A quote from a German friend I will never forget, on Nazism.

[denem]

(1986 - in Germany, as best I can remember)

'OH how we laughed at the Nazis. Very funny - Ha Ha Ha. But the minute your back, they come bubbling out of the drains like cockroaches, scuttling along the streets, in our buildings, waiving feelers to all.'

And how we've laughed at the birthers, the teabaggers, the Palins the Bachmanns. How could anyone be so stupid? Indeed, The brownshirts are with us, and it's not a laughing matter. Solidarity may be a over used word, but as ever, it's needed now.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. I ain't laughing -

there were some chuckles - really, "Teabagging"? - but, for the most part, these events, these people, scare me.

They're dangerous. Someone is going to get hurt, or killed, and that's what scares me - that it will just be the beginning.

Your friend knew, your friend was right, and thank you for this reminder.

K&R.........

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Divide and conqueor

That's what I've been saying. We need to start taking their attacks seriously. The first thing we do is to stop dismissing their skewed logic. In their attacks, there will be some truth to what they're saying, but the rest will be misinformation. We need to honestly review and dissect what they're saying, acknowledge whatever is truthful, and expose the rest as misinformation.

[babylonsister]

3. Not funny in the slightest.

http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2009/08/fascist-america-are-we-there-yet.html

snip//


What is fascism?

The word has been bandied about by so many people so wrongly for so long that, as Paxton points out, "Everybody is somebody else's fascist." Given that, I always like to start these conversations by revisiting Paxton's essential definition of the term:

"Fascism is a system of political authority and social order intended to reinforce the unity, energy, and purity of communities in which liberal democracy stands accused of producing division and decline."

Elsewhere, he refines this further as

"a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion."

[mkultra]

4. Some of understand that its time to pull together

Petty bullshit arguing is for children.

[Bicoastal]

5. I've said it before, I'll say it again: Nazis, Fascists, Communists, Revolutions of all stripes...

...in the modern era, they've only succeeded because they had a large and dissatisfied youth contingent who were willing to do their grunt work and propaganda.

These groups do not have this. People under the age of 35 overwhelmingly find this stuff to be transparent, counterproductive, uninformed, etc.

The Middle Aged and Elderly are not going to bring around the Fourth Reich. What I AM worried about, however, is the same people snapping in isolation and going postal on innocent people...

[tranche]

13. Yes

This is the way I read the situation.

[Libertas1776]

6. I am not

usually the biggest fan of the 2nd amendment, but frankly, I don't want to live in a country where the only gun owners are people like the Palins and the Bachmanns and their brownshirt cohorts. These people truly do frighten me. Solidarity is a great and good thing for our side against these fascist nazi wannabes, but it is usually these fascists that are more likely to be armed.

[Turbineguy]

7. Hitler

had plenty of help.

[asdjrocky]

8. Wow-

Not trying to jump your thread at all here, but I had just finished writing this-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6254225

When I clicked on your op.

[create.peace]

9. two recent articles fascism and authoitarianism

seems people are not afraid of warning of them now, although not long ago a dem uttering these words could be bashed.

Republicans Use Chaos as a Shock Doctrine to Create Authoritarian Rule
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/917358

Is the U.S. on the Brink of Fascism?
http://www.alternet.org/politics/141819/is_the_u.s._on_the_brink_of_fascism/



http://millerfamily.stumbleupon.com/

[drmeow]

10. I have never been laughing

except at the name teabaggers. I've been scared of the right wing for at least 20 years. I'm not laughing, I'm enraged.

[varelse]

11. They're not funny

and we have no excuse for pretending that they are just clowns. Anyone who has had even a high school history class should know better.

[madamesilverspurs]

12. A couple of years ago

I related a conversation I had with an elderly friend. When she was seventeen she and her family barely got out of Germany in time. She told me that watching George W. Bush was "like watching Hitler come up all over again." With tears in her eyes she followed that up with "Where can I go now to be safe?" Although she supported Obama and contributed to his campaign she became increasing reclusive until Obama was inaugurated. She had been genuinely terrified that something would be done to him before he could take office. She began to emerge for brief social forays after January 20th; by the time April 15th rolled around with the beginnings of the the very vocal 'tea parties' she had already decided that she was safest within her own four walls.

My friend is one of many who are thoroughly frightened by the rightwing gangs. And what concerns me is that those gangs are very, very proud of their ability to terrify the elderly. Thus they embolden the ignorant.

[ShamelessHussy]

14. "Resist the beginnings" and "consider the end."

source...
http://www.thirdreich.net/Thought_They_Were_Free.html

I am extremely worried about what I have witnessed in America, since coming back from a 5 year stay in Japan in 1995.

The accession of Bush, and the 8 year reign of terror, made me not only realize it very well can happen here but that it is happening here.

What used to be confined to hate radio is now all over the teeVee (that's why I canceled my cable) and apparently considered the new normal.

What I first saw during the Palin campaign and am now seeing at the town halls is down right frightening.

If the Obama admin can not replace most of the jobs lost due to the bankers demolition of the economy and then outright extortion of the public treasury there is a VERY good chance that a Palin type will get in in 2012 or 2016 as the ground work is definitely being laid for just that kind of 'strong, leader of the people' to set things right and restore our former glory.

It is like they are following the NAZI playbook and why I believe strongly that they must be confronted head on starting with the prosecution of the Bush admin for crimes against the American and Iraqi people or they will be back.

[Hekate]

15. I don't think they're funny, either, denem. nt

[Blue_In_AK]

16. I am not laughing

and I'll continue to warn people about how dangerous the ex-governor is. Yes, she's funny to us, but to her followers she's "dead" serious. Do not forget that the Holocaust Museum shooter was a Palin fan.

[mrdmk]

17. Like everyone else on this thread I have not been laughing either!

The last time I laughed at the political shenanigans, was when Jimmy Carter beat Gerald Ford for president. Because of on-going economic/energy problems and sudden blow-back in Iran, the progressive movement came to a sudden slowdown. Yes that was the last time I had laughed.

After the Carter Administration, there was war. War on countries with no army to speak of. War on education. War on the Middle class. War on drugs which is euphemism for a war on the poor, liberal governments in South America, anybody who does not agree with the status quo and the arts.

Quoting Paul Rodriguez, “Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography”. (Sorry, I need to laugh at something.)