restraint

The discussion on that Bright Eyes thread is continuing at a pretty fierce clip.

So far, I've been called disagreeable, condescending, dismissive, disrespectful, and self-righteous, and I've been accused of being an anti-Semite.

In spite of all that, I think I've done a pretty good job of keeping personal stuff out of my own replies, which is not easy. I'm really trying hard to edit out anything that might be incendiary.

In my last reply I responded to two posts that describe how horrible the world is now, because of Bush's policies, and a 14-point definition of fascism which I suppose the poster thinks strongly correlates to today's American society.

I will say here what I didn't say over there: if you think the US is headed towards fascism, you don't understand what totalitarian regimes really are and what they do. People who lived under totalitarian regimes are rightly insulted when they hear people making comparisons like that.

It's actually pretty scary how many people are walking around with such a distorted view of the world. And I'm quite sure that my political opposites feel exactly the same way about me -- but it is very nice to have actual, concrete facts on my side.