On Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 20:06:14 (-0700) David B. Shemano writes:
>Raghu writes:
>
>>> Hitler considered himself as representing the exact opposite of
>>> everything communism stood for and was very consistent about it. The
>>> opposite of the extreme left is the extreme right. QED.
>...
>The opposite of the extreme list is the extreme right only if you
>imagine political ideology as a linear spectrum. If you imagine
>political ideology as a circle, then there is little real difference
>between the extremes. ...
You would find some of Chomsky's ideas on this very congenial, I
think. He feels those who favor centralized, top-down, authoritarian
control and who are very set against democratic practice and
structure, whether they identify themselves as "right" or "left", are
of the same stripe. He does give a helpful definition of the term
"communist" as used in the United States:
The term "Communist" is used in US discourse in a technical
sense, referring to labor leaders, peasant organizers, priests
organizing self-help groups, and others with the wrong
priorities.
---Noam Chomsky, *Deterring Democracy*, p. 49
Bill
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