Co-authored by Julianne Shinto.
The constant and increasing use of Nazi and Holocaust imagery and associations that have been occurring in what is passing for political discourse in the USA has to stop.
It does nothing to improve the dialogue between the parties and certainly does everything to diminish the impact and importance of this horrible experiment in mass human destruction. There are lots of words in the English language to describe someone with whom you have a disagreement about politics with. But these are ones that describe an indescribable horror, words that hurt many people today when they hear them still.
The Holocaust (Shoah or השואה) as it is known in Hebrew was a terrible, terrible part of modern human history. Before you start using casual references, or calling someone a Nazi or comparing our current situation to the Holocaust - perhaps you should think again. Perhaps even you should schedule a visit to the U.S. National Holocaust Memorial Museum or if you are lucky enough to be able to travel to Israel to Yad V'shem and see for yourself what horrors were done by the Germans not just to people of the Jewish Faith, but to Catholics, Gays, anyone of color or anyone who might have just been different.
In campaign years, the rhetoric is often hot, unflattering and downright mean. That is to be expected, and is allowable in the United States due to our long recognition of freedom of speech as recognized by both the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and Amendments. (First Amendment).
But how far does this go? Are you free when you are associating someone running for office; ie, serving their country; with history's largest organized mass murder? How does this possibly help move your message forward? Does freedom get imbued by how angry you make people? Or does this cause more resentment, more political dislocation and thusly also cause people to lose interest in the political system? Perhaps that is the idea; at least for some who actively use this line of thinking and phraseology; the more they incense others, the more the others stop being part of the debate?
The United States right now is both going through another Presidential Campaign cycle and simultaneously seeing an explosion in word association and imagery with the Holocaust and the Nazis. The internet and social media just make this more immediate and in your face. We have, since world war II seen this type of language used. But the instant and global nature of social media driven communications now brings it home in ways it never did before. Where before it was isolated incidents in small towns or big cities; now that same message can reach thousands or even millions instantly. Gov 2.0 and other transparency initiatives only help to bring to light such nasty comments as well, though inadvertently.
But a basic question needs to be asked: How does this possibly help any candidate for office of any party when their supporters reach to such lows? Is this not evidence of a further decline in political discourse and a continued split amongst our people? How does horrific imagery and nasty language improve the debt situation or increase jobs for those out of work or fix our foreign policy issues? How?
Follow Alan W. Silberberg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Ideagov
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 |
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
Analogy between the 30's and today is actually quite similar.
With one exception...................America is insolvent and vulnerable to attack in 2012.
USA can only rely on technology to defend itself !
They could do what they did because it started little by little and we should never forget it.
Mussolini said it best: "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." The separation of corporate power and the state is as important as the separation of church and state, and given the near religious worship of unrestrained capitalism in contemporary American society, there is not much daylight between corporatism and church.
We should learn from our own human history, lest we be doomed to repeat it.
I have posted that quote here on HP more than once.
Here's a more recent one for you:
"Is this the United States Congress or the Board Of Directors of Goldman Sachs?"
-- ***former*** Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D - OH) in a speech on the House floor regarding the proposed Wall Street bailout, September 28, 2008
Some will claim that I am overreacting, that anyone may obtain the 'proper' document. But they are wrong. I have witnessed an 87 year old citizen denied a simple photo ID, simply because she could not produce every document the state demanded. She had more than enough 'proof' of who she was and where she lived. Enough 'proof' to receive medicare and social security benefits. Enough proof to satify the private insurance company that payed for her cancer surgery and treatments. But not enough 'proof' for the state to issue a simple photo ID to prove that she existed legally. When state agents are given the power to erase a citizen's existence based on an arbitrary and strictly limited requirement of 'proper documents'- when that power is used to disenfranchise, disempower, and discriminate against certain segments of our population based on race, creed, or color- we are closer to 1930's Germany than you think.
One can talk about the rise of the Nazi party without invoking the horrors of the genocide.
Good Americans have stood by as the USA has invaded country after country - much as good Germans did in the thirties.
For some time now the US government has grown more "of, by, and for" the large US corporations month after month... the very definition of fascism.
Our leading media practices Orwellian style agitprop 24 hours a day - every day.
Don't you think it's about time we start talking about Nazis?
If not, when do you think we should start?
Personally, I see way too many similarities between the U.S. of today, and Germany in the 30's.
When a small percentage of our people. OWN the media, and the message, we become sheeple easily lead, and easily misinformed. It's "The Big Lie Theory" in action, 24/7 on cable TV.
In the last 10 days, I personally have received 9 flyers in my mailbox. All from the Romney campaign or pacs, and ALL of them, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM......based on lies.
If he who lies best wins, what next?
What of Citizens United? Where our own Supreme Court puts a "For sale to highest bidder" sign outside the capitol building?
What of the comments made by our "Good Christian" leaders about the Muslims "These people are ANIMALS"?
No sir, I disagree.
The similarities are striking..............and they scare the CRAP out of me.
Scary times indeed.
“When fascism comes to America, it will come in the form of democracy.” -- Senator Huey Long
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross"
-- Sinclair Lewis
There have been other attempted and actual genocides in our world history that also had similar effects but the film aspect was not as visible or non-existent, and the political use of the horrors not widely used or exploited. There are echoes of similar human behavior in today’s world, but we have apparently learned and evolved little as a species generally in a moral sense. Even those who should know more than others continue acts of hideous brutality and inhumanity against other groups and ethnicities in the name of "security" or "survival" or "religion", everyday personal economic greed and acquisition, or leadership struggles; Man's inhumanity to man is still secure.
Divisiveness and tribalism is still the norm, those who are different are to be hated or subject to racism or discrimination to further the dominant entity or for political advantage. The ability of the world community to stop current horrors without further horror and killing (and associated profits) is non-existent. Even those who profess a moral compass with regard to humans are blind to the horrors and gradual extermination of numerous animal species that experience horrors of their own to “benefit” human “development” and economic “growth”. What then must we do?