(no subject)

[andrewducker]

For those disbelievers: Bush/Hitler links.

Alternatively this is a google search that turns up plenty of people making the link.

Germany's Justice Minister made the connection too. "Bush wants to divert attention from his domestic problems. It's a classic tactic. It's one that Hitler used."

"Like Hitler, Bush curtails civil liberties and depends on detention centers (i.e. concentration camps) such as Guant·namo Bay," says Edward Jayne, a retired Western Michigan University English professor, in his Internet list of "27 similarities."

Last week in London, playwright Harold Pinter said, "The U.S. is really beyond reason now... . There is only one comparison: Nazi Germany."

Additional Note: This is not me saying that they are the same - this is me finding other people saying that they are, after being told that "nobody says that"

Comments

[derumi.livejournal.com]

Offhand, if we are Nazi Germany, then what? 9_6

[andrewducker]

I don't think you are. Nor do I find it likely that you will be. There are far too many liberals in the US for that to happen, and enough people that would swing that way if the government got too big for its boots.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Between a quarter and a third of the US are seriously scary fundies who would happily trade away their own (and other people's) civil rights to make the country more "Christian". Most of the rest of the population are deeply apathetic about politics (as admittedly are most people in the First World). There also simply aren't that many liberals. In most of the middle of the US (ie the midwest and the south) there is a level of religious intensity and uniformity that honestly shocks most Europeans who encounter it.

A situation like Nazi Germany is quite unlikely, but the "Red Scare" of the 50s was very bad indeed. If things get really bad, I'm certain we'll see many more prisons instead of death camps, but things could get far worse than they are now.

[derumi.livejournal.com]

Not nearly enough fundies in the USA that'll agree enough to push a version of God on us all, that's my take as a former Baptist who's been to Catholic mass and has Mormon relatives. I'd say there's only about 10% that would be dangerous at the polls. And another 10% that won't go to the polls because Politics is the DEVIL. *ahem*

I think we'll be fine as long as there isn't just one newsmedia outlet in the US.

Of course, that could happen.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I think it's somewhat more than 10%, because the fundy leaders excel at getting out the vote. Also, the hundreds of separate and competing news organizations have now been reduced to 7 vast multi-media empires. In the short term, this number is more likely to shrink than grow. It's very sad that journalists have gone from being the guardians of the public interest to being mouthpieces for the multinationals in less than 25 years.

[broin.livejournal.com]

Woody Allen is totally screwed.

[stillcarl.livejournal.com]

Oh come now - Hitler managed to write a book! :)

I just did a Google for "Bush family history." Very sobering what the top placed links are...

[cangetmad.livejournal.com]

I absolutely agree that there are protesters and anti-war types who do the Bush=Hitler thing, and also those who are violently anti-Semitic and carry [star of David]=[swastika] placards, as well as [US flag]=[swastika] ones. That's one of the reasons that the anti-war movement often makes me pretty uncomfortable - and also why I try not to leave it to become an idiots' playground.

I don't think Nazi analogies should be played with lightly. Personally, partly since I'm directly descended from a man interned as a suspected Nazi, I will not ever, ever carry or wear a swastika of any kind, no matter what clever message someone thinks they're sending with it. Just don't fucking go there, because it is always offensive.

But then, I'm a Green and a hippie and I aspire to a politics that can actually see a bit of complexity, build connections and consensus and not always work in binaries. That's why I'll never get anywhere.

[andrewducker]

But then, I'm a Green and a hippie and I aspire to a politics that can actually see a bit of complexity, build connections and consensus and not always work in binaries. That's why I'll never get anywhere.

Ditto. I mean, I like binary approaches. But largely for the humour value.