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ThomWV (1000+ posts) Thu Aug-13-09 10:08 AMOriginal message Can I get a discussion on Nazi comparisons? During yesterday's Press Conference the subject got around to Rush's comparison of the Democratic Party to the Nazi's and as you would expect there was quick dismissal of the subject because no one in their right mind can make any comparison of the Nazi horror to anything other than Stalin's horror without unacceptable exaggeration. That is the common response and its the correct response in one sense, but maybe not the right response all the time.Certainly no comparison can be made between any existing power structure and the Nazi's when one looks at result, but what about process? I say this because I have spent a good bit of time over the last few years trying to learn about the rise of the National Socialist Party, not what it did. When you ask, how did they come to power, what was the mechanism by which they took over the nation, how did they subvert a nation, how much resistance did they face and how did they deal with it, what was their position on the rights of recognized civilians, what was their economic policy, and on and on then I think maybe some very important comparisons can, and I dare say, should be made.And so that is my point. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater; there may indeed be a great deal to be learned about the methods of political manipulation and to simply disavow any comparison may be a mistake.
daedalus_dude (72 posts) Thu Aug-13-09 10:16 AMResponse to Original message 1. The psychological mechanisms that brough the nazis into power are relevant in todays politics regardless of the fact that the scales and the outcomes are different. People can have a mindset that would make them a good nazi, given the circumstance and IMO that is something that should always be of concern. The nazi followers were not "alien monsters", they were to a large part regular people.
ThomWV (1000+ posts) Thu Aug-13-09 10:19 AMResponse to Reply #1 3. That is exactly my point and to dismiss the argument because the word Nazi is used is a mistake. For instance, how many and what seats of power did they have to control to take over the nation? The answer to that question is 3, and know which positions there were and how they were used is a very important thing, not to be dismissed lightly.
Buzz Clik (1000+ posts) Thu Aug-13-09 10:18 AMResponse to Original message 2. The Nazis did not invent the methods they used and they have been used since. What makes the Nazis unique are the outcomes they produced. There is not escaping the discussions of holocaust when you invoke Hitler and the Nazis. As soon as someone compares an opponent to the Nazis, the argument is diminished, and rightly so.
Tierra_y_Libertad (1000+ posts) Thu Aug-13-09 10:58 AMResponse to Reply #6 8. Well said. The Nazis and our own RW play on people's fears. The irony is that the RW has a terror of "freedom". Under the surface is a fear of the poor, the angry, the "not us", taking away their "freedom" to live the American Dream. The American Dream of white picket fences and women and minorities that "know their place" and stay in it. The Nazis used similar tactics and slogans to stir the fear of the middle class in Germany. The poor were only to be helped to control them. To keep them from the gates of the "good" hardworking, patriotic, loyal, and Aryan, Germans. The German middle classes wanted, not freedom, but conformity and security. The teabaggers are appealing to that same desire.
ThomWV (1000+ posts) Thu Aug-13-09 11:39 AMResponse to Reply #6 17. Another valid comparison comes to mind All through their rise to power and then continuing long after they had taken power was the constant blaming of all problems on the predecessor Government. Nothing was ever their fault, they were always the victim. Sound familiar?
Tierra_y_Libertad (1000+ posts) Thu Aug-13-09 10:58 AMResponse to Reply #6 8. Well said. The Nazis and our own RW play on people's fears.The irony is that the RW has a terror of "freedom". Under the surface is a fear of the poor, the angry, the "not us", taking away their "freedom" to live the American Dream. The American Dream of white picket fences and women and minorities that "know their place" and stay in it.The Nazis used similar tactics and slogans to stir the fear of the middle class in Germany. The poor were only to be helped to control them. To keep them from the gates of the "good" hardworking, patriotic, loyal, and Aryan, Germans.The German middle classes wanted, not freedom, but conformity and security.The teabaggers are appealing to that same desire.
.....then continuing long after they had taken power was the constant blaming of all problems on the predecessor Government. Nothing was ever their fault, they were always the victim. Sound familiar?
