Disturbing analogies: George B. and Adolph H.

[TruthIsAll]

Worth repeating...and repeating...and repeating...and repeating...
and repeating...and repeating...and repeating...and repeating...

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print.php?sid=14380

snip

In fact, several disturbing analogies exist between George W. Bush and history's most infamous fascist, Adolph Hitler: Both men assumed power in defiance of the will of the majority; both men used "great lies" to pursue their warmongering agendas; both men preyed upon humanity's basest instincts to disseminate those "great lies"; both men were appeased by the British government, Hitler through Neville Chamberlain and Bush through Tony Blair; both men were willing to use national tragedies to justify the destruction of civil liberties, Hitler through the burning of the Reichstag and Bush through the September 11th terrorist attacks; both men were/are suspected of either participating in, or ignoring warnings about the imminence of, these tragedies in order to enhance their political stature and power; both men demonstrated no compunction about exploiting a culture of death for political self-aggrandizement, Hitler through his well-publicized genocide campaigns, and Bush who, while governor of Texas, routinely denied DNA tests to death row inmates, even though such tests could prevent wrongful executions;
both men were willing to appeal to racism, Hitler through his quest for a "master race," and Bush through his condemnation of affirmative action policies, which primarily benefit racial minorities. While denouncing such policies as "preferential treatment," Bush predictably displayed no such aversion to the preferential treatment enjoyed by wealthy white people, like himself, through a system of nepotism and cronyism; both men reveled in war and exploited the military to satiate their personal ambitions and vendettas; both men used war to enrich their political cronies; both men demonstrated contempt for international law and the concerns of the world community; and both men believed they were/are on some holy crusade inspired by a "divine province" that placed them into power.

snip

Of course some may argue that Hitler clearly was compelled by evil motives, while Bush was compelled by "benevolent" ones. But this ignores the reality that the primary difference between Bush and Hitler may simply be milieu, not mind-set. In fact, actor/activist Harry Belafonte once courageously asserted that the Bush administration is "possessed of evil." These words should not be dismissed as hyperbole. Hitler, after all, did not begin his campaign for world domination until fascism was deeply entrenched in Germany. The Bush dictatorship is still manufacturing this entrenchment. Given the analogies above, one must wonder if history would have been so radically different if George W. Bush and hiswar-crazed cronies were in power in 1938 Berlin instead of 2004 America.

Even a cursory study of American history reveals a nation that perpetually swings, like a pendulum, from overreaction to regret. During these periods of regret, the excesses and harms that overreaction generates are usually cured. But, with the new millennium only a few years old, concerned Americans, as well as the rest of the world, are now facing the prospect of the most powerful country on earth metamorphosing into a neo-fascist nation, existing in a constant state of war as truth is sacrificed on the altar of bellicosity, nationalism, greed, hypocrisy and selfish ambition. If this is left unchecked, those who seek to resurrect that long moribund world of peace and justice will soon become lone voices in the wilderness, eventually being heard no more. And by the time the people of the United States realize how myopic they were to have placed their democracy, their freedoms, their trust and their lives into the hands of deceitful and evil people, the pendulum will have ceased swinging.

[Bobby Digital]

1. not like I like bush or anything but...

...these Hitler comparisions are just way out of line. Comparing his stance against affirmative action to Hitler's theory of a "master race?" Injustices to deathrow inmates vs nazi death camps? These are morally absurd comparisions. Others play on supposing motives that no one actually has access to, such as "both men reveled in war and exploited the military to satiate their personal ambitions and vendettas."

What is the value of this analogy? It seems purely motivated by the shock of it all. No one has authority to make such a comparision unless they actually lived through nazi germany.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

2. No, they're not "way out of line". It's better to understand the...

..potential of a political enemy than to be caught unawares.

Are opinions no longer allowed on DU? When did you become a mod?

[auburnblu]

6. Yikes

Wow,

This comparison I'm assuming was posted by a Republican. Because it makes perect discussion for Rush and all of the other talk show hosts. If someone posted this as a sincere post, yikes. Talk about extreme, its as crazy as comparing Clinton to Stalin. How the Democratic party is going to keep much of the Jewish vote in the future with all of the blantant insenitivity like this is beyond me.

[TruthIsAll]

8. It was posted by a JFK democrat who knows his history.

Repeating this will only help shine the light of truth on Bush.

Guess who said this:
1) "A dictatorship would be better, as long as I was the dictator" (at least twice)
2) "There should be limits to freedom"
3) "Who cares what you think"

One guess.

Your Hitler wannabee. That's who.

[Minstrel Boy]

10. And another quote, same answer as above:

"We will export death and violence to the four corners of the earth in defence of our great nation, and rid the world of evil."

[TruthIsAll]

15. Kick for Mike Malloy

He's talking about it right now!!!!

[Must_B_Free]

3. this is, i feel, a valid criticism

however, you have to keep the timelines of the assault on the radar. Bush has not clocked as much time in power as Hitler did. The attrocities may have only just begun. Hilter did not have as advanced 'focus groups' and trial balloon system. Bush is a kinder, gentler more measured totalitarianism.

Of course it is natural that Bush gets compared to Hitler, because Hitler is quite simply the most similar, situation and behavior wise to the Bush administration. That is simply the fact of the matter, and Bushites moan and groan and play their war games of "infiltration", deep cover" and spin, but facts are facts. The comparison is natural.

[TruthIsAll]

4. You chose one "similarity" to debunk. What about the others?

Go ahead. Tell us why these analogies are inappropriate. And do it one by one.

You can't. If the truth shocks you, so be it. Fifty percent of the people need to be shocked out of their three year stupor.

Harry Belafonte is right. Bush IS evil.

[Bobby Digital]

13. ok.

Many of these fall under the category of "True of many regimes throughout history" which makes them fairly weak as comparisons.

Both men assumed power in defiance of the will of the majority;
True of many regimes throughout history.
both men used "great lies" to pursue their warmongering agendas;
true of many regimes throughout history, also the term "great lies" is subjective.
both men preyed upon humanity's basest instincts to disseminate those "great lies";
Extension of previous claim, unspecific and vague--most people in power tend to "prey upon humanity's basest instincts."
both men were appeased by the British government, Hitler through Neville Chamberlain and Bush through Tony Blair;
The word "appease" is quite different in these two cases. Chamberlain was genuinely afraid of Hitler, who posed a direct military threat to Britain; Blair's reasons for supporting Bush are less clear, but don't fall under this description.
both men were willing to use national tragedies to justify the destruction of civil liberties, Hitler through the burning of the Reichstag and Bush through the September 11th terrorist attacks;
I don't know the exact history of the burning of the Reichstag, but this is possibly the most reasonable comparison on this list.
both men were/are suspected of either participating in, or ignoring warnings about the imminence of, these tragedies in order to enhance their political stature and power;
How much Bush knew about 911 is still unclear; what he did with that knowledge is less clear, and what his motives were in whatever he did with that knowledge are thus quite difficult to discern. Thus this comparison might be apt, but only time will tell.
both men demonstrated no compunction about exploiting a culture of death for political self-aggrandizement, Hitler through his well-publicized genocide campaigns, and Bush who, while governor of Texas, routinely denied DNA tests to death row inmates, even though such tests could prevent wrongful executions;
This is obviously an absurd comparison.
both men were willing to appeal to racism, Hitler through his quest for a "master race," and Bush through his condemnation of affirmative action policies, which primarily benefit racial minorities. While denouncing such policies as "preferential treatment," Bush predictably displayed no such aversion to the preferential treatment enjoyed by wealthy white people, like himself, through a system of nepotism and cronyism;
see above.
both men reveled in war and exploited the military to satiate their personal ambitions and vendettas;
Subjective, supposes motives and pyschological states that cannot possible be determined.
both men used war to enrich their political cronies;
True of many regimes throughout history.
both men demonstrated contempt for international law and the concerns of the world community;
Subjective, true of many regimes throughout history.
and both men believed they were/are on some holy crusade inspired by a "divine province" that placed them into power.
True of many regimes throughout history.


Look, I'm not saying Bush is doing good for the world, I'm just saying that I'm not impressed with this list or the comparision in general.

[TruthIsAll]

21. Right: Bush is no different than Stalin, Mussolini, Caligula, etc.

You say:
Many of these fall under the category of "True of many regimes throughout history" which makes them fairly weak as comparisons"

At least you agree, then, that the Bush analogies are legitimate. You only object to the fact that we have focused on just one dictator - Hitler.

Sorry about that. You are right. Bush is like all the other historical monsters. It was unfair to compare him to just one.

[Minstrel Boy]

5. The Final Solution didn't begin until 1942.

Hashed out at the Wannsee Conference, January 20, 1942. The industry of genocide didn't really kick in until after that, nine years after Hitler came to power.

Even Hitler started somewhere. And in George Bush's Amerika, it's just 1936.

[AlienGirl]

9. Last night two of my roomies calculated it as 1934

I live with historians who specialize in the WWII era...

Tucker

[smirkymonkey]

17. Good point, and one that

I try to point out frequently. The true horrific outcome of this regime is yet to be seen. "Those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it."

Who said that anyway?

[RBHam]

25. George Santayana

nt

[Lone Pawn]

20. Really?

"No one has authority to make such a comparision unless they actually lived through nazi germany. "

And no one can compare Hitler to Mussolini to Stalin to Mao unless they've actually lived under all four regimes.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

27. My mother-in-law lived through Mussolini

she's 83 and definitely sees the similarity.

[leesa]

23. They are not out of line....review the early history of the Nazis, say

1934. Then look at the decisions of the Bush Crime Family whose grandfather worked for the Nazis while we were at war with the Nazis. This is a man the Bushes and most of the criminals in the Republican Party admire.

[TruthIsAll]

24. Saying Bush is not Hitler is like saying Stalin is not Hitler...

.

[AlienGirl]

7. Bush is not Hitler!

But...if Hitler were alive, a US citizen, and registered to vote, he would vote for Bush.

Tucker

[DoctorMyEyes]

11. Thom Hartmann did this

very well last year:
http://www.geocities.com/puhleeze_puhleeze/heilbush.html

And although I find it creepy/interesting in a "Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln - Lincolns secretary was named Kennedy" kind of way - this does nothing to persuade people. In fact, it puts them off from hearing what you have to say cause you've just been mentally labeled a "kook" whether you are or not, or whether history is indeed repeating itself or not.

Now, this is just my opinion and worth no more than anyone elses - so please just take it like that. Personally I feel we're better off getting stories like this out:
Quarantining dissent
How the Secret Service protects Bush from free speech

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/04/INGPQ40MB81.DTL

and letting people come to their own conclusions - that this isn't our America.

[Yupster]

18. Not as creepy as you think

Lincoln had no secretary named Lincoln as far as anyone has ever been able to discover.

As always with this kind of thing, head for snopes.com for details.

[FDRrocks]

12. It's all true, but

people will argue about speaking this b/c the truth (i.e. how bad it is) might be politically damaging to democrats.

Fascism can happen here, we are well on the path, for crissakes. This bullshit needs attention.

[Karenina]

14. *dimson is the blow up doll

that the PNAC forces are using for cover. I think people resist the comparison because of the OBVIOUS discrepancies. I also believe this is BY DESIGN. They have LEARNED from the "outing" of the Nazi horrors. NO PHOTOS PLEASE. NO STATISTICS. Just relentlessly pursue policies that will accomplish the same ends under cover of a *BLOW UP DOLL!!!

[smirkymonkey]

16. This analogy is perfectly legitimate.

I have been stating these comparisons for over a year and people just don't want to see it. They take it literally, like Bush is actually Hitler and what is happening now is actually the Holocaust. This is a way to dissociate from what is really going on in this country.

The PROCESS is very much the same, and it is far from over. What frightens me and many others is where this could lead if left unchecked.

And by the way, what is with all the freeps around here lately. I don't even know why they bother to conceal themselves when their viewpoints make it clear to everyone exactly what side of the fence they are on.

[Yupster]

19. Blair's role

I would compare Blair more to a Mussolini character than a Chamberlain if you want to try to compare Bush to Hitler. Chamberlain was Hitler's enemy who let him get away with stuff. Blair is Bush's friend as Mussolini was Hitler's.

The holocaust comparison would be a better one if Hitler brought high profile Jewish-Germans into high level positions in his government and profiled them in public while he killed their people in private. I can't think of who Hitler's Colin Powell or Condi Rice would be.

Other quick differences that pop into mind is that Hitler was very personally brave and volunteered for very dangerous duties fighting in an army that was not even his own. Bush found himself a job that he knew would have little personal danger to himself.

By his third year in office, Hitler had banned opposition parties.

Once Hitler was elected, there was never another election, for president,Chancellor, or even a contested election for Reichstag. We've already had congressional elections, many of which Bush's party lost. I guess we'll see if there is ever another presidential election held. I think Dean thinks there will be.

If Bush were Hitler, Dean would be in a concentration camp right now, not going around the country insulting Bush. In 1936, there were not German politicians freely going around the country insulting Hitler.

[Octafish]

22. Bush a mere figurehead for the Nazification of America.

http://www.hermes-press.com/nazification_step3.htm



"You don't steal elections to do good things, ja!"

[maveric]

26. If bu$h gets re-selected, then he may follow in AH's footsteps..

by committing atrocities and genocide.
Give him time...