Armacor
12-09-2005, 15:40
Part 1: Breaking Godwin's Law (http://www.voicesofunreason.com/fullthread$9093)
Part 2: A little bit of context (http://www.voicesofunreason.com/fullthread$9090)
Part 3: The Obvious Similarities (http://www.voicesofunreason.com/fullthread$9105)
the above is parts 1-3 of an essay by Brian Webber from here (http://www.voicesofunreason.com/writingsandtalkbacks)
I will not quote the entire thing, but a few of the quotes he has i will copy for public consumption (and the avoidance of needing to read the whole thing).
From JusticeForNone.com (http://justicefornone.com/article.php?story=20050527204356114), told by the site's administrator
-
So I heard the moving van pull up this morning. When I got home this evening I happened to spy my neighbor (he's like 85 years old - I don't know exactly, but he's old, talks and moves very slowly) standing on the sidewalk next to the van. I walked over and shook his hand, and we started talking. I asked him where he was moving, and he said, "Back to Germany."
[...]
"No," he answered me. "I'm going back because I've seen this before." He then commenced to explain that when he was a kid, he watched with his family in fear as Hitler's government committed atrocity after atrocity, and no one was willing to say anything. He said the news refused to question the government, and the ones who did were not in the newspaper business much longer. He said good neighbors, people he had known all his life, turned against his family and other Jews, grabbing on to the hate and superiority "as if they were starved for it" (his words).
He said he was too old to see it happen right in front of his eyes again, and too old to do anything about it, so he was taking his family back to Europe on Thursday where they would be safe from George W. Bush and his neocons. He seemed resolute, but troubled, nonetheless, as if being too young on one end and too old on the other to fight what he saw happening was wearing on him.
I gotta tell you - it was chilling. I let him talk, and the whole time, my gut was churning, like I had mutated butterflies in my stomach. When he was finished, he shook my hand, gripping it really hard, until his knuckles turned white and he was shaking. He looked me in the eyes, hard, and said, "I will pray for your family and your country."
This is just the first of many such tales. I hope that by relating these to you dear readers, you can understand why it's not only important that we allow comparisons between Bush and Hitler to be made in public discourse, but why it is neccesary, if we are to prevent the addition of another asterisk to American history. It had taken us 230 years to become the great country we were, through a greuling but ultimately worthwhile process of trial and error that took us through such atrocities as slavery, laws allowing spousal abuse, poll taxes, Vietnam, and many others. And it's taken George W. Bush all of 5 years to almost entirely dismantle it.
I can't let that happen. I love my country too much. Even if I end up like Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, and Christoph Probst (more on them later), I can't just stand back and do nothing anymore.
And now, since I opened this opening (no pun intended) with a quote, I shall close with one.
"Let me tell you a story.
There once was a man named Adolf Hitler. He spoke with conviction and had a funny mustache. He was elected to office in a place called Germany, at a time when morale was low.
Then one day, in 1933, someone lit fire to an important building called the Reichstag, and Germans—ever fearful—handed their freedoms to Hitler so that he might lead them, unrestricted, through a time of national emergency. He vowed to protect them, and vowed to restore the dignity and purity his people so richly deserved.
He then killed millions and abolished democracy.
Oh, and get this: There wasn’t a damn thing the Germans could do about it. They weren’t allowed to resist him. They weren’t allowed to criticize his government. The power they had given him was absolute.
Therein lies the moral of the story: You should never give powers to a leader you like that you’d hate to have given to a leader you fear." - Jonathan David Morris (http://www.readjdm.com/main/jdm/more/185/)
Part 2: A little bit of context (http://www.voicesofunreason.com/fullthread$9090)
Part 3: The Obvious Similarities (http://www.voicesofunreason.com/fullthread$9105)
the above is parts 1-3 of an essay by Brian Webber from here (http://www.voicesofunreason.com/writingsandtalkbacks)
I will not quote the entire thing, but a few of the quotes he has i will copy for public consumption (and the avoidance of needing to read the whole thing).
From JusticeForNone.com (http://justicefornone.com/article.php?story=20050527204356114), told by the site's administrator
-
So I heard the moving van pull up this morning. When I got home this evening I happened to spy my neighbor (he's like 85 years old - I don't know exactly, but he's old, talks and moves very slowly) standing on the sidewalk next to the van. I walked over and shook his hand, and we started talking. I asked him where he was moving, and he said, "Back to Germany."
[...]
"No," he answered me. "I'm going back because I've seen this before." He then commenced to explain that when he was a kid, he watched with his family in fear as Hitler's government committed atrocity after atrocity, and no one was willing to say anything. He said the news refused to question the government, and the ones who did were not in the newspaper business much longer. He said good neighbors, people he had known all his life, turned against his family and other Jews, grabbing on to the hate and superiority "as if they were starved for it" (his words).
He said he was too old to see it happen right in front of his eyes again, and too old to do anything about it, so he was taking his family back to Europe on Thursday where they would be safe from George W. Bush and his neocons. He seemed resolute, but troubled, nonetheless, as if being too young on one end and too old on the other to fight what he saw happening was wearing on him.
I gotta tell you - it was chilling. I let him talk, and the whole time, my gut was churning, like I had mutated butterflies in my stomach. When he was finished, he shook my hand, gripping it really hard, until his knuckles turned white and he was shaking. He looked me in the eyes, hard, and said, "I will pray for your family and your country."
This is just the first of many such tales. I hope that by relating these to you dear readers, you can understand why it's not only important that we allow comparisons between Bush and Hitler to be made in public discourse, but why it is neccesary, if we are to prevent the addition of another asterisk to American history. It had taken us 230 years to become the great country we were, through a greuling but ultimately worthwhile process of trial and error that took us through such atrocities as slavery, laws allowing spousal abuse, poll taxes, Vietnam, and many others. And it's taken George W. Bush all of 5 years to almost entirely dismantle it.
I can't let that happen. I love my country too much. Even if I end up like Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, and Christoph Probst (more on them later), I can't just stand back and do nothing anymore.
And now, since I opened this opening (no pun intended) with a quote, I shall close with one.
"Let me tell you a story.
There once was a man named Adolf Hitler. He spoke with conviction and had a funny mustache. He was elected to office in a place called Germany, at a time when morale was low.
Then one day, in 1933, someone lit fire to an important building called the Reichstag, and Germans—ever fearful—handed their freedoms to Hitler so that he might lead them, unrestricted, through a time of national emergency. He vowed to protect them, and vowed to restore the dignity and purity his people so richly deserved.
He then killed millions and abolished democracy.
Oh, and get this: There wasn’t a damn thing the Germans could do about it. They weren’t allowed to resist him. They weren’t allowed to criticize his government. The power they had given him was absolute.
Therein lies the moral of the story: You should never give powers to a leader you like that you’d hate to have given to a leader you fear." - Jonathan David Morris (http://www.readjdm.com/main/jdm/more/185/)