Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBill Moyers/Michael Winship: Advice to Plutocrat Perkins: Time to Shut Up!
from HuffPost:
Advice to Plutocrat Perkins: Time to Shut Up!
Posted: 01/31/2014 8:07 am
There's a rule of thumb in cyberspace etiquette known as Godwin's Law, named after Mike Godwin, the Internet lawyer and activist who first came up with it. A variation of that law boils down to this: He who first compares the other side to Nazis loses, and the conversation is at an end. Unless you're billionaire Tom Perkins, who seems dedicated to digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself.
By now you're probably heard about Perkins' infamous letter to The Wall Street Journal (whose editorial page is the rich man's Pravda of class warfare) in which he wrote:
"I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its 'one percent,' namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the 'rich...' This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendant 'progressive' radicalism unthinkable now?"
It's astonishing how ignorant (not to mention crude and cruel) the very rich can be. Surely, one of his well-paid retainers could have reminded Mr. Perkins that Kristallnacht was the opening salvo in Hitler's extermination of the Jews, the "night of broken glass" in 1938 Germany and Austria when nearly a hundred Jews were murdered, 30,000 were sent to concentration camps, and synagogues and Jewish-owned business were looted and destroyed, many of them burned to the ground. If Perkins thought his puny point survived the outrageous exaggeration, he was sadly mistaken.
Nonetheless, after a stunned world responded, venture capitalist Perkins went on Bloomberg TV to apologize for using the word "Kristallnacht" but not for the sentiment of his letter. "I don't regret the message at all," he said. "Any time the majority starts to demonize the minority, no matter what it is, it's wrong and dangerous and no good comes from it." ......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-moyers/advice-to-plutocrat-perki_b_4698267.html
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
4 replies, 1367 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (5)
ReplyReply to this post
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Bill Moyers/Michael Winship: Advice to Plutocrat Perkins: Time to Shut Up! (Original Post)
marmar
Jan 2014
OP
broiles
(1,369 posts)1. They (the 1%) have demonized the poor.
LuvNewcastle
(16,847 posts)2. That's about as twisted as it gets when someone compares America's
super rich to an oppressed minority. The son of a bitch tells Bloomberg TV that he has family living in trailer parks and then proceeds to show off his $300,000 watch! You know, it's not just that they hoard all this money that could be used for the public good; they seem to take pleasure in showing it off to everybody. "Look what I've got." It's infuriating. That kind of ostentatious decadence can bring down empires.
Larkspur
(12,804 posts)3. Yep this is the American wealthy's version of "Let them eat cake!?
These wealthy Yahoos plagued FDR as well. The Perkins' of the 1930's actually supported fascism because they feared Communism. FDR had a kinder name for them -- "economic royalists". I think it's time to revive that adjective and brand the Perkins' of the world with it.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)4. I think everyone should tell him to shut up, that will keep him talking more
And I want this guy talking...