by Sean Fenley
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
The Anything and Everything
April 28, 2010
If one listens to the corporate media and/or ‘political mainstream’ — which one should never of course do — one might find that s/he is an extremist. If one is for peace, like Jesus of Nazareth; s/he might be an extremist. If one is for racial and economic justice, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; s/he is probably an extreme radical. If one is for an economic bill of rights in this country, like the longest tenured president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt — to bring us more in touch with other civilized countries — s/he is almost undoubtedly against the free market and undeniably considered to be a recalcitrant Marxist agitator. This person in question is clearly just another one of the lunatic fringe in our society — probably a McVeigh or William Ayers sort, and far to the left of the ‘exceedingly liberal’ Obama.
If one thinks that there are no ‘U.S. interests’, at least altruistic ones, in a great deal of the regions of the world that the United States meddles in, s/he is unequivocally considered to be an extreme individual. If one supports the human rights of the Palestinians, not only is s/he undeniably an extreme sort of ‘unhinged’ bomb throwing radical, but an anti-Semite as well — at least considered as such by some of the knee-jerk supporters of the government of Israel. I’m sorry to say this, but in a society where peace, egalitarianism, respect for the rights of self-determination of other sovereign peoples, and the recognition that a particular oppressed group are human beings is considered to be extremism; then I’ll side with ‘extremism’ each and every time.
A different kind of extremism seems to have seized the body politic of the United States of America — as the recently retired Paul Craig Roberts has uncovered — and un-extreme thoughts and opinions seem to have virtually no access to the frighteningly narrow ‘marketplace of ideas’. It’s almost as if there exists a sort of Berlin Wall, on freedom of thought and opinion in this country; particularly if anyone thinks that the non-state and corporate sponsored thoughts and opinions, have even one slice of hope of making it into the aforementioned severely limited political discussion.
As much as I hate to give Ronald Reagan any kudos, he must not have known that the Berlin Wall would actually fall just two short years after his famous speech that he gave in Germany. If their Berlin Wall could fall, in that sort of authoritarian and inflexible society, perhaps it is possible that ours could fall too; perhaps it is possible for lighting to strike the same barrier to human initiative more than once, and to bring about the downfall of the same outmoded obstruction.
Sean Fenley is an independent progressive who would like to see the end of the dictatorial duopoly of the so-called two party adversarial system. He would also like to see some sanity brought to the creation and implementation of current and future U.S. military, economic, foreign and domestic policies. He has been published by such websites as Pravda.ru, Countercurrents.org, Online Journal, Dandelion Salad and Global Research.
Dandelion Salad 
Well I think they generally do the same thing to the people on the right, but that doesn’t seem to be what you’re saying. I don’t know the truth of that, but certainly if you’re on the left and outside of the parameters of the MSM, you’re just one of the crazies (like many of the people I cited in the article such as FDR)…
Sean, you are so right. Civilized values and the societal good are held to be extreme left-wing views in the MSM. During the health care reform debate, Bill Moyers of PBS’ Journal program (sadly canceled) had knowledgeable professionals speak about Medicare-for-all and single payer plans. Maureen Dowd called such discussion that of “the left wing fringe.”
Today the NYT is running an op-ed piece written by Kris Kobach, one of the constructors of the Arizona “guilty until proven innocent” bill, who was an adviser to AG Ashcroft. There is no opposing view to pick apart the constitutional holes in his logic.
Armed militia men marching on DC on the anniversary of Tim McVeigh’s Oklahoma City bombing are not referred to as extremists but merely as “exercising their first and second amendment rights.”
In certain states which allow the carrying of unconcealed weapons, armed people are testing their rights by entering such common areas as Starbucks stores. I should say, “armed white people” because I could not imagine any other race getting away with such privilege.
Propaganda by the corporate state is funding information now.