Nice Comment

Comment was by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on October 10, 2012 at 5:52am

I am Australian, and have American relatives. If it were not for Americans, Australia would now be ruled by the Japanese. And we are ever thankful. But they have lost there way. Be scared, Romney is picking up steam. Woe be the world, not just America if he gets in.

Comment was by Drew JW on September 5, 2012 at 12:53pm

Excellent Adriana, thanks!

Too bad it's such a theist undertone, but regardless/...That's an article that deserves to go viral.

Comment was by Adriana on September 5, 2012 at 12:36pm

OK, here's what I found in Google: (the concept was sort of expressed, by professor Halford E. Luccock of Yale Divinity School, quoted in a New York Times article published 12 September, 1938); But those exact words were not written; the professor was a Christian, BTW.

(Sinclair died in 1951, so he could have said that, but definitively, the date 1835 makes no dsense, since the word "fascism" did not exist back then, as Drew correctly points out)

When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving a cross (or words to that effect)

The quote "When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving a cross." has been attributed to both Huey Long, a populist Louisiana politician assassinated in 1935,¹ and Sinclair Lewis, the first American to win the Nobel Prize in literature.² 

It was actually a professor Halford E. Luccock of Yale Divinity School who gave origin to the quote in a New York Times article published 12 September, 1938. 

Below is a re-print of the article (1938-09-12): 

DISGUISED FASCISM SEEN AS A MENACE 

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Prof. Luccock Warns That It Will Bear the Misleading Label 'Americanism' 

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When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled "made in Germany"; it will not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course, "Americanism," Professor Halford E. Luccock of the Divinity School of Yale University said yesterday morning in a sermon at the Riverside Church, Riverside Drive and 122d Street. 
    "The high-sounding phrase 'the American way' will be used by interested groups, intent on profit, to cover a multitude of sins against the American and Christian tradition, such sins as lawless violence, tear gas and shotguns, denial of civil liberties," he said. "There is an obligation resting on us all to dedicate our minds to the hard task of thinking in terms of Christian objectives and values, so that we may be saved from moral confusion. 
    "For never, probably, has there been a time when there was a more vigorous effort to surround social and international questions with such a fog of distortion and prejudice and hysterical appeal to fear. We have touched a new low in a Congressional investigation this Summer, used by some participating in it to whip up fear and prejudice against many causes of human welfare, such as a concern for peace and the rights of labor to bargain collectively." 
    Professor Luccock, who preached on the theme "Keeping Life Out of the Confusion," continued: 
    "There is, of course, the peace of the cemetery. If you want that you can have it. But you will pay for such complacent serenity with blind eyes which do not see the world's fear and agony; with deaf ears, into which the still sad music of humanity never comes; with deadened nerves and unsensitized conscience. 
    "We will never be brought to confusion, even in such a baffling and muddled world as ours, if we have a faith in a God of love as the ultimate power in the universe. The words 'God is love' have this deep meaning: that everything that is against love is ultimately doomed and damned."

Bibliographie 
1. "Huey Long". Wikipedia. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long#Assassination 
2. "Sinclair Lewis". Wikipedia. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis 
"Fascism comes wrapped in the flag". Everything Shii Knows.http://shii.org/knows/Fascism_comes_wrapped_in_the_flag

Comment was by Adriana on September 5, 2012 at 12:26pm

You are right, Drew, fact-checking is always important. Thanks for pointing this out. Any idea who may have coined the phrase? It sure rings true, even if "fascism" may be too strong a word (at least for now).

Comment was by Drew JW on September 5, 2012 at 12:20pm

Nice post.

I have to nit pick though, I've developed a pet peave recently by an epidemic of fraudulent quotes.

All over facebook, twitter, blogs, etc... So the pailin pic and quote attributed to Sinclair Lewis, while funny/scary/accurate as the sentiment might be, is just wrong. First the date... Lewis lived from 1885-1951 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis)

So he was not around, nor was the concept of Fascism, in 1835. But even if the date is an innocent typo...

Second, there is no proof he wrote or said that... (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Sinclair_Lewis)

 

We rail against the "right wing nuts" for being flip with facts, altering reality, lying... lets fact check ourselves ...mmmkay?

:)

It it sounds to cute or convenient to be real, it probably isn't.

 

 

Comment was by Marianne on August 26, 2012 at 10:59pm

This is a great blog.  It sums up so many issues very apptly and what the americans should stand for.

Comment was by Michel on August 24, 2012 at 2:48am

With a bible in one hand, a handgun in the other, and with a voice louder than all the others, these people wave the stars and stripes.

These four hands must confuse the hell out of them =)

Comment was by Adriana on August 23, 2012 at 9:13pm

Hey, I had no idea that you were a spawn of American folks :-)

I read your blog yesterday on your site and was comment but got sidetracked.

Brilliant, man, simply brilliant. It kind of made me envious you can start seeing other people because for the time being I'm stuck here. One would hope the latest crop of rabid misogynists, homophobes, and anti-science GOP politicians are so fiery because they represent the death throes of a breed well underway to extinction.  Once they all die out, we can make a nice diorama at a creationist museum.