I was surfing the Minneapolis Public Library’s site today when I came upon this page, which gives the library’s stance on the Patriot Act. For those of you who don’t know, the USA Patriot Act is Attorney General John Ashcroft’s euphemistically named permission slip to investigate, among other things, what books people are checking out of the library. Without getting into the specifics on why the Patriot act is or is not a stupid idea, I just wanted to comment on how Republicans are wresting control of words and subverting them for their political agenda. What they are basically saying is that if you should have the gall to be against the Patriot Act, you are unpatriotic. Personally, this kind of politics of language reminds me of WWII fascist propaganda.
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