Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Truth vs. Jonah Goldberg - A Local Event

Fascism Is Not Liberal



David Neiwert, award-winning journalist, author, and noted expert on the American far right, will present a critique & debunking of Jonah Goldberg's book Liberal Fascism. May 19th, 7-9 PM in the WECU conference hall, 5659 Barrett Rd. Ferndale.


Lively political debate is a bedrock principle laid down by the Founding Fathers and enshrined in our Constitution. In American politics, we have agreed to disagree and looked for compromises that the majority can live with. Goldberg's book is an attempt to sabotage the give and take of political debate by turning history on its head and casting liberals as secret villains linked to the diametrically opposed ideas of fascism by connections that exist only in Goldberg's fevered imagination.


The NW Business Club has invited Jonah Goldberg (right-wing pundit) and author of Liberal Fascism, (a work of historical revisionism), to be a guest on May 19th. The NW Business Clubs press release says "Jonah Goldberg has given us the words in his book to combat the arrogance of modern liberalism ? now let us question him!".


We won't be paying the Biz Clubs $20 admission fee for the privilege, but we certainly will be questioning Goldberg's book.


When extremists come to Whatcom County to spread their propaganda, Whatcom County's progressives respond by bringing truth.


David Neiwert, managing editor of firedoglake.com, awarding winning journalist & author, who has extensively researched extremist groups and domestic terrorism, will be the speaker; May 19th, 7-9 PM in the WECU conference hall, (I-5 exit 262) 5659 Barrett Rd. Ferndale. Admission is free but seating is limited to 100, so please RSVP (washouts@gmail.com) to assure a spot.


David Neiwert has already reviewed Goldberg's book for "The American Prospect" magazine and elsewhere.

Jonah Goldberg's Bizarro History
... Goldberg, who has no credentials beyond the right-wing nepotism that has enabled his career as a pundit, has drawn a kind of history in absurdly broad and comically wrongheaded strokes. It is not just history done badly, or mere revisionism. It?s a caricature of reality, like something from a comic-book alternative universe: Bizarro history.

The title alone is enough to indicate its thoroughgoing incoherence: Of all the things we know about fascism and the traits that comprise it, one of the few things that historians will readily agree upon is its overwhelming anti-liberalism. One might as well write about anti-Semitic neoconservatism, or Ptolemaic quantum theory, or strength in ignorance. Goldberg isn't content to simply create an oxymoron; this entire enterprise, in fact, is classic Newspeak. ...

David Neiwert January 8, 2008
[ weblink: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=jonah_goldbergs_bizarro_history ]



[ David Neiwert's blog: http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/ ]


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For more information contact:


Steve Lydolph
Washington Outsiders Blog
Ferndale, WA
email: washouts@gmail.com

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