People focus on Hitler and Nazi leaders and the atrocious lethal lies they told to justify the mass murder of Jews.
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@wdlindsy @Npars01 @lolonurse And this is explicitly the MAGA Trump Vance Heritage Foundation playbook. I’ve said for a long time that we are re-living the 1930s, which is ghastly
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Susan60replied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
It’s a very sad state of affairs. I thought the opening scene of The Newsroom summed it up well.
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to Susan60 last edited by
@Susan60 I hadn't thought of that good movie for a long time. Thanks for bringing it back to mind.
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@lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01 @lolonurse Yes, to me the parallels seem so clear and so stark that I'm astonished many people want to pretend they're not there.
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Burnt Veggiesreplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01 @lolonurse It is quite astonishing to see the support for TFG, even before everyone found out about Project 2025.
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to Burnt Veggies last edited by
@Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01 @lolonurse Yes. I think the unfortunate reality this period has forced many of us to see is that a significant proportion of Americans — studies show this over 40% of the population — are strongly inclined to authoritarianism. Years of Republican attacks on public education coupled with toxic religion and deep racism have had lamentable effects on how many Americans view the world and their fellow citizens.
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Burnt Veggiesreplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01 @lolonurse Well summed. Teri Kanefield used to say it was about 30 percent of any population will lean authoritarian. That seems to ring true.
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to Burnt Veggies last edited by
@Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01 @lolonurse That's interesting information. I hadn't known Teri Kanefield had said this. It fits with recent PRRI findings:
Survey: Four in Ten Americans Are Susceptible to Authoritarianism, But Most Still Reject Political Violence | PRRI
In the wake of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building in 2021 and as the Project 2025 blueprint looms over the 2024 election, a new PRRI survey of more than 5,000 Americans takes a closer look at Americans’ support for authoritarianism by revisiting long-established measures of authoritarianism and their relationships to partisanship and religion.
PRRI | At the intersection of religion, values, and public life. (www.prri.org)
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Nicole Parsonsreplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @lolonurse
The delusional allure of easy solutions through despotism...
Fareed Zakaria also commented that dictatorships offer false hopes of giving up & letting go of the fight to preserve democracy. The Joy of Quitting.
Peace by lying down & quietly dying at the request of Republican billionaires IS NOT really an acceptable option.
These megadonors intend to fry the planet & replace democracy with a theocratic oligarchy
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/03/silicon-valleys-trump-supporters-are-dicing-with-the-death-of-democracy -
William Lindsey :toad:replied to Nicole Parsons last edited by
@Npars01 @Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @lolonurse
This is great commentary. Thank you for it.
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lolonursereplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01
In my snarky mind, I'm tempted to make a poor joke in poor taste, but this really is terribly serious and almost shocking. Who in their right mind would welcome authoritarianism unless they really are incapable of managing their own lives!?! -
William Lindsey :toad:replied to lolonurse last edited by
@lolonurse @Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01 A good question: Who in their right mind would welcome authoritarianism? As the Nazis rose to power, the answer to that question shocked many Germans who were convinced it could never happen in the land of Goethe, Kant, Beethoven, etc. But early on, academics and church leaders fervently went pro-Hitler in shocking numbers. The media caved. Hitler was backed by Germany's business and military elites.
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@lolonurse @Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01
In his memoir Not I, Joachim Fest, who grew up in a Catholic household in Berlin during the Nazi period, writes,
“What had come out on top in Germany might occur in darkest Russia or the Balkans, but surely not in their law-abiding country. What had happened? That was the question raised on all sides, but no one had an answer”
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@lolonurse @Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01
He also says,
"Until 1932 [my father] had always trusted that this tradition was proof enough, that a primitive gangster like Hitler could never achieve power in Germany. But he hadn’t had a clue. One of the most shocking things for him had been to realize that it was completely unpredictable how a neighbor, colleague, or even a friend might behave when it came to moral decisions”
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@lolonurse @Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01
In her book Learning from the Germans, Susan Neiman quotes German philosopher Bettina Stangneth] who says she's "not convinced that Germans have faced the worst fact about the Nazi period: not the ignorant masses, but the educated elites were the driving forces behind the regime”
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William Lindsey :toad:replied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@lolonurse @Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01
Stangneth writes,
“People voted for Hitler as they voted for Putin and Trump, because they didn’t want to give up their own privileges. This isn’t a matter of ignorance. They understand exactly the price of enlightenment: that the equality of humankind means the equality of humankind, and not only after I’ve secured my own comfort."
And see Heidi Siegmund Cuda just today on the question, "Who goes Nazi?"
/5‘Who Goes Nazi?’ — An 83-Year-Old Prediction of JD Vance
Dorothy Thompson, the first American correspondent to be kicked out of Nazi Germany, described the archetypes of ‘who goes Nazi’ more than 80 years ago. It’s time we listen
(www.bettedangerous.com)
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lolonursereplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01
My grandfather owned a haberdashery/men's shop in Hamburg. Someone warned him that an employee wore a swastika on his lapel. When confronted, the man showed that he had it hidden under his lapel while at work. Grandpa was disappointed at the betrayal, fired him for his dishonesty. But he also read the tea leaves, and began making plans to leave his beloved homeland. -
William Lindsey :toad:replied to lolonurse last edited by
@lolonurse @Burnt_Veggies @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01 Your grandfather was prescient. I try to imagine what it would have been like to begin wondering which of your neighbors might put on a swastika, might suddenly turn on you.
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Toxy 🔬🇪🇺🇸🇪🇬🇧🇺🇦replied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy Listening to this book right now which tackles the subject. An excellent read.
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Burnt Veggiesreplied to William Lindsey :toad: last edited by
@wdlindsy @lolonurse @lawyersgunsnmoney @Npars01 That's fascinating. I do think about how many conservatives are educated people. It's not accurate to say education is a cure for conservative viewpoints.