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I think Joaquin is simply pandering to populist lingo with his defense of the term "Fascist". I only read his first 10 paragraphs, perhaps he explains this more further down. I don't usually follow such threads either, BTW. People seem to have emotional investment in the use of the term "Fascist". The CP was famous for calling Nixon a "Fascist" (in their totally legal newspaper, at their street meetings never once broken up by a fascist mob or from the repressive apparatus of the state, etc). People use to term *purely* for it's emotional effect, like calling Obama a "Socialist". Fine. If you want to denude the meaning of the term, by all means, just recognize that when you use any political term willy-nilly, you are simply not making any sort of political argument at all. It's kind of the "Ah...I see, US Imperialist slaughter is "Fascist", well, that just takes it, I'm now AGAINST US Imperialism. IF only if were NOT "Fascist" I could continue to support it. Thanks for clearing that up..." It's all just a term used for catharsis. Makes 'ya feel better, too. Interesting Joaquin's oxymoronic use of the term "linguistic fascism" (to paraphrase not directly quote him) is interesting. Linguists rarely try to say there is ONE specific meaning for a term, but rather the 'meaning' of the term "as it's used". Thus the general defense of language dialects by linguists and against standardization. However, probably he means to charge the term 'fascist' to the General Semanticists, many of whom did in fact have nice, strong, Fascist affiliations. They believe/believed in the "intrinsic" right and wrong of the use of terms". The concept of the "Kings English" as the only legitimate form of spoken English comes from them, not linguists. David ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
