Do you think something like the Holocaust could happen here?

[raccoon]

I'd like to say no, but if things got bad enough, yes, I could see it happening.

[MiniMe]

1. Absolutely. They would start with the brown people

And its sad that I think this could happen.

[gatorboy]

20. Next it would be the gay community.

Then work their way through the athiests.

[Clark2008]

66. OT: What a comfortable looking pup.

What kind of doggie is that?

[sarge43]

2. Ask Native American historians about that. n/t

[TechBear_Seattle]

13. Indeed. The question should be....

Could something like the Holocaust (of indigenous Americans) happen here again, maybe with a different demographic?

[dipsydoodle]

14. Exactly the same thought

came into my mind.x(

[BridgeTheGap]

18. Slavery filled the bill too

don't forget that the those who died in the holocaust were also used as slave labor.

[EFerrari]

33. You bet. And if you're a young black man in this joint

you've something like a one in four chance of landing in prison. And that's today, not a hundred and fifty years ago.

[mema42]

62. not sure that compares

I'm not sure that really compares to the holocaust.

There are programs here to benefit the minorities and have been for some time. Perhaps the only solution is to lower the population to lowest level rather then trying to raise those that are lower to a higher level. The black population remains impoverished, unemployed, have a lower chance of finishing high school, a higher crime rate as victims and perpetrators.

What are the answers to resolve the situation, what options are available? Should we change the laws to allow more crimes to be misdemeanors or not crimes at all? I'm very disappointed with the system we have been using to help the blacks in this country. If anything it has made the problem worse instead of better.

As I said, I'm not sure its a holocaust, it is very sad, and we need a solution that works quickly because time is running out for those that can be helped.

[Virginia Dare]

24. That was my thought, we've already had at least one...n/t

[yardwork]

47. Yes. It already has happened here.

[SteelPenguin]

3. It's possible

Hell even when it was going on in Germany, most Germans didn't think it was possible there either. Is it likely? Nothing on that scale no. Not without a major shift in this country, far beyond anything we've yet witnessed. Small scale brutality for sure, but I honestly doubt you could find enough troops willing to staff a concentration camp in this country.

[T Wolf]

25. Have you seen the statistics on right-wing militia involvement on

military bases? Scary. Especially the info on "missing" weapons and ammo that has been diverted to these groups by their members who are active military personnel.

There are thousands, if not tens-of-thousands of "troops" who would gladly round up and murder those whom they see as un-Amerikan.

[ikojo]

52. Within the last two weeks there was a theft of

explosives from a law enforcement firing range in St Charles MO...


http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/6966DF1A5B0C8F12862572FA000D4D06?OpenDocument

[mema42]

64. then there are gangs

Then we have gangs too, some of which are racist.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070615/NEWS03/706150383

The U.S. Attorney's Office said the Newark suspects sold crack and heroin and high-powered weapons, including assault rifles and one fully automatic machine gun, to three cooperating witnesses.

[RaleighNCDUer]

28. Right. They're already too busy staffing the concentration camp

at Gitmo.

Finding the knuckledraggers to staff concentration camps would be the LEAST of their problems.

[Jacobin]

4. Here. Have a blanket

Only slightly used.

[SteelPenguin]

7. Do you think that would happen today?

Genocide has occurred in so many cultures throughout history, but what about today? Do you think the United States government would purposely infect and kill millions of people with a targeted biological weapon?

[Solly Mack]

9. Most definitely

and explain it away as national security and protecting the American way of life

a nation that tortures is not exactly a nation that has limits to the depths it will sink

[RaleighNCDUer]

32. There have been theories about AIDS.

And St Ronnie's inaction certainly had much the same effect as deliberate infection - not to mention the 'no condoms' rule that withheld AIDS treatement for clinics that distributed condoms in Africa - is that program still active?

Hell, yes, the US government would.

[Nikia]

70. A percentage of people of European descent are immune to HIV

It comes from the mutation that allowed some to be immune to Plague during the massive epidemics.
It would be an effective disease in reducing global population and ensuring that mostly white people are the survivors.

[ikojo]

53. I think there is research being done on biological

weapons used to target the DNA of particular ethnic groups.

http://www.unesco.org/courier/1999_03/uk/ethique/txt1.htm

snip

Scientists have warned that recent advances in biological research could eventually lead to the creation of a new type of biological arsenal capable of targeting a specific group of human beings with common genetic characteristics, as may be the case with certain ethnic groups.
“It will unfortunately be possible to design biological weapons of this type when more information on genome research is available,” says Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and health policy at the British Medical Association (BMA), the body which represents the medical profession in the United Kingdom.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

56. read up on chemtrails and Morgellons disease.

Chemtrails are NOT contrails. They are composed of various bacteria and chemicals and spread out but do not disperse quickly like water vapor. They are also sprayed in checkerboard patterns and other strange patterns.

[CatholicEdHead]

71. There are no such things as chemtrails

The are all contrails.

The difference in time that it stays around is only dependent on the Relative Humidity of the given flight level of the plane. The moister the air up there, the longer time it takes to evaporate. Contrails have less risk to you than your car's exhaust and those are right in front of you day in and day out.

[Solly Mack]

5. Duh

[NuttyFluffers]

58. concur

just a stroll through our history should make this patently obvious.

except, we really like the pretense of being the good guy. we like to kill with a velvet glove while dressed as an innocent hayseed.

[originalpckelly]

6. It can happen anywhere people are not vigilant.

[atreides1]

8. Yes It Could

Prior to this administration I would have said that it was impossible, that the people would never stand for it! But, with the election of Bush bigotry now masquerades as patriotism and seems to be acceptable as long as it's applied to "those people".

So yes, I think it's possible for something like the Holocaust to take place here in this country now!

[ananda]

10. not exactly

What's happening here has to do with creating a divide and conquer mentality between the havemores and the havelesses, keeping the havelesses in a kind of oppressive servitude and grateful for it.

If people were to organize for change, nothing could stop them.. but they either can't or don't. That shows how effective the corporofascist machine is. No need for a holocaust exactly... at least not here. It's ok to attack our brown brothers and sisters overseas or to watch them suffer and die everywhere, even here.. as happened with Katrina.. so sad.

Sue

[mrcheerful]

12. So thats why Shrubbots have been saying

that poor people on welfare should be grateful that the repukes are giving them a free ride and that means they shouldn't voice their opinions on the shrub gubament.

[leftofthedial]

11. the USA is doing something like the holocaust in the Middle East right now

If we can do it somewhere else, we can do it at home

RW fundies are utterly amoral

for that matter, I could get behind a good purge of the oligarchy--there aren't enough of them to consititute a "holocaust" though

[AngryOldDem]

15. Sure. Why not? Why are we as a society necessarily immune? n/t

[WiseButAngrySara]

16. Israel and Iraq .. already happening. Both backed by US aid

and support. Our dollars are currently paying for a Holocaust.

[EFerrari]

34. Forty years of a proxy war in Palestine and now decades of preying

on the Iraqi people.

[WiseButAngrySara]

36. I agree, but maybe it's more than 50 years because the US has

been aiding Israel since 1949 at an average of 3-4 million dollars per day.

[Lurking Dem]

48. Since 1949?

Where did you get THAT little tidbit?

[supernova]

17. Of course it could

I don't mean to sound glib, but the truth is we Americans are human beings just like the rest of the planet. There is nothing unique about us that would prevent us from slipping into that kind of xenophobia if we didn't make the effort to educate ourselves about what's going on, why it's happening, and who's really in charge.

That's why having a free flow of information is vitally important.

[riverwalker]

19. absolutely

I have no doubt.

[Tyo]

21. Yup

As humans we have infinite capacity for this sort of thing.

[Double T]

22. Sadly YES! With corrupt evil leaders like Hitler, bush and cheney........

ALL things heinous are possible.

[jwirr]

23. The US is more subtle regarding its holocaust. Read "War Against

the Weak" by Edwin Black and remember that we started this nation with the full understanding that we did not want "others" to get any of the pie. Katrina can be seen in this light. We are also ignoring the genocide and refugees from other disasters in other nations which is the same thing. I do not trust the rich or right wing group at all. But it should be noted that in War Against the Weak it was enlightened New England snobs (we are white and elite) who started that movement.

We have some very hard times coming up soon with oil peak, water shortages, food shortages and global warming, not to mention the possibility of some epidemic taking its course. We need the government to become involved with some big solutions that take into account the needs of all its citizens: renewable energy programs, safe local food coops, national health care, and many more. We also need to get out of the idiots globalization pacts. Corporations are the most likely to destroy people for profit - see Refugees of the Blue Planet on the Sundance Channel.

[Virginia Dare]

26. There is no doubt that those who control our government...

and our society see some of our citizens as more expendable than others. There are many who thought and probably still do think that the resulting death, pain, suffering, destruction and homelessness wrought from Katrina was ultimately a good thing.

[EFerrari]

27. They rounded up thousands of innocent people after 9/11 and

the public didn't even blink.

[Solly Mack]

29. They damn sure did

people forget that ...and Ashcroft's role in that

[BreweryYardRat]

30. I doubt it.

I'm not going to rule anything out, but I highly doubt it.

[WilliamPitt]

31. It did. Twice.

[WiseButAngrySara]

37. Wow. You who are so good with words for once speak eloquently

with pictures that speak louder. Very good points, which I had forgotten, as I was busy concentrating on the IW and I/P war.

[Rydz777]

35. Yes, but it would be much more sophisticated - no gas ovens,

something more high tech, less noticeable - and the process would be given an innocuous sounding name, maybe "Molecular Redistribution," or "Population Deceleration."

[dysfunctional press]

38. ummm...it already has happened here.

does the term "native american" ring any bells?

[ComerPerro]

39. the only reason it couldn't is because of how widespread communciation is

if people started disappearing, society would know.

One reason the holocaust was so successful is because if entire communities disappeared, sometimes society would never know for days, weeks, even months. This is because communication didn't travel as far as quickly.

But that is the only reason I cna think of.

Its part of the reason Bush and Hitler comparisons don't work as well. If Hitler had to deal with cell phones and the internet, it would have taken him much longer to grab total power and start murdering.

[RaleighNCDUer]

40. There was radio and telephones in the 40s. There was plenty

of communication.

But of course, the holocaust only really started during the extremity of wartime. Concentration camps, not yet death camps, were long established. Population resettlement was, as it still is, a common way to deal with conquered territory. So if everyone was packed onto a train there was no reason to assume they were being taken away to be killed.

It could happen the same way here - if we do decide to deport 12 million illegal aliens, they'll have to be put in camps, somewhere. As long as we have the WoT, people can be disappeared without accountability. Combine the two as long-standing practices, over a decade or so, and we could wind up with a holocaust here. Particularly if there was another 9/11 to terrify the people with. If that should happen we could easily see on-line radicals suddenly stop posting, 'terrorist supporters' disappearing in the middle of the night. And cell phones and internet would just make them easier for the government to find.

[TrogL]

41. Whadya mean "could happen"

It's already in progress.

The United States of America is currently in a state of constitutional crisis, precipitated by a fascist coup.

Said fascists have declared a genocide on blacks (eg. Wackenhut jail system), the LGBT community, the poor and the sick.

[dogday]

42. Once they start with one group, rest assured the next group

will not be far behind....

[JNelson6563]

43. Yep, gays, blacks, atheists

pretty much any non-wasp would likely be fair game.

Julie

[LeftishBrit]

44. One could say that it already did, to the Native Americans

Not as rapidly or systematically, but what happened to them was a form of genocide.

I doubt that anything like the Holocaust would happen in America or Britain right now, however. I fear that Darfur could be another matter, however.

[Horse with no Name]

45. In today's political environment I can say yes with certainty

with Democrats/Liberals/Progressives being persecuted.

[Az]

46. Muslims, atheists, and homosexuals

Take your pick. Whip up enough emotional anger and any one of them could be targetted. All it requires to get people to commit atrocities is to convince them that a group of people are not deserving of consideration as human beings. I don't think its going to happen. But it is within the boundaries of imagination that it could happen. Give power to voices that embrace absolutes over doubts and you fan the flames of hatred.

[Hippo_Tron]

49. The way we treated black people, especially in the south, in the 1930's

Is incredibly similar to the way that Jews were treated during that time in Nazi Germany. There were no death camps, but black people were marginalized by law and they were violently attacked and harassed by the Klan.

[ikojo]

50. Maybe not in the exact same way as was done by the

Nazis..our government is too slick for that. I see rights for certain undesireable groups being curtailed, most definitely. If there is an economic collapse then I see a HUGE upswing in antisemitism. As the US has proven, particularly under the Bush regime, there is nothing unique about this country. It is no different from Europe and will not hesitate to create a scapegoat if one is so needed to keep the people at bay. For thousands of years, in Europe, this scapegoat has been Jews.


As a Jew I do not take what few freedoms we still have in the US for granted. Jews in Germany were COMFORTABLE...VERY COMFORTABLE. Many saw themselves as Germans first and people of the Mosaic faith second if at all. Many had converted to some form of Protestantism or never attended synagogue. In 1933 many Jews thought Hitler was not serious, unfortunately they found out too late when many, many countries' doors were shut tight.

[area51]

51. We allow people to die who can't afford medical care.

By being barbaric enough to not have healthcare as a basic human right. Does that count? Apparently not. :shrug:

[Omphaloskepsis]

54. Sure, we had the Japanese American internment camps in 1942.

If we had shot all of them after rounding them up I doubt anyone would have cared. Some would have cared. It wouldn't have changed anything.

[Initech]

55. You could say the Iraq War is something of a genocide.

650,000+ killed in four years with no end in sight, I think that qualifies.

[SeattleGirl]

57. Yes, I do, particularly when so many people are of the mindset that

"If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't be worried about being wiretapped, etc." and who are politically disinterested, or put blind faith into ANY President, be they Democrat or Republican.

We put the Japanese in internment camps in WWII. Hell yeah, it could happen again. I think that anyone who doesn't think so is fooling themselves.

[Heidi]

59. Read "War Against the Weak" by Edwin Black.

It _has_ happened in the US.

www.waragainsttheweak.com

[lonestarnot]

63. Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harriman railroad

[seemslikeadream]

68. He carefully studied American laws allowing sterilization of the "unfit" on eugenic grounds.

http://www.motherjones.com/arts/books/2003/09/ma_513_01.html

Adolf Hitler didn't think much of the United States, but during his rise to power he repeatedly singled out one aspect of American life for praise: our eugenic policies. In Mein Kampf, Hitler applauded America's exclusionary immigration laws. He carefully studied American laws allowing sterilization of the "unfit" on eugenic grounds. He even wrote fan letters to leading American eugenicists, telling Madison Grant, for example, that his book The Passing of the Great Race was his "bible."

[Heidi]

69. Exactly.

"War Against the Weak" is one of the most depressing, but eye-opening, books I've ever read.

[Vidar]

60. Yes.

[Jonathan50]

61. They came first for the dopers..

And I didn't speak out because I wasn't a doper.

Then they came for the homosexuals, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a homosexual.

[disndat]

65. Isn't Bush/Cheney already

building concentration camps all over the country with the pretense of FEMA use? Another term of Republican rule, exp., under Guiliani or Romney, is all th RW needs.

[seemslikeadream]

67. It already has!

"By conservative estimates, the population of the United states prior to European contact was greater than 12 million. Four centuries later, the count was reduced by 95% to 237 thousand.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gQcoOSKx7M

[Stinky The Clown]

72. In a word .... yes

When we have a government that is increasingly totalitarian and a populace that has blood lust and fear and hatred in greater proportion than love, a perfect storm could easily brew.

We're not there yet ..... but neither are we that far away.

[derby378]

73. If you have to ask, especially in America, arm yourselves NOW

Exercise your Constitutional rights - while you still can.