Reagan getting elected was the middle class' Kristallnacht. It's been getting decimated ever since.
You have bshole and you have Dave, that's it. That's like saying that saying if conservatives get control they're going to completely eliminate all regulations and 99% of the government because that's what Anarchist420 and Incorruptible want.
On a recent episode of the Canadian business show The Lang and O’Leary Exchange, O’Leary applauded the recently released statistic that the combined wealth of the world’s 85 richest people is equal to the wealth of the 3.5 billion poorest. “Of course I applaud it,” O’Leary said. “What could be wrong with this?”
He goes on to explain that the conditions the 3.5 billion poorest individuals find themselves in are simply a great motivator for those folks to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make something of their lives. Nevermind the fact that these are people living on less than $2.50 per day often without access to basic necessities like water, food, and education.
Another idiot with more money than brains comes out of the woodwork and calls inequality fantastic:
http://business.time.com/2014/01/22/kevin-oleary-says-3-5-billion-living-in-poverty-is-fantastic/
What a shame. We were so close too. I thought there was someone else here who understood that this is all bullshit. That nothing here is real, that none of it is to be taken seriously, that none of it matters, that nothing will be changed by the words at P&N.
But you dashed my hopes because you do take it seriously. Your loss. This place can be a great source of fun and enjoyment if one can just understand that it means absolutely nothing.
I think you're an unwed mother of three living in Guatemala. Did I get close? I ask because I have no clue about you and I never truly will. Get it?
mr perkins poses an interesting observation in the wall street journal:
much like how nazi germany demonized the jews in word and print, so too are rich people demonized today in america. and you dont really even have to be super-rich - if you are doing better than average, somebody hates you for it and wants to tear you down.
That's actually fairly consistent with what I've observed. The course of my work over the last few years has brought me into contact with a lot of wealthy people and there is really a fear that they're going to somehow lose it to Obama...no matter how totally irrational that fear actually is. The 1% and above are indeed isolated and some grow paranoid in that isolation so they end up writing crazy out of touch stuff like this.
You have bshole and you have Dave, that's it. That's like saying that saying if conservatives get control they're going to completely eliminate all regulations and 99% of the government because that's what Anarchist420 and Incorruptible want.
Well, he does actually make a point.
bshole was quoted just a few days ago in a thread as wanting to "murder [these rich] motherfuckers and and burn down/steal their mansions"
That's...pretty disgusting from any angle.
What they need to be afraid of is criminals targeting their families for ransom. As the lower portions of the 99% become increasingly destitute and desperate, they might begin targeting the wealthy for kidnap and random schemes, not because they have an ideological animus against the wealthy, but because that's where the money is. It's already a problem in Central and South America. Here's a trailer for a documentary movie about it:
Manda Bala (Send A Bullet)
A lesser-known documentary that I cannot seem to find a video of anywhere on the Internet is:
Ransom City ~ Introduction | Wide Angle
PBS Wide Angle: 'Ransom City' - washingtonpost.com
When the WSJ goes full Godwin you know they've slide completely off the rails.
No one is ever going to make a winning argument with a direct comparison to Nazi Germany, that's for sure. People are always going to compare the horrific outcome, and never look at the much more subtle underlying causes.
IE: every citizen of Germany at the time was a cigar chomping, mustachio-twirling villain spitting Jew-hatred with every syllable, chanting toss Jews into gas ovens. It couldn't possible be that most were just normal, average, ordinary people who allowed far too much power be given over to two-bit politicians who promised an easy way out for everything that ailed them, with no thought given to what could actually be done with that power.
So of course today, everyone knows they're not cigar-chomping mustachio-twirling anti-semitic villains, so what possible harm could there ever come from allowing far too much power be given over to two-bit politicians who promise an easy way out for all that ails?
So while you'll never win any argument making a direct Nazi comparison conjuring up the outcome, it is possible to make the point that the *same* weakness of human nature Nazis used to come to power can be exploited without the exploiter actually being a Nazi, and for different purposes and outcomes than tossing people into gas ovens.
Nazis were able to exploit an already festering resentment of and hatred for Jews, a great "other" in which all the problems facing Germany could be pawned off on. Humans being human, tend to love a good scapegoat. They took to it gladly.
If you can look to someone else as the source for all your problems, or even if a politician can convince you that the politicians himself isn't a big source of your problems, but some universal "Other" is, then many will take the easier way out. And once the "other" becomes the source of all problems, then people will violently reject *ANY* inference ever that they themselves are part of their own problems, not that it's all other's fault. And guaranteed: the one group that absolutely is forbidden to ever point this out, is the "Other" themselves. Any member of "Other" that dares ever suggest that they aren't the problem, and that people/politicians exploiting them/etc are more likely the source of their own problems, will absolutely be crucified.
Germans happened to target a very specific 'other' in the form of Jews- the example is so specific that most believe it simply can't ever happen again, and so too, the underlying human nature behind it (in fact, WHAT human nature, all cigar-chomping villains, remember?) can't ever surface again either.
But an 'other' so broad like "the rich"- I mean, who are these people anyway? Basically, whoever you want them to be. And OF COURSE the rich are responsible for all that ails. And OF COURSE some politician needs to be given all sorts of power to make things right again. And OF COURSE (and actually this is true) the end result will wind up to be vastly different than anything to do with Nazi Germany. So OF COURSE, one cant make the comparison, or in fact even bring up the whole subject. And OF COURSE, least of all, an 'other'.
Perkins is on the board of News Corp, so of course the WSJ is going to publish him, but you think they could have advised him to filter a bit.
mr perkins poses an interesting observation in the wall street journal:
much like how nazi germany demonized the jews in word and print, so too are rich people demonized today in america. and you dont really even have to be super-rich - if you are doing better than average, somebody hates you for it and wants to tear you down.
This has the potential to be an interesting thread. I'm sure the usual suspects will completely discount any parallels between the actions they cheer for and that of pre WWII Germany. After all, they've been taught that the Nazi movement was right wing.
The problem lies in the progression of a movement. It does not happen all at once but over time and always is justified in the eyes of the believers through one form or another. Our government is systematically going after its 'enemies' through various means. It's all seen as righteous and just by people who can't or won't comprehend a bigger picture. Those of us that sound the occasional alarm are discounted.
Three more years of Obama and we will see where we end up. When the government uses its power to go after those that are mucking up the works, that should sound an alarm in the heads of many. It is, but they are outnumbered. A movement is afoot. History is unfolding right before us. Through either passive or aggressive behavior, we will choose our path.
No one is ever going to make a winning argument with a direct comparison to Nazi Germany, that's for sure. People are always going to compare the horrific outcome, and never look at the much more subtle underlying causes.
IE: every citizen of Germany at the time was a cigar chomping, mustachio-twirling villain spitting Jew-hatred with every syllable, chanting toss Jews into gas ovens. It couldn't possible be that most were just normal, average, ordinary people who allowed far too much power be given over to two-bit politicians who promised an easy way out for everything that ailed them, with no thought given to what could actually be done with that power.
So of course today, everyone knows they're not cigar-chomping mustachio-twirling anti-semitic villains, so what possible harm could there ever come from allowing far too much power be given over to two-bit politicians who promise an easy way out for all that ails?
So while you'll never win any argument making a direct Nazi comparison conjuring up the outcome, it is possible to make the point that the *same* weakness of human nature Nazis used to come to power can be exploited without the exploiter actually being a Nazi, and for different purposes and outcomes than tossing people into gas ovens.
Nazis were able to exploit an already festering resentment of and hatred for Jews, a great "other" in which all the problems facing Germany could be pawned off on. Humans being human, tend to love a good scapegoat. They took to it gladly.
If you can look to someone else as the source for all your problems, or even if a politician can convince you that the politicians himself isn't a big source of your problems, but some universal "Other" is, then many will take the easier way out. And once the "other" becomes the source of all problems, then people will violently reject *ANY* inference ever that they themselves are part of their own problems, not that it's all other's fault. And guaranteed: the one group that absolutely is forbidden to ever point this out, is the "Other" themselves. Any member of "Other" that dares ever suggest that they aren't the problem, and that people/politicians exploiting them/etc are more likely the source of their own problems, will absolutely be crucified.
Germans happened to target a very specific 'other' in the form of Jews- the example is so specific that most believe it simply can't ever happen again, and so too, the underlying human nature behind it (in fact, WHAT human nature, all cigar-chomping villains, remember?) can't ever surface again either.
But an 'other' so broad like "the rich"- I mean, who are these people anyway? Basically, whoever you want them to be. And OF COURSE the rich are responsible for all that ails. And OF COURSE some politician needs to be given all sorts of power to make things right again. And OF COURSE (and actually this is true) the end result will wind up to be vastly different than anything to do with Nazi Germany. So OF COURSE, one cant make the comparison, or in fact even bring up the whole subject. And OF COURSE, least of all, an 'other'.
Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to explain what I, personally had hoped would be obvious to everyone. How is it that we have created such a literal society? One that can't pick up inferences, then think for themselves while putting together the pieces? You've done a wonderful job of explaining how this story the OP posted and that so many of us have commented on is not a literal interpretation of what may be happening in our country today. I just think that's it's so damned sad that everything has to be explained in such detail to so many. It does not bode well for our future.<redacted to save bandwidth>
No one is ever going to make a winning argument with a direct comparison to Nazi Germany, that's for sure. People are always going to compare the horrific outcome, and never look at the much more subtle underlying causes.
IE: every citizen of Germany at the time was a cigar chomping, mustachio-twirling villain spitting Jew-hatred with every syllable, chanting toss Jews into gas ovens. It couldn't possible be that most were just normal, average, ordinary people who allowed far too much power be given over to two-bit politicians who promised an easy way out for everything that ailed them, with no thought given to what could actually be done with that power.
So of course today, everyone knows they're not cigar-chomping mustachio-twirling anti-semitic villains, so what possible harm could there ever come from allowing far too much power be given over to two-bit politicians who promise an easy way out for all that ails?
So while you'll never win any argument making a direct Nazi comparison conjuring up the outcome, it is possible to make the point that the *same* weakness of human nature Nazis used to come to power can be exploited without the exploiter actually being a Nazi, and for different purposes and outcomes than tossing people into gas ovens.
Nazis were able to exploit an already festering resentment of and hatred for Jews, a great "other" in which all the problems facing Germany could be pawned off on. Humans being human, tend to love a good scapegoat. They took to it gladly.
If you can look to someone else as the source for all your problems, or even if a politician can convince you that the politicians himself isn't a big source of your problems, but some universal "Other" is, then many will take the easier way out. And once the "other" becomes the source of all problems, then people will violently reject *ANY* inference ever that they themselves are part of their own problems, not that it's all other's fault. And guaranteed: the one group that absolutely is forbidden to ever point this out, is the "Other" themselves. Any member of "Other" that dares ever suggest that they aren't the problem, and that people/politicians exploiting them/etc are more likely the source of their own problems, will absolutely be crucified.
Germans happened to target a very specific 'other' in the form of Jews- the example is so specific that most believe it simply can't ever happen again, and so too, the underlying human nature behind it (in fact, WHAT human nature, all cigar-chomping villains, remember?) can't ever surface again either.
But an 'other' so broad like "the rich"- I mean, who are these people anyway? Basically, whoever you want them to be. And OF COURSE the rich are responsible for all that ails. And OF COURSE some politician needs to be given all sorts of power to make things right again. And OF COURSE (and actually this is true) the end result will wind up to be vastly different than anything to do with Nazi Germany. So OF COURSE, one cant make the comparison, or in fact even bring up the whole subject. And OF COURSE, least of all, an 'other'.