Financial Times Deutschland: America on a Slow Path to Fascism

(By Ray D.)

We at Medienkritik have seen a lot of media folly in three years. But few articles exhibit greater ignorance and the ability to warp views on the nature of democracy in the United States than Thomas Klau's recent column in Financial Times Deutschland. The article, entitled "In Patriotic Morass" makes the following assertion:

"America's military leadership discusses with remarkable openness whether excessive brutality and a lack of cultural sensitivity have contributed to driving Iraqis into the resistance. Whoever follows the political debate and the media reporting in the USA on the matter, however, can hardly find an independently researched word not authorized by the military."

That's right: Mr. Klau honestly believes that the debate over Iraq in the United States is somehow controlled by the US military (and that means Bush must be behind it all.) He believes that the USA has devolved into a land of mind-numbed robots so blinded by patriotism that independent thought is nearly impossible. He continues:

"However in the media something more fundamental is reflected: A society which has dedicated itself, to an unimaginable degree for Europeans, to a cult of Fatherland, flag, soldiering and manliness. "Salute our Heroes," is the name, for example, of a job fair for veterans that is not being organized by the Pentagon, but instead by the "New York Times." The ad contains a snappy photo of a soldier whose aesthetic would remind many, not only Germans, of undemocratic times. And it would be unthinkable in any civilized European nation that a left-liberal newspaper like the "New York Times" would publish a guest commentary in which was written: "Our warriors are the hunters, not the hunted, and we should celebrate them as we did in the past (...) The strength of the pack is the wolf."

Cowardly Politicians

What America's television and daily press ignore is certainly not touched by America's political system. In the public diction of the Republicans and Democrats the US Armed Forces are the best and purest in the world, and their members all heroes, the flower of the nation. A few of the only points of light are offered by monthly magazines such as "New Yorker" and "Vanity Fair." They cultivate a culture of debate that often exceeds that of European counterparts and promotes critical thinking.

But seen as a whole, America's public has been swimming on a wave of patriotic fervor that has hardly subsided since September 2001 and drowns out introspection and the ability to judge all too often in a morass of overly emphatic love of country. In the USA of today the military discusses its own failures more openly and harder than the press and politicians dare to. That says it all. America's democracy must come to its senses before the USA can again live up to its claim to moral and practical leadership in the world."

Of course. Only the "civilized" Europeans can truly claim moral leadership in the world. Put differently, Mr. Klau believes America is on a slow path to Fascism. He believes that freedom of the press is withering in the United States and that no one has the courage to challenge Bush or the military. Apparently the ridiculous assertion that the US media is muzzled or afraid rings more true to the author than the very real dismantling of media freedoms in places like Russia. How many newspapers, radio stations, corporations or political organizations have been shut down lately by the government in the USA?

So we have to ask: What United States is Mr. Klau talking about? Has he missed the daily body counts on CNN and FoxNews? Has he missed the media obsession with Cindy Sheehan? Has he missed President Bush's low approval ratings? Has he missed Michael Moore and Gore Vidal and Al Gore and Al Franken and the hundreds upon hundreds of anti-Bush books published in the USA over the past several years that can be found in virtually any bookstore anywhere in the country? Did he miss the American media's coverage of Abu Ghraib and Haditha? Did he miss the recent media revelation (straight from the New York Times) that the US was eavesdropping and monitoring banking records to track terrorists? Has he completely missed statements by Jack Murtha or Ted Kennedy or John Kerry on US troops and operations in Iraq? Has he missed all of the anti-war demonstrations that have taken place in the US since 2001?

Somehow it seems that Mr. Klau is living in a fantasy vacuum of his own making where only facts that correspond to his worldview are actually acknowledged and real. His citation of an ad for a veterans job fair and an editorial in The New York Times as magic proof that America is becoming a militarist state is so absurd that it would be laughable if so many Germans didn't actually believe it. Mr. Klau is so far out of touch with reality that it is physically painful to imagine how a newspaper like the Financial Times Deutschland could have possibly allowed such pathetic trash to run in the first place. And the German people keep swallowing this garbage day in and day out, believing it to be legitimate and based in fact. Sad but true...

Endnote: Just to be clear, Mr. Klau does not explicitly state that America is on a path to Fascism in his article. We interpret his writing as a clear indication, however, that he sees the situation as such. Thus our title.

Comments

[LC Mamapajamas]

This is a very interesting comment: " In the public diction of the Republicans and Democrats the US Armed Forces are the best and purest in the world, and their members all heroes, the flower of the nation."

Does he mean that NOT demeaning our troops is somehow fascist???

Does he not believe in the concept of "innocent until proven guilty"? Or does he prefer lynch mobs?

And another thing... just HOW is this joker defining "fascist"?

Surely he isn't using that term in its REAL definition... a socialist system that allows private business under strict government control (which describes most of Europe today)???

[RayD]

@ LC

Although I don't think he actually uses the term "fascist", Klau's implication is clear.

[PacRimJim]

Patriotic fervor? Americans have many reasons to be patriotic, but it seems that only soccer elicits patriotic ferver in Germans. I wonder why that is.

[Mike H.]

The question that I have to ask is, 'Do our trains run on time?' And if they do, is he the one who timed them? And if they don't, how can we be fascist? :) I think we need a moot on this. When can he be ready?

[amiexpat]

Maybe that is why Joschka is going to the USA.. he wants to help prevent this.
After all he worked such miracles in the Israeli/Palestine conflict (sarcasm off).
Careful Joschka! in Fascist America you will be shipped off to Gitmo!

[Helian]

"Whoever follows the political debate and the media reporting in the USA on the matter, however, can hardly find an independently researched word not authorized by the military."

The German MSM usually lie by telling half-truths about America, constantly searching out and harping about the negative without supplying balance or context. It's seldom that they resort to blatant, grotesque lies like this. It's truly scary that there are so many people in Germany and elsewhere who are perfectly capable of believing such rot. It must bring a smile to the face of former STASI shills everywhere. Apparently unemployment among them is not so lamentably high as I once suspected. Many of them seem to have merely migrated to jobs in the German MSM.

I was recently on a business trip that included people from both the military and academia. At a dinner one night, a former four star general produced a sheaf of copies of a "New Yorker" article that condemned the Bush Administration for alledgedly condoning the torture and mistreatment of prisoners, a claim that I happen to completely agree with. The significant thing is not that I agreed with the article, however, but that a former four star general would feel so strongly about it that he would copy it and distribute it at a dinner, and then stand up and explain to those present why he agreed with it. Indeed, anyone who has ever actually been a part of the U.S. military, or who has taken the trouble to speak to members of the military will immediately recognize that Klau's lying bunk tarted up as "independent analysis" is just that - lying bunk.

It's interesting how big the disconnect with reality has become for people like Klau. They have begun to live within a "sharashka," a lie so big that they even believe it themselves. They have passed beyond mere deception of others to self-deception, to the point that they are now blithely unconcerned that anyone can quickly expose their lies with a few clicks on Google. They have begun to live out their hate, and for them, the myth has been transmuted into reality.

[Beagle]

We don't want to lead the freaking world! Get that through your head, Mr. Kraut, er, Klau. We're stuck in this position from first defeating, then defending places like... Germany!

You should know about aspiring to world leadership, but somehow don't. How many times do we have to dismantle a giant military machine to make it clear we're not interested in your mess of a continent?

[Redhand]

I can't think of anything witty or sarcastic to say. The mind boggles that such garbage could be printed in the German press, or anywhere for that matter.

[Steve Mac]

How does the saying go? The shadow of Fascism always seems to be falling across the US but it always lands in Europe.

[FranceSucks]

Clearly Germany, a country that has only had Democracy finally forced on it after a horrific war that they lost badly has some working out to do regarding the basic understanding of democratic principles and free speech. Arrest any Holocaust deniers recently there? How is your draft going? Keeping up those recruit numbers?

[WhatDoIKnow]

Let's not forget a very important thing, repeated over and over again: everybody loves America, they just don't like Bush. Yeah, right...

This article is so beyond absurd, it's not even worth fisking. When I read articles like this I don't really concentrate on the blind accusations anymore (they basically repeat themselves), I only think of the effects it will have on the German readers. It is one thing to criticize American policies, it's a totally different thing to spread lies about America. This is exactly what this article does! This is not harsh criticism, it is a construct based completely on lies. Those aren't even subjective interpretations, they are outright lies.

This is German journalism in action in a.D. 2006, not 1936. Those are the journalists who inform the German people about the world and America. America also has similar journalists, but in Germany they represent the overwhelming majority. Their degree of viciousness may vary, but the substance is always the same - America is bad.

Only hatred can make someone disregard the truth to such a degree. Every single person has likes and dislikes, but not everyone's dislikes reach this level of hatred. Not all Germans are filled with such hatred, but many of the people who inform them are.

The amazing thing is that you can get away with the most ridiculous accusations in Germany. Who in the MSM will challenge those journalists? Who will set the record straight, who in the MSM will offer the Germans a different view, or even the truth, for a change? Only once in a while people like F. Gaffney in "Die Welt", or M. Naumann in "Die Zeit"? That's it? Is this enough to stop the march of a propaganda machine who seems to have risen out of the ashes of dark history?

[Buckeye Abroad]

No surprises, I read the UK Financial Times serveral times a week and the columnists and guest opinion writers are just as vile. The guest writers from the US are usually leftist acacademic lunatics from Berkeley or Columbia. I find it strange that supposed "conservative" papers are reading like NYT, Spiegel and other assorted agit-prop rags, but they all spew the same messages no matter how bereft of facts or little information is derived. Bleating cliched, sparse information that doesn't allow you to assemble an accurate opinion on a topic and the conformity of the underlying message is truly bizarre.

Who knows Ray, maybe the articles are getting more shrill because people don't believe the messengers anymore... and they know it.

[Foobarista]

Good time to trot out the Tom Wolfe quote: the dark night of fascism is always descending in the United States and yet lands only in Europe.

[flux]

@WhatDoIKnow

"who in the MSM will offer the Germans a different view?" I know, I am running the risk of repeating myself, but there are different voices, and they are as mainstream as they come. This link (read "corporate principle") should give you an idea of what I am talking about. The biggest newspaper in Europe, the Bild Zeitung, is anything but anti-American. Which is not to say that this Financial Times column stinks. I am simply getting the impression that some of the readers of this blog are under the impression that what they're getting here is a survey of German media as a whole, when it's really more of a watchdog concerned with anti-Americanism.

[Helian]

"I am simply getting the impression that some of the readers of this blog are under the impression that what they're getting here is a survey of German media as a whole, when it's really more of a watchdog concerned with anti-Americanism."

Bull! The German MSM is uniformly and homogeneously anti-American from "left" to "right." And why? Because anti-Americanism sells in Germany. I love it when the apologists for the hate mongers cite Bild Zeitung as a shining example of pro-Americanism in Germany. You might as well cite the National Enquirer as an example of the even-handed treatment of rednecks who see UFO's in the US. Don't believe it, my friends. You can get your anti-American fix in Germany in sedate, civilized form via the FAZ, in 68er form via SDZ or SPON, in skinhead form from the Deutsche National Zeitung, or in fluffy, mindless moron form from Focus. The fundamental, anti-American message is always there, and its surprisingly uniform. Read the neo-Nazi rags for awhile, and you're as sure to see the smiling faces of Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore on the front pages as on any link to SPON. Many Germans have access to American blogs and even talk radio, and many of them speak English quite well enough to understand them. It doesn't matter. A large number of them need their hate fix. They read what they want to read, and they believe what they want to believe. Klau's article, utterly disconnected from any semblance of reality, is a case in point. The good news is that "flux" is not typical of all Germans. From the very start there have been honest and decent people among them, perhaps more than you would find in any other culture under similar circumstances, who have defended America better than the Americans could do it themselves. Their only reward for their resistance to the culture of hate has been scorn and contempt. They persevere, and their numbers are growing, in the blogosphere and elsewhere. We should never forget the gratitude we owe them, or take them for granted.

[flux]

@Helian

"The good news is that "flux" is not typical of all Germans." The good news may be that I am not German, but that's beside the point. You're comparing Bild Zeitung and the National Enquirer? Well, ok, I rest my case. Thanks for resorting to personal attacks, though, pal.

[RayD]

@ flux

In all honesty, I wouldn't put the Bild Zeitung very far ahead of the National Enquirer in terms of quality and content. The fact that so many Germans take Bild seriously is another matter altogether.

[flux]

@RayD

I don't think we would argue about quality and content of the Bild Zeitung. Still, I doubt you would find a column written by Tony Blair or an exclusive interview with George W. Bush in the National Enquirer. "The fact that so many Germans take Bild seriously is another matter altogether." Well, yes, but the fact remains that it's a pro-Israel, pro-American publication by definition, and it's taken very seriously by a lot of German people.

[Helian]

"Thanks for resorting to personal attacks, though, pal."

All personal attacks aside, "pal," if you're trying to claim that anti-Americanism in the German media is unusual or an anomaly, you're either lying or you don't know what you're talking about. In the years it's been online, Medienkritik has documented anti-Americanism in virtually every major German TV and news outlet, as well as a good number of the smaller ones, and yet you come in here blowing smoke and pretending it's all a big misunderstanding. I don't know whether you're German or not, or what your particular reason happens to be for distorting reality, but if you don't like to be told that you're distorting reality, I suggest you take your dog and pony show elsewhere, because that's precisely what you're doing.

[flux]

Helian, please show me a single quote where I claimed "that anti-Americanism in the German media is unusual or an anomaly". I am all for the work Medienkritik is doing, and I do believe there is a lot of anti-Americanism in the German media. All I was trying to point out was that there are voices in the German media that offer a different view from the examples this blog is presenting, in response to WhatDoIKnow, that's all.

[garydausz]

@flux
Sorry, but I do not agree with you at all. In the last 15 years the amount of anti-americanism, all through the german media has gone definetly to the 90% level. The few unbiased (I wouldn't even call them pro-american) medias that are there are not able to stem against the distorted view of the US that is promoted here in germany. And I tell you what, the germans don't even want to see another picture. i think they are happy with what they get fed here. It fits so well into their way of thinking: It cannot be that there are countries who do better while everything goes down the tube here.

[Charlie]

What can I say? Some coutries take the slow path to fascism... others take the autobahn.

[WhatDoIKnow]

As Gary said, there are some publications who are rather unbiased, NOT pro-American. The overwhelming majority of the German media is openly over-critical of America.

Pointing triumphantly to the Bild Zeitung as a shining example of balanced German journalism is ... so lame... I don't even know if it's a serious argument or a bitter joke.

[flux]

Where was I "pointing triumphantly to the Bild Zeitung as a shining example of balanced German journalism"? Triumphantly? Shining Example? Or are you talking about someone else? I agreed with RayD about the quality and content of Bild Zeitung. Curious to see what quote you're going to assign to me next time.

[WhatDoIKnow]

Curious to see what quote you're going to assign to me next time

flux

Where did I assign you a quote??? Please point it out to me.

What I said remains valid: coming up with the Bild Zeitung as some sort of evidence that the German media is not that biased is ridiculous and dishonest.

I don't care about the number of readers; I am sure Penthouse or Playboy have a large readership, but this doesn't make them reliable sources of information. Bild Zeitung is a rag, nothing else. So is your argument.

[Helian]

"I agreed with RayD about the quality and content of Bild Zeitung. Curious to see what quote you're going to assign to me next time."

He really dodges around, doesn't he? What a hairsplitter! One wonders what point, exactly, he was trying to make, or if he ever had one to begin with.

[WhatDoIKnow]

One wonders what point, exactly, he was trying to make, or if he ever had one to begin with

Quite amazing, isn't it? Pointing to Bild as a positive example, and when challenged, saying that "sure, they are bad". Huh??? What a heck was that? What was the point noch mal?

P.S. So that flux doesn't get the feeling he is being kicked around, I would like to point to kicker.de, another unbiased German publication, which I guess also has quite a following.

[PacRimJim]

If Germans knew anything about America, they would know that we never take the slow path anywhere. It's the fast lane, baby. Step on the gas.

[garydausz]

@flux
It might be hard for you to understand but this is how a discussion works. You make a point, others might not agree and counter your point. No need to be upset if someone does think different, it actually spoils the whole idea of discussion.

[flux]

garydausz, no need to be smug. The only reason I answered a number of times was that I didn't feel my point was taken at all. I do think that there are pro-American voices in the German media, like Die Welt or Bild Zeitung. I do not think that Bild Zeitung is a great newspaper. However, to think that Bild Zeitung is simply a rag that has no influence on the German political discussion is simply naive. How that argument amounts to splitting hairs or triumphantly pointing to Bild as a shining example is beyond me. That's all I want to say, no need to gang up on me again.

[Huskins]

I have not read one article which I would consider as anti-americanism. Maybe this is because I cannot read german. I have only lived in germany one year and well....It took me 35 years to learn english. Well, not real english, more like american south english.

[garydausz]

@flux
No need to be paranoic, there is no gang. I think that your point that there is still a different view in the german media (Bild, Die Welt) is not helping the issue as they might be not anti-american but they do not help to improve the picture of the US as well. Every time there is an article or a comment in the german media that uses outright lies or false statements about the US (and I tell you I see many of them) there should be at least one media that should set this straight. I am sorry but I do not see this here. Those who read BILD are for sure not all pro-american and those who are not get their daily dose of US-Bashing anywhere else.
@huskins
So what is your point? There is no problem because I cannot see it?

[amiexpat]

@huskin
you don't need to read German..
have a look at the union magazine which portrays America as a blood sucker..
or have a look at the Stern/Spiegel covers..
you don't need to understand ONE WORD of German..

[Gabi]

Bush will visit Germany. The "peace"movement is exited. Demonstrations everywhere. I feel ashamed for my country. With the help of many journalists they are following again propaganda. And they are again so sure to be right. I would like to tell you: You are again on the wrong side, as Wolf Biermann wrote in Spiegel some years ago. There is a hatred in Germany what makes people blind. A mass hysteria.

[Buckeye Abroad]

Something that seems to report my last statement:

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/12/060712055551.npuk4eor.html

>>The Financial Times newspaper said it was to slash up to 50 jobs as it tried to restructure its editorial operations.

"The media industry is facing a huge challenge to its structure and working practices from the rapidly evolving demands of digital publishing," FT editor Lionel Barber told staff.<<

[joe]

Germans should not come through Hartsfield at the same time American service members do. It would make the Germans feel very uncomfortable as the American people stand and cheer their heroes.

[Mitch]

If the US has been on a slow path to fascism, we have been passed on the road many times. In the last century, it came to France (Vichy), Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Greece, and Hungary, among others. When continental Europeans accuse the US of having fascist sentiments, institutions, or policies, a psychologist would say are most likely projecting their desires and fears onto another party. There has never been an English-speaking fascist regime.

[grlzjustwant2havefun]

--manliness."

He's just jealous cos he's not.

Once again, fascism is always descending on America but seems to land in Europe.

Or it never left......

[grlzjustwant2havefun]

This is really getting old, they can only hit 1 note.

[Doug]

Somehow it seems that Mr. Klau is living in a fantasy vacuum of his own making where only facts that correspond to his worldview are actually acknowledged and real.

There's a name for that which Cum Grano Salis (R.I.P.) accurately applied three or so years ago.

[MarkD]

He doesn't seem much different than a lot of the American press. Reckless exaggeration, meteoric hyperbole and a willful blindness to anything that would disconfirm his biases are not unique.

The problem with the press in general is that they have an exaggerated sense of their own abilities. They tend to hang around with like thinking individuals. Having never had to balance a budget, they have no problem agreeing that a raise in the minimum wage, for example, is an unmitigated good thing. Of course, the guy the company had to lay off, or they guy they couldn't afford to hire might disagree, but the journalists never consider them. It's easy living in a fantasy world.

When it comes to the War on Terror (or if you prefer, the war on radical Islam), Klau never stops to consider that we tried ignoring it. This started with the Iran hostage crisis. Our forbearance has been mistaken for lack of will, and met with escalating attacks on us and our interests culminating in 9/11.

If Tehran were a pit of radioactive rubble and American mosques were shuttered or burned and American muslims rounded up into concentration camps, then Klau might have a point. It isn't, they weren't and he doesn't.

[Jabba the Tutt]

For a critical view of Bildzeitung, check out the Bildblog at http://www.bildblog.de/

Bildzeitung is good for folks learning German, the sentences are short and the writing is volksnah. I was amazed to see executives reading Bild. I read the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger http://www.ksta.de/index.shtml back in my day.