Nazi techniques, the Right, and the Big Lie

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Friday August 07, 2009 · 9:54 AM PDT

2009/08/07 · 09:54

The recent attacks on "town hall meetings" by partisans against health care provision reform has as their aim to disrupt and prevent discussion. The basic techniques are those pioneered by the S.A., the Storm Troopers in the early National Socialist movement in 1920s and 1930s Germany.

According to Gordon Craig, Martin Brozat, and other historians, the signal technique of S.A. mobs was to prevent free speech. Shouting down people you disagree with is not, in any fashion, free speech: it is the suppression of free speech. Now, how can the opponents of the free exchange of ideas claim to be exercising their rights to speech? Again, we have to look to the Nazis for the answer: the Big Lie.

Adolph Hitler said that most people can spot a white lie, a fib, a small lie that stays close to the truth. This is because they themselves have told such lies, and understand their function. Hitler's insight was that a huge lie, the exact opposite of an obvious truth, works precisely because most people have no familiarity with such a thing, and cannot imagine that it does not contain some truth. Hence putting a Hitler mustache on Obama, or calling him Hitler, or saying "Obama is the racist, Judge Sotomayor is the racist," or calling Nancy Pelosi a Nazi...

Poll

127 votes Show Results

The Hard Right has adopted the Big Lie as an organizing technique.

127 votes Vote Now!

The Hard Right has adopted the Big Lie as an organizing technique.

I agree.

119 votes

I disagree.

8 votes

We are with you, Pakistan

pslandau

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Wednesday May 27, 2009 · 8:54 AM PDT

2009/05/27 · 08:54

Irony dies when a bomb in a car kills 23 Lahore shoppers and wounds over 300. This constant war, which kills poor people, will not go on forever . . .

pslandau

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Tuesday January 20, 2009 · 11:06 AM PST

2009/01/20 · 11:06

Brian Williams misidentified Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama's brother, as Reggie Love, President Obama's "body man." While the NBC cameraman dwelled on Robinson's face, clearly resembling Ms. Obama, Williams persisted in praising Mr. Love effusively for his devotion and commitment to Mr. Obama's personal comfort.

Surely someone managed to mention this error to Williams during one of his brief breaks. Why on earth would he not then apologize at once for the misidentification? The two men hardly resemble each other.

You tell me. Someone who knows, please comment here.

ADDENDUM: Several comments indicated that Williams did retract his "misidentification" of "Craig Robinson" while other noises made it hard to hear him. If so this came fast and low, but I accept that I missed it.

Gaza's and Zimbabwe's New Year Begins

pslandau

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Sunday January 04, 2009 · 10:10 AM PST

2009/01/04 · 10:10

Israel is invading northern Gaza with thousands of ground troops. Zimbabwe stands unmolested by any neighbor but faces another year of injustice, lawlessness, and poverty. Mugabe will pack his cabinet with cronies and criminalize his opponents further.

In both cases, the state has stopped responding to the clamor and desires of the populace. In both cases, the state can no longer afford to pay (Poli-Sci professor Robert Bates) "specialists in violence" and have ceded too much power to them. In both places, the state has made the law the enemy.

The result: there is no lever to manipulate to pressure the (Gaza or Zimbabwe) state to behave different, because — in peace or war — the state has already disassociated its fortunes from its people, which is where pressure is always applied.

pslandau

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Saturday November 08, 2008 · 7:58 AM PST

2008/11/08 · 07:58

Introducing the new General Motors SUV, the Tongass National Forest.

The Tongass get a wopping nine miles per gallon on the highway in its optional six-cylinder mode. Built from Japanese and Korean components, assembled, and polished, right here in the US of A, the Tongas signifies the way forward for G.M. for the next decades. The Tongass sports a revamped on-board computer satellite system that permits the driver to fall fully asleep for up to four hours in light traffic, and features mid-ride refueling by a portable drone sent by field commanders in Nevada. Eddie Bauer and L.L. Bean will team up to decorate the Tongass, with an optional all-ancient redwood interior, complete with a deep frier, portable toilet, gun rack, and beaver-pelt Landau roof.

And we've saved the best for last! With every new Tongass National Forest, G.M. will donate ten cents to the Sierra Club.

What? D'you mean . . . Oh. Well, sure, we'll look into hybrids and gas power, and so forth. We'll get right on it. May we please have several billion taxpayer dollars in the meantime? ADDENDUM: BASEMENT

Poll below.

Poll

80 votes Show Results

GM must now receive billions of tax dollars.

80 votes Vote Now!

GM must now receive billions of tax dollars.

Absolutely effing not. No. Never. Screw you, GM.

22 votes

Money will trickle down to workers and suppliers so it is necessary.

13 votes

Only if CEO and CFO resign and board pledges to new technology.

45 votes

The Day After (now with basement "Whither Now" poll)

pslandau

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Wednesday November 05, 2008 · 11:56 AM PST

2008/11/05 · 11:56

Woke up. Looked around. The newspaper confirmed it.

Looked out the window. I could see my whole neighborhood more clearly.

Didn't rush this morning. Didn't curse or fret.

Heard McCain's concession again on the radio in the car with the kids. Told them McCain was a good man. Do I believe it? We all look like better men this morning.

Went for a swim as usual. Fouad shook my hand: I'm the Obama guy in the pool. "Congratulations."

Opened the windows of the car afterwards. Let someone cut me off. Felt the air. Am I going to hang out a flag? What's this feeling called? When 51% of voters say no to the wounded Vet, and yes to a man named B. Hussein Obama? This is not business as usual. Am I dreaming?

America, I love you again, I am afraid, but I do. Don't disappoint me. Basement:

Poll

3 votes Show Results

Whither now, really, in your opinion?

3 votes Vote Now!

Whither now, really, in your opinion?

Fitful social liberalization, half-measures to deal with pressing economic matters

1 vote

Long-range plans that pay off when our grandchildren are grown up

0 votes

Massive revenue fall-off as productivity returns to ca. 1975 levels

0 votes

Governmental intervention, profound, effective, and creative â€" a new New Deal

0 votes

We solve one major issue: education, health care, energy / ecology

0 votes

Unforseen crises define Obama's administration <em> for </em>him, willy nilly

1 vote

A stately and calm cruise through mild austerity with a gentle recovery in 2012

0 votes

GOP fraud and theft on massive scale is discovered in 700,000,000 "bailout", preoccupying the state

0 votes

Obama turns out to be, in fact, risk averse

1 vote

Thank You, Joel Surnow, for Indiana and North Carolina

pslandau

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Tuesday November 04, 2008 · 8:33 AM PST

2008/11/04 · 08:33

Joel Surnow has made it possible for Barack Obama to win pink states.

Obviously "24" jumped the shark after season 4. The battle for downtown L.A. and the attack on a Haliburton-like international company (with its own military) climaxed, and ended, the show. Who really wants to watch Jack Bauer defend himself before wimpy "Congressional liberals" in the coming season's "new turn"?

No, it is the first season of "24" I refer to. Joel Surnow and his team set up an imaginary world in which there was only one moral certainty, amid chaos: President David Palmer. There was one sun around which even the rogue agent Jack Bauer revolved: President David Palmer. There was one man who we the audience saw making every decision, decisions we knew to be the correct ones given the circumstances, even though we knew the circumstances would never publicly redound to his credit. President David Palmer.

Jack Bauer only makes sense if he is defending the state. Making the state "David Palmer" created a moral center with its own gravitational field, its own ethical universe. Give me one more minute to explain.

Poll

37 votes Show Results

President David Palmer made it possible for many key swing constituencies to vote for Barack Obama.

37 votes Vote Now!

President David Palmer made it possible for many key swing constituencies to vote for Barack Obama.

Agree

13 votes

Disagree

9 votes

Hate the idea but think there's probably something in it

15 votes

At the D.C. DMV: The Truth Right Now

pslandau

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Thursday October 30, 2008 · 9:03 AM PDT

2008/10/30 · 09:03

First of all, I don't believe the polls. This is a dead heat race.

Renewed my driver's license early in the a.m..

The DMV is a place where all sorts of people have to come together, to sit together side by side, sort of like the subway in New York where I grew up, but, in the case of the DMC, going nowhere. (Or rather, the stations are the LED numbers: C 319, window 9; A 718, window . . .) To shorten my journey, I'd driven out to Georgetown to visit the DMV at the Georgetown Mall.

A friend of mine in a university I used to teach at put it somewhat ungrammatically but perfectly, "The DMV is what we have in this country instead of the Soviet Union." That is so. There is always a feeling of tax-paying time hovering over the DMV. But as I looked around, I realized that several of the people around me had more money than I do, almost certainly, and that by and large, very many wealthy and powerful people have sat in the row of fiberglass chairs facing the impersonal, gray banks of desks, most likely in the seat I occupied at that moment. So I listened to my Ipod podcast of BBC Africa Report, as usual.

pslandau

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Sunday October 26, 2008 · 11:20 AM PDT

2008/10/26 · 11:20

I smell something in the air. I can't put my finger on it, but it goes like this.

We have been avoiding reality as a society, and there is a sense of guilt, not only fear, that we sort of "knew it," that we'd convinced ourselves otherwise, but that deep down . . . it really is the case that our homes and businesses and 401 Ks are not worth quite as much as we liked to think.

The fire-hose of credit is cinched off for a few days and look what happens, we notice that our lives are pretty much the same as in the 1980s, after all. What is wealth but the feeling that we have moved forward to new heights? We kept telling ourselves we have; knowing, with the other half of our brain, that we were not moving to new heights, that the Iraq war bill and massive borrowing were real, that we would have to pay for it all somehow, morally, emotionally, financially, and in getting Miele washing machines.

We have been avoiding the future. Now, we embrace it and say, "enough smoke and mirrors!" We know the truth now. The men in charge bankrupted us and their friends made off with billions. We are ready to put both feet back on the ground and do something about replacing our dreamworld, and recycle our bottles. And elect a sweep of Democrats behind Barack Obama.

Palin and the 1925 Anti-Witchcraft Ordinance

pslandau

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Saturday September 27, 2008 · 1:19 PM PDT

2008/09/27 · 13:19

Hannah Strange's reporting in The Times of London revealed that Sarah Palin has subjected herself to the healing touch of Pastor Thomas Muthee, who was (Palin has testified) very "powerful" in moving her toward her later successes, including being governor.

http://www.alternet.org/...

but the original story was from 1999, by Jane Lampman, in the Christian Science Monitor (about Muthee in Kiamba, Kenya):

Through "spiritual warfare" and an in-depth research effort called "spiritual mapping," they aim to bring people to Christ and, in their words, "break spiritual strongholds" holding communities in their grip, whether they be vices, "false religions," or "territorial spirits."

The more aggressive, potentially confrontational aspects of these practices raise concerns within and beyond the evangelical community. . . .

Even as conferences on the subject attract larger numbers, these practices serve as a source of controversy

So Palin has hands-on experience after all! But seriously . . .

Poll

156 votes Show Results

Does it matter that Sarah Palin embraces witch-finding?

156 votes Vote Now!

Does it matter that Sarah Palin embraces witch-finding?

Greatly!

127 votes

Somewhat, yeah

14 votes

A little.

4 votes

Not at all! I feel the same way!

4 votes

Not al all! Religion should be off-limits!

7 votes

Why Delay the Debate? Cuz Real Stuff is Happening

pslandau

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Wednesday September 24, 2008 · 12:56 PM PDT

2008/09/24 · 12:56

The most important financial issue in our postwar history, where nothing is yet decided, where debate is absolutely necessary . . . time to cancel the debate. Let's just all hold hands!

I also looked at the polls and found that I'm down by six points. And there is the Davis thing with Freddie.

Obama calls me in the morning and says, "Let's put out a joint statement to calm people's nerves and create the illusion of responsibility and continuity." I think, I'll do you one better. I'll drop another Palin bomb on ya: "We must meet as Americans, not Democrats or Republicans . . . for as long as this takes." Like the weekend. Just enough time to reverse the trend I'm stuck in.

I'm looking presidential, and setting politics aside, and stifling discussion and debate nationwide under the pretense of patriotism. I'm also sending a signal that Sen. Obama should be careful, lest he sound "political." I'm putting politics before democracy, and I seem to be putting country before politics — but the result is, I'm more likely to become president! Who says I'm not too bright?

What if Sarah Palin were a Man?

pslandau

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday September 22, 2008 · 3:40 PM PDT

2008/09/22 · 15:40

I was just an ordinary Dad, Charlie, minding my own business. My family took all my time. My son is going into the military next week — d'you know that? I requested and received a huge official send-off for him.

Yeah, well, Charlie, when I came out my adolescent period, in the town where I went to high school in, Wasilla, I thought, "I could be mayor here." Why not. I've always been good at what I've tried my hand at, from when I was a cheerleader on.

True, I moved around a lot during college — but it was for the experience. And yes, I was never as well known in these parts as my wife, of course — it's her bobsledding and so on career that makes everyone around here excited. My girl! Did I tell you she's part Inuit?

More than anything, Charlie, I'm just a regular fella, a hunter, pro life as heck. And Russia? I can see Russia from my bedroom window. When my girls were young, my buddies called me "Mr. Hockey Mom." Gradually people started saying, "Palin, you should run for office." So I did, and I won, natch. First thing I did in office, I axed the Bridge to Nowhere — then I fired the official cook! Cost too damn much!

RSS

Nazi techniques, the Right, and the Big Lie

We are with you, Pakistan

Retracted?: NBC . . . and Mis-Identification of Craig Robinson

Gaza's and Zimbabwe's New Year Begins

Say NO to G.M.!

The Day After (now with basement "Whither Now" poll)

Thank You, Joel Surnow, for Indiana and North Carolina

At the D.C. DMV: The Truth Right Now

Avoidance Behavior is Gone: A Plus for Obama

Palin and the 1925 Anti-Witchcraft Ordinance

Why Delay the Debate? Cuz Real Stuff is Happening

What if Sarah Palin were a Man?