“It can’t happen here.”

[Cyrano]

So some “respected authority” has declared that using the word “Nazi,” in comparison to today's politics, is a BIG No-No.

He has said that when the term “Nazi” enters a conversation, the conversation is over.

And to this “respected authority”, I reply that, on some occasions, we avoid using the term “Nazi” at our own peril. It has an emotional impact that is spot on, and it is needed now more than ever to confront the reality of what America is currently facing. And it is accurate.

The Nazis had forerunners called Brown Shirts who spent their time bullying and beating up political dissidents, gays, Gypsies, Jews, the disabled, those who disagreed with them, and anyone else they felt like beating up at any given moment.

So for just a moment, try to imagine that there is little difference between the Brown Shirts of that era, and our homegrown tea baggers, our homegrown militias, and so many other Americans who spend far too much time on Fox, Limbaugh, et al, immersing themselves in the hatred being sold to them. Because, in truth, there is no difference.

(Too bad that the tea baggers and their ilk, don’t know that Hitler murdered all the Brown Shirts the instant he had a functional Gestapo and SS. The Brown Shirts were useful tools to him at the beginning, but became a danger to him because they knew how to organize.)

The past few months in America are not all that different from the German Brown Shirt era. The thugs have been unleashed by their Republican/corporate masters. Death threats to congress people are just dandy, breaking windows with bricks is A-Okay. Too bad the thugs committing these crimes never read a history book.

I’m saddened by the fact that far too many Americans can’t/won’t/don’t make the connection between Uganda, The Sudan, Rwanda, The USSR gulags, the Nazi concentration camps, and so many other places and incidents of inhumanity and genocide that have occurred in the past century.

And the absolute definition of ignorance is Americans who mouth the words: “It can’t happen here.” To them, I have but three words: Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. (And those are the only ones we currently know about.)

[pocoloco]

1. It happened here in Nov of 1963!

....and they are still in control!

[RKP5637]

2. Americans have become similar to what one of my German friends called the Dumb Germans, that

let their country be taken away... now, we have the Dumb Americans. IMO I see a lot of similarities in what you posted.

[Echo In Light]

8. +1

[laughingliberal]

12. Yes. A new season of American Idol = The trains ran on time. nt

[katsy]

3. k/r

[Zenlitened]

4. Excellent post.

The time for fighting to prevent a holocaust is long BEFORE the ovens are built.

[arcadian]

5. Godwin is a Natzi

[closeupready]

6. I agree. I would argue even that It is irresponsible to AVOID seeing clear parallels

between Nazi Germany's rise and similar events which happen elsewhere. K&R

[Zenlitened]

7. Plus, Godwin's "Law" is too misinterpreted and misused to be valid in any real sense:

...The rule does not make any statement about whether any particular reference or comparison to Adolf Hitler or the Nazis might be appropriate, but only asserts that the likelihood of such a reference or comparison arising increases as the discussion progresses. It is precisely because such a comparison or reference may sometimes be appropriate, Godwin has argued,<4> that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact.

...Godwin's Law itself can be abused, as a distraction, diversion or even censorship, that fallaciously miscasts an opponent's argument as hyperbole, especially if the comparisons made by the argument are actually appropriate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law

[troubledamerican]

9. Satam al-Suqami = Marinus Van Der Lubbe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satam_al-Suqami

Alleged 9/11 hijacker whose passport was MAGICALLY FOUND near ground zero, surviving the jet crash fireball & Twin Towers "jetfuel meltdown"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marinus_van_der_Lubbe

Alleged culprit of the Reichstag Fire (burning down of German Parliament), a retarded Dutchman "Communist" who was MAGICALLY FOUND with matches and blamed for the fire... despite Himmler's tunnels under the Reichstag.

It can't happen here... but it did on 9/11.

[cali]

10. that's quite the reach there.

this is giving the teabaggers far more power than they actually have.

sorry, this is simply a ridiculous comparison.

[Cyrano]

13. I hope you're right. But at least consider the possibility you're wrong.

[hobbit709]

14. The Brown Shirts started small too.

The more they got away with, the bolder they got.

I'll give you mother's phone #. She lived under it and can tell you all about it.

[Kalun D]

11. It IS happening here

Nazi is hyperbole, the more accurate term would be corporate fascism, the merger of the corporate and the state.

Guantanamo was started under Bush and it's still open after over a year of him being gone, and Baghram is open also

meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

[Echo In Light]

15. Bump