food for thought

[janlyn]

While I admit that like my fellow DU'rs I get endless laughs and entertainment from the absurdity of the right.I have to also think that we can't allow our knowledge of their ignorance to cloud our judgment. Yes they are funny,but there is also a part of me that wonders how many Germans and Jews thought Hitler was just a funny little man.
Or how many Puritans who thought that surely people would see the ignorance in accusing your neighbor of witchcraft when your crops go bad.

Anyway just some food for thought.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Most Jews thought that Hitler could not be that serious

that is until Krystalnacht. Then the term progrom came back.

For most German Jews, they were German first, and Jews second... as they were a very secular population.

Most Americans really do not know history... it is a fact, not a slam. So any references to the 1930s are kind of whatever. So in some ways we are in the same place.

[loli phabay]

2. no i would say that the US is a long way from the birth of the Nazi party

regardless of you thinking otherwise.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Well the paralllels to the 1930s are there

and it would not be the Nazi party... so you know.

What we have in the American right is very much AMERICAN... not GERMAN. But we have a radical right movement that is getting stronger, of course if you chose to hide, your prerogative.

[Cerridwen]

5. Uh, you know there is already a nazi party in the US, right?

Oh, lookey, and it has a lobbyist in DC.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/04/14/11193302-swastika-on-the-ballot-american-nazi-party-gets-its-first-lobbyist?lite

[loli phabay]

6. yup i know theres is a nazi party in the US along with lots of other whack job groups

dosent mean i agree with the poster that americans are going to go along with them.

[Cerridwen]

8. Except, of course, the ones who do already. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Try re-reading what I wrote

Did I say Americans are rushing to join the Nazi Party? NO

What I wrote is that we have a radical right in the United States, or are you willing to go so far as to deny that we have a radical right? Some of them happen to be neo nazis, and you know what? They are a minority among the radical right.

Now you know who is BIG among the radical right? One man by the name of Rush Limbaugh, perhaps you have even heard of him. You know who else? One Sean Hannity, perhaps you have even heard the name too. I know, they are so fringe that almost none of us have heard of them, except those of us who follow these whack jobs. Then there is this other dude called Dick Armey, you are excused if you actually do not really know who that dude is... though he was on the TV today. And he did not do a very good job, but trust me, he is as right wing as you can be in polite company without being called names.

You know the other two guys in the radical right? They are all but influential, perhaps you've heard of them... two men who share the last name Koch, and here is where the parallels really get hard core... David Koch and his brother... they have some similarities with the Von Ribentropps, you probably do not know the history, because we know how exceptional Americans are, but it was them who also financed the Nazis on their way to power...like well the Kochs are doing right now.

Yes, there are major differences, none of the Industrialists in Germany would actually run for power, enter one Mitt Romney... but hey, they also had issues with women's fertility, or are you denying we have a war on women?

When one says there are parallels does not mean that the true fringe in the far right will be the model used. But if you cannot see it, none of us can help you. What we have though is a very much AMERICAN far right, and it is powerful... or are you telling me that Fox news is a small channel in the far reaches of the far right? It is not Der Sturmer, but it IS a propaganda organ nonetheless.

And these are just examples of our very not so consequential radical right.

[GoneOffShore]

9. Don't be so sure - The Brownshirt mentality was evident at the RNC this week.

It behooves us all to be extra vigilant when it comes to these nouveaux Fascists.

[janlyn]

4. those who fail to learn from history are doomed

To repeat it. You are so correct. Maybe it is my Jewish ancestry,but I for one never forget that mankind is capable of watching true atrocities happen and doing nothing.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Yup, my dad was a veteran of Hitler's travel plan

and as a humanitarian worker I got to debrief victims of far more recent genocides... which are all but known outside Guatemala, for example.

[rustydog]

7. Call them on every lie, point out their discrepencies to potential voters

and VOTE! We need a massive Democratic-independant voter turnout to desroy this attempt to buy a president.

[TexasBushwhacker]

10. We haven't had this much income inequality since right before the Great Depression N/T

[pinboy3niner]

13. Walking and chewing gum

On DU we have a lot of battlers who are working hard on this election. We also like to have fun, especially on a news-dump Friday heading into a holiday weekend.

The humor of the chair threads is part of what rejuvenates and revitalizes us and keeps us going.

It's all good.

On the other hand...

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.