"Chile has done this..."

[paft.livejournal.com]

Sharron Angle, on her keen new idea for "helping" Social Security:

So when I said 'privatize' that's what I meant, that I thought we would just have to go to the private sector for a template on how this is supposed to be done. However, I've since been studying and Chile has done this...

Last week Sharron Angle dropped a rather oblique, admiring reference to a man who's been an enduring hero to a significant number of right wingers -- Augusto Pinochet. Whether it's Jonah Goldberg's notorious LA Times piece about how Pinochet's crimes created a "civil society," or the repulsive efforts by the likes of Otto Reich to paint Pinochet as a "tragic figure" unfairly reviled, or Jose Pinera's absurd claim that the responsibility for Pinochet's atrocities lie with Salvador Allende, many on the right plainly admire Pinochet and regard him as Chile's savior.

The question I have for American Pinochet apologists is simple. If the crimes of Pinochet -- the overturning of a democratically elected leader, the mass round-up, torture and murder of leftists and liberals, the people "disappeared" over the years, the grotesque crimes at Villa Grimaldi -- if they feel all that was worthwhile and necessary (if regrettable) in fighting Communism, why would they not feel the same way about using similar methods here?

If they believe it was, in the long run, okay to terrorize Chilean leftists in order to stabilize Chile's economy, why would they not also believe it's, in the long run, okay to terrorize American "leftists" (as they describe Democrats, liberals, and pretty much anyone who supports Obama) to stabilize the American economy?

Comments

[rasilio.livejournal.com]

You might have a point if either I or the OP addressed the effectiveness of the policy.

The OP was 100% an attempt to equate acceptance of one policy that happened to be initiated by Pinochet with blanket acceptance and endorsement for all policies of his. My response was an attempt to illustrate the central fallacy of that approach.