reactions to a refugee crisis in the country’s history.

By Sasha Abramsky


(The Nation)  I have spent the past week shuddering at the vast depths of nihilism that ISIS represents—at a movement that takes joy in killing innocents, be they Russian holidaymakers over Egypt; shoppers and businesspeople in Beirut; diners, sports fans and concertgoers in Paris; or Norwegian and Chinese hostages.

I have, too, spent much of the past couple of years shuddering at the horrors unleashed within ISIS’s self-styled caliphate as well. For no matter how grisly the events in Paris, far more Syrians and Iraqis have died at the hands of ISIS than have any other nationality.

 The victims of ISIS (as well as the broader war in Syria) have been fleeing in unprecedented numbers—fleeing to Lebanon, to Turkey, taking deadly boat journeys across the Mediterranean, walking across countries, across continents—seeking safety and sanctuary. Many have died on this journey, including young children drowned at sea. Many more, inevitably, will die on this journey. It is a spectacle of misery extraordinary in its scale, and in its moral urgency.

And yet, after November 13, countries across Europe have begun shutting out these refugees, and in the United States we are witnessing one of the most morally calamitous reactions to a refugee crisis in the country’s history.

Over the past several days, one Republican governor after another has closed his state to refugees from Syria—or, since they technically do not have the legal power to prevent the federal government from admitting refugees, has pledged to refuse all state resources to aid in this process. A Republican mayor in Virginia has called for using the World War II internment system that was used against Japanese Americans—itself one of the most widely discredited and shameful episodes in recent American history—as a model for how to approach the Syrians. Some Texas Republicans have argued that they should not take in Syrian refugees because they already are dealing with undocumented immigrants from Mexico—and that they can’t take in Syrian refugees because it would be too easy for them to buy guns (that may be true… but, as we’ve seen so often in recent years, it’s equally easy for angry young white Christian men to purchase guns and go on mass-shooting sprees, and yet Texas hasn’t closed its borders to that demographic, nor have its political leaders made any effort to enforce sensible gun-control policies). ........................(more)

http://www.thenation.com/article/the-gop-stampede-toward-fascism-after-the-paris-attacks/

[Blus4u]

1. After the attacks?

Seems to me they've been tripping all over themselves getting their since the baggers arrived in DC.


Peace

[fredamae]

2. It is the Perfect Window of Opportunity

to Fan the reliable "Flames of Primal Human Fear" and receive the greatest amount of "blind faith" in the very people who already have been waiting in the side-lines for just such an opportunity. They nearly succeeded after 9-11.

I tried, years ago to have a rational discussion about the "F" word...people laughed and ignored.
In 2015, everyone is using the "F" word. Too late?