Saturday, January 08, 2005

Uh-oh - dangerous idea ahead

The New York Times today published an article about a speech given by historian Fritz Stern, a refugee from Hitler's Germany, in which he drew parallels between the Christian fundamentalism at the heart of Nazism and the melding of conservative politics and the Christian right in the U.S.. Stern gave the speech while receiving an award in Germany recently.

The opening sentence of Times reporter Chris Hedges' article notes, however, that Stern's remarks "startled several of his listeners." Huh? Are you kidding? Why do you think so many blue staters are nervous at the thought of a red state takeover? The left does worry that the path away from a secular society risks taking us down the path of fascism.

Oh, I forgot. This is the Times' way of alerting us that there is a dangerous idea ahead, an idea they would be criticized for repeating, if not for this timid disclaimer.

So how precisely did Hedges determine audience members were startled? Does he have photographic proof of raised eyebrows? Or were the eyebrows only his -- or those of his editor?

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