Maybe nothing could have stopped the rise of National Socialism.

[donco6]

We've all asked the questions for years and years - how Germany could have allowed Hitler and the Nazis to rise to power like they did. How they could have bought into all that ridiculous propaganda. How they could have sent their boys off to fight and die for a cause that was bogus from the beginning. And yet, I wonder if we aren't just seeing it all happen again, and there seems to be nothing that can be done to stop it.

I mean, it's not like we *aren't* doing anything. Look at all the effort going to try to educate the far right about how far off they are. All the good, solid arguments against this false story or that goofy conspiracy theory. But nothing gets through. They only get stronger. They believe whatever any nutcase tells them - gladly! They stand in line to see Sarah Dumbass Palin, for goddsakes. And I worry that just under the surface there's the same old racism and hatred and anger and lust for blood that all humans seem to carry.

What would it take, really, to rally all those whackos into a group that's formidable enough to silence the rest of us? Beck's doing his level best. Drudge and Limbaugh are relentless. Fox News seems to be everywhere. It's possible that even if Obama's numbers ended up good, efforts to re-elect him would be futile, even if everyone were united and active (which doesn't seem likely).

Sometimes I see the future coming at us like this unstoppable juggernaut with an ocean of misinformation and overwhelming ill-will. Is there any escape?

[PDJane]

1. There is, but not if the number of people

are unemployed, broke, and homeless goes up. The more people who are marginalized, the more people wilbe open to this kind of rhetoric. Yes, in a sense, that's what happened in Germany. The punitive conditions imposed by the treaty that ended the first world war brought on the second.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. IMO, the 2008 election proved that...

yes, we can.

[FarLeftFist]

3. If Obama's poll numbers get good enough....

And his policies truly work, it will just prove how wrong the RW ideology is on everything from economic policies to social issues. People just want successful policies. If they don't work, your RW paranoia may very well be justified. Scary thought.

[donco6]

4. But even there -

We'll be arguing that things are "working", and they'll be saying they aren't. There's no agreement whatsoever on any metric to measure the success of ANYTHING. It all comes back to who has the most ears - and I worry that it's not us.

[FarLeftFist]

6. True. With FOX news' major grip on the MSM....

All they have to do is continue doing what they are best at doing, which is to keep repeating lies over and over until people believe it's the truth.

[donco6]

8. But I do think it's a little more subtle than that - people WANT to believe Fox.

Why? Is it really just repetition? That they hear something over and over and they finally give in and believe it? I don't think so. I think they WANT to believe it. I think Fox knows exactly how to play to the basest nature of humans - to cloak it in enough officious garb that people don't feel guilty for buying in. And that's just what the Nazi propaganda machine did. People *wanted* to believe the Jews were responsible for their plight. The Nazis just made it easy.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. People were starving by the thousands.

In the morning, a stick of butter would cost a wheelbarrow full of worthless Deutschmarks. In the afternoon, the same stick would cost two wheelbarrows. You couldn't understand the inflation. Part of the problem was international banks (like American) were calling in their loans they made to Germany and the war reparations that were exacted in Paris. And there was no money except for the stuff coming out of the printing presses, producing hyperinflation.

Hitler turned Germany around economically and the people became his lemmings.

[donco6]

7. And if China were to call their loans?

But frankly, I'm not sure it would take inflation that bad - we're not used to inflation at all. How many really remember the 13% days during Carter? Not many. One year of double-digits and I'm afraid we've got the torches and pitchforks. And they won't be going after Republicans - they've done all their ground work very well.