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WaPo: Trumps America is just like the Holocaust (link)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/0...
Poppy Office
  07/18/18
there is an actual link to an article by "a Holocaust a...
Vigorous rambunctious fat ankles national security agency
  07/18/18
based on my understanding of the holocaust maybe he's an exp...
bistre shrine
  07/18/18
...
soul-stirring harsh casino
  07/18/18
...
marvelous dragon
  07/19/18
Lol you can take that class in high school now what a waste ...
Bat shit crazy overrated love of her life yarmulke
  07/18/18
...
maroon range feces
  07/18/18
does this mean he might as well just do another literal Holo...
boyish balding dilemma
  07/18/18
Because microaggressions are just as bad as being starved, s...
Twinkling point jap
  07/18/18
The author isn't trying to dehumanize any of his political o...
Twinkling point jap
  07/18/18
and therefore the left is justified in stopping any way they...
vivacious fluffy stag film boiling water
  07/18/18
...
mewling school karate
  07/18/18
...
marvelous dragon
  07/19/18
...
internet-worthy razzle headpube
  07/18/18
So where are the corpses? Can we hire the illegals to bury t...
Crusty free-loading native organic girlfriend
  07/18/18
You know, except for the death part. "Parallels lie ...
Twinkling point jap
  07/18/18
...
Poppy Office
  07/18/18
Here's why.
umber plaza
  07/18/18
To be fair, (You won’t believe # 5,890,876)
swashbuckling generalized bond
  07/18/18
...
Mahogany blathering school cafeteria candlestick maker
  07/19/18
just read it. Fucking absurd
Bronze son of senegal
  07/18/18
jfc
mewling school karate
  07/18/18
That's totally unfair to compare it. Trump was actually elec...
Pearl Ticket Booth Faggot Firefighter
  07/18/18
Trump is literally Hitler; Here is why.
cerebral brass hairy legs pistol
  07/18/18
all this "here's why" business in modern journalis...
bearded patrolman
  07/18/18
Just read the comments. "omg you are so right Mr. Beorn...
Sepia trump supporter ape
  07/18/18
you still a lib?
mewling school karate
  07/18/18
I am not a politically motivated person, I am just sick of s...
Sepia trump supporter ape
  07/18/18
lol this is such a gay reddit tier take
Pearl Ticket Booth Faggot Firefighter
  07/18/18
Hurtful
Sepia trump supporter ape
  07/18/18
...
umber plaza
  07/19/18
...
Mahogany blathering school cafeteria candlestick maker
  07/19/18
...
massive peach sneaky criminal
  07/19/18
If only
white coiffed new version
  07/18/18
in that it affected a couple of hundred people and was blown...
bossy aphrodisiac sweet tailpipe lay
  07/18/18
Hot take
white coiffed new version
  07/18/18
UPBOAT 4 U SIR
vibrant slimy orchestra pit
  07/18/18
Oh snap
massive peach sneaky criminal
  07/19/18
...
umber plaza
  07/19/18
Lmao
Bespoke half-breed twinkling uncleanness
  07/19/18
...
histrionic public bath
  07/19/18
JFC
boyish balding dilemma
  07/19/18
lmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaao
brilliant skinny woman
  07/19/18
so, he's saying that all ethnic solidarity is inherently ant...
sooty selfie
  07/18/18
lol at this fag “Is it, though? Can we truly never compare ...
Spruce site
  07/18/18
OWAS
massive peach sneaky criminal
  07/19/18
To be fair, Duty to seriously question and investigate wi...
swashbuckling generalized bond
  07/19/18
and this is supposed to be a Bad Thing? Hmm....
claret spectacular chapel rigpig
  07/18/18
We seem to be at the stage of trump derangement syndrome whe...
mint fear-inspiring location newt
  07/19/18
if you genuinely believe that what Trump is doing is even re...
Vigorous rambunctious fat ankles national security agency
  07/19/18
...
bistre shrine
  07/19/18
...
white coiffed new version
  07/19/18
It's a bit odd to me that one can simultaneously be of the p...
boyish balding dilemma
  07/19/18
...
white coiffed new version
  07/19/18
What about people who believe that abortion is murfer?
Cream Glittery Garrison
  07/19/18
To be fair, On a related note, it is both profoundly immo...
swashbuckling generalized bond
  07/19/18
...
Jet-lagged Multi-colored Station Quadroon
  07/19/18
But then, of course, look at the demographics of the places ...
boyish balding dilemma
  07/19/18
...
white coiffed new version
  07/19/18
HERE'S WHY!!!!
confused ladyboy
  07/19/18
Literally everyone of you is a retard. At least post the art...
wonderful parlor foreskin
  07/19/18
SO basically conflate every authoritarian tendency within Na...
bossy aphrodisiac sweet tailpipe lay
  07/19/18
no u
bistre shrine
  07/19/18


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 10:42 AM
Author: Poppy Office

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/07/16/its-not-wrong-to-compare-trumps-america-to-the-holocaust-heres-why/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7bfbfac1a971

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451317)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 10:44 AM
Author: Vigorous rambunctious fat ankles national security agency

there is an actual link to an article by "a Holocaust and genocide studies historian and lecturer at the University of Virginia."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451331)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 10:45 AM
Author: bistre shrine

based on my understanding of the holocaust maybe he's an expert in some other thing also called the holocaust

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451341)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 11:10 AM
Author: soul-stirring harsh casino



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451497)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:15 AM
Author: marvelous dragon



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457991)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:25 PM
Author: Bat shit crazy overrated love of her life yarmulke

Lol you can take that class in high school now what a waste of time doing that at uva

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455235)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 10:44 AM
Author: maroon range feces



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451339)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 10:46 AM
Author: boyish balding dilemma

does this mean he might as well just do another literal Holocaust?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451351)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 10:46 AM
Author: Twinkling point jap

Because microaggressions are just as bad as being starved, subjected to cruel medical experiments, and death.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451358)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 11:09 AM
Author: Twinkling point jap

The author isn't trying to dehumanize any of his political opponents, is he?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451488)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 11:12 AM
Author: vivacious fluffy stag film boiling water

and therefore the left is justified in stopping any way they can

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451512)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:03 PM
Author: mewling school karate



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455126)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:16 AM
Author: marvelous dragon



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457993)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 11:15 AM
Author: internet-worthy razzle headpube



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451536)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 11:16 AM
Author: Crusty free-loading native organic girlfriend

So where are the corpses? Can we hire the illegals to bury them?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451549)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 11:21 AM
Author: Twinkling point jap

You know, except for the death part.

"Parallels lie in authoritarianism, racism, ethnic myths and dehumanizing language, not the Final Solution"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451589)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 12:20 PM
Author: Poppy Office



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36452009)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 11:17 AM
Author: umber plaza

Here's why.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36451564)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:00 PM
Author: swashbuckling generalized bond

To be fair,

(You won’t believe # 5,890,876)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455116)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:40 AM
Author: Mahogany blathering school cafeteria candlestick maker



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458080)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 12:43 PM
Author: Bronze son of senegal

just read it. Fucking absurd



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36452170)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:02 PM
Author: mewling school karate

jfc

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455123)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:03 PM
Author: Pearl Ticket Booth Faggot Firefighter

That's totally unfair to compare it. Trump was actually elected. It is a real, historical event.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455129)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:09 PM
Author: cerebral brass hairy legs pistol

Trump is literally Hitler; Here is why.



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455158)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:11 PM
Author: bearded patrolman

all this "here's why" business in modern journalism is indicative of what's really happening: they're instructing shitlibs on talking points for them to regurgitate later.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455167)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:14 PM
Author: Sepia trump supporter ape

Just read the comments. "omg you are so right Mr. Beorn, I never thought of it that way until you presented the truth with such careful facts-based analysis!"

Seriously, who are these people? What the fuck is happening? It is almost impossible for me to believe that someone who can string a paragraph together can be so stupid.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455183)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:17 PM
Author: mewling school karate

you still a lib?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455196)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:18 PM
Author: Sepia trump supporter ape

I am not a politically motivated person, I am just sick of stupid people offering their "opinions". I can barely stand to live on this planet anymore.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455199)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:23 PM
Author: Pearl Ticket Booth Faggot Firefighter

lol this is such a gay reddit tier take

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455225)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:25 PM
Author: Sepia trump supporter ape

Hurtful

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455240)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 8:18 AM
Author: umber plaza



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457867)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:41 AM
Author: Mahogany blathering school cafeteria candlestick maker



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458083)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 12:22 AM
Author: massive peach sneaky criminal



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457101)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:15 PM
Author: white coiffed new version

If only

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455187)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:16 PM
Author: bossy aphrodisiac sweet tailpipe lay

in that it affected a couple of hundred people and was blown out of proportion by the media?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455188)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:16 PM
Author: white coiffed new version

Hot take

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455194)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:24 PM
Author: vibrant slimy orchestra pit

UPBOAT 4 U SIR

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455229)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 12:22 AM
Author: massive peach sneaky criminal

Oh snap

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457104)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 8:18 AM
Author: umber plaza



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457869)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 8:35 AM
Author: Bespoke half-breed twinkling uncleanness

Lmao

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457894)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:39 AM
Author: histrionic public bath



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458075)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:40 AM
Author: boyish balding dilemma

JFC

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458078)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:52 AM
Author: brilliant skinny woman

lmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaao

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458124)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:16 PM
Author: sooty selfie

so, he's saying that all ethnic solidarity is inherently anti-semitic and genocidal? that's an opinion that's fit for WaPo these days?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455190)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:18 PM
Author: Spruce site

lol at this fag

“Is it, though? Can we truly never compare the Holocaust to events in modern politics? The scholarly community has a duty to engage the question.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455203)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 12:23 AM
Author: massive peach sneaky criminal

OWAS

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457106)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:47 AM
Author: swashbuckling generalized bond

To be fair,

Duty to seriously question and investigate with a critical eye all of the claims that are made by various interested groups about the purpose and scope of “the Holocaust”: absolutely not; doing this would of course be tantamount to giving credence to evil Holocaust deniers!

Duty to serve as media shills and lend an imprimatur of superficial “scholarly legitimacy” to otherwise insane comparisons between “the Holocaust” (as it has been constructed in the public imagination) and whatever right-wing figure and/or policy the Left is hell-bent I’m destroying at the moment: absolutely; failing to do this would be tantamount to abdicating sacred scholarly duties.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458106)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 18th, 2018 7:25 PM
Author: claret spectacular chapel rigpig

and this is supposed to be a Bad Thing? Hmm....

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36455237)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 8:27 AM
Author: mint fear-inspiring location newt

We seem to be at the stage of trump derangement syndrome where flying monkeys are riding bicycles through the air. Not sure where we go from here, unless the media literally starts asking liberals to become anti-state terrorists.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457885)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 8:38 AM
Author: Vigorous rambunctious fat ankles national security agency

if you genuinely believe that what Trump is doing is even remotely equivalent to the Holocaust, you have a moral imperative to begin an armed insurrection immediately.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457897)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 8:41 AM
Author: bistre shrine



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457902)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:10 AM
Author: white coiffed new version



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36457981)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:47 AM
Author: boyish balding dilemma

It's a bit odd to me that one can simultaneously be of the position that what Trump is doing is equivalent to the Holocaust, but that abortion isn't the murder of unborn children. Even odder still that one can take both positions and believe they have absolute moral authority on each.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458107)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 10:04 AM
Author: white coiffed new version



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458164)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:49 AM
Author: Cream Glittery Garrison

What about people who believe that abortion is murfer?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458116)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:52 AM
Author: swashbuckling generalized bond

To be fair,

On a related note, it is both profoundly immoral and unfathomably stupid for liberals to send their daughters to any co-ed American college if they *actually* believe the widely-publicized statistics about how sexual assault rates on American college campuses rival those in war-torn African countries.

But does anyone think even a single liberal family has refused to pay for college—let alone even attempted to dissuade their daughter from matriculating to a good school—on that basis? It’s almost like they don’t actually believe any of this insane bullshit when it comes to making real and important decisions in their own lives...

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458125)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 10:08 AM
Author: Jet-lagged Multi-colored Station Quadroon



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458174)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 10:13 AM
Author: boyish balding dilemma

But then, of course, look at the demographics of the places where they choose to raise their families...

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458196)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 10:28 AM
Author: white coiffed new version



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458259)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:45 AM
Author: confused ladyboy

HERE'S WHY!!!!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458099)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 9:47 AM
Author: wonderful parlor foreskin

Literally everyone of you is a retard. At least post the article

It’s not wrong to compare Trump’s America to the Holocaust. Here’s why.

Parallels lie in authoritarianism, racism, ethnic myths and dehumanizing language, not the Final Solution

By Waitman Wade Beorn July 16

Waitman Wade Beorn is a Holocaust and genocide studies historian and lecturer at the University of Virginia. He is the author of "Marching Into Darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus" and "The Holocaust in Eastern Europe: At the Epicenter of the Final Solution.”

When white nationalists gathered in Charlottesville last August and clashed with counterprotesters, President Trump said there was “blame on both sides.” (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

The Holocaust has endured more than enough abusive and absurd comparisons in American political life. Both ends of the spectrum too often seek to draw on its emotional and historical power to advance their completely unrelated agendas. Pat Robertson bizarrely invoked it, saying, “Just what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to evangelical Christians … It’s no different.” On the other side, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has consistently and shamelessly abused the memory of the Holocaust for its animal rights agenda. A video on its website includes what sounds like Holocaust survivor testimony and is introduced with the words, “From the factory farm to your plate, animals go through the same process that the Nazis put Jews and others through during the Holocaust.”

With such ignorant, irrational and offensive appropriations out there, it is not surprising that many are pushing back against current comparisons with the Trump administration. These rebuttals of the use of Holocaust comparisons in reference to the administration have come stridently from various quarters. The columnist Daniella Greenbaum would prohibit us from “comparing all wrongs, even the ones that Trump carries out, to the evils of Nazi Germany.” She claims such comparisons are “dressing up” current events in “another (significantly crueler) disaster.” A writer for the conservative American Spectator called comparisons “despicable” and “cheap.” American Jews are themselves divided. Some have seen “parallels” between the administration and Nazi policy while others, such as Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, called such comparisons “morally bankrupt” and then doubled down, suggesting that they even “border[ed] on denying the Holocaust.” Nobel Laureate and Auschwitz survivor Elie Wiesel, who died in 2016, once said, categorically, “I don’t compare anything to the Holocaust.” Indeed, some scholars have suggested that the Holocaust as a historical event is unique and therefore incomparable to any other events, past or present.

Is it, though? Can we truly never compare the Holocaust to events in modern politics? The scholarly community has a duty to engage the question. If we truly adhere to the oft-intoned “Never Again,” then we also bear the responsibility of helping others recognize when “again” is now. Shunning comparisons misses an opportunity to mobilize important history for the public good.

Paradoxically, noted historian Richard Evans recently made the somewhat astounding comment (for a historian) in Slate that “it’s very dangerous simply to think in historical parallels.” But parallels are precisely what we should be looking for; parallels do not intersect, meaning that current events do not have to mirror historical ones precisely or in severity to benefit from historical reflection.

[Trump faults ‘U.S. stupidity’ for poor relations with Russia]

Perhaps the most compelling (and useful) rejection comes from Deborah Lipstadt. Lipstadt is a renowned Holocaust scholar and knows precisely what is at stake regarding the uses of the Holocaust as she herself fought and won her battle against Holocaust denier David Irving. She argues in the Atlantic, rightly, that Holocaust comparisons give officials a chance to escape responsibility by shifting the “conversation to the appropriateness of the comparison and the precision of the parallel.” Lipstadt further emphasizes that “it is important … to distinguish between methods and objectives.” She is correct on both counts, and we should take her counsel. However, this does not mean that comparisons between the Holocaust and contemporary situations should be rejected out of hand. Similar arguments were marshaled against comparing the Holocaust to any other genocide, yet there is a growing, rigorous field of comparative genocide studies that does just that. It recognizes that all genocides are unique in their own historical contexts but that all often have elements in common that are instructive for both understanding the past and interpreting the future. Perhaps what we need is not fewer Holocaust comparisons but more comparisons with other genocides.

First, one cannot emphasize enough that, of course, we are not dealing with a genocidal regime in the United States. On this count, Lipstadt, Evans and many other opponents of comparison are unequivocally correct. Many of the elements of the Nazi remaking of Germany into a fascist state are missing or unlikely to arise in the United States. Anyone claiming that genocide is on the horizon should be working for PETA and not analyzing current events. Conversely, no genocide begins with mass killing. There is no reason that historical comparisons must immediately center on the Final Solution, the murder of Jews. After all, the Nazis themselves did not begin with this solution in mind to their imagined problem. They pursued other options, none of which were benign but none of which demanded the physical extermination of Jews. Genocides — and dictatorships, for that matter — do not spring into existence. Rather, they begin incrementally, with authoritarianism, racism, ethnic myths and dehumanizing language, among other things. This is where Holocaust comparisons can and should be made. Lipstadt is absolutely correct that care and accuracy are paramount. It is precisely this care and accuracy that more scholars should bring to the public square.

Those responsible for genocide and persecution do not govern in a historical vacuum. They are aware of the ideologies and methods of genocidal systems that preceded them. Yale historian Ben Kiernan has documented this genealogy of knowledge. The colonial Virginia Company, for example, looked to the Spanish as a guide for its Native American slave labor policy. The Nazis were also acutely aware of past genocides and racial policies. The Nuremberg race laws were based on an earlier version employed in the colony of German Southwest Africa (Namibia), site of the first genocide of the 20th century. Hitler himself called upon the memory of past persecutions and genocides to inform his own policy during the Holocaust. He looked to Roman antiquity as a partial inspiration for planned intentional starvation policies in Eastern Europe. He called the Spanish conquistador Cortes a “moderate man.” Referring to Thomas Jefferson’s Indian removal policies, Hitler called the Volga river “our Mississippi,” where inferior races were to be driven. He further stated that “natives” of Eastern Europe should be “looked upon as Redskins.” Finally, perhaps most relevant to current debates, Hitler admiringly commented that America, using racist guidelines, had “established specific criteria for immigration” in an attempt to maintain racial purity.

[Is it coincidence that Trump uses language of white supremacy?]

In the modern context, first, let’s recognize that there are valid comparisons. Lipstadt states, for example, that “the Nazis aimed not at separation, but extermination.” This is true, but only beginning in 1941. Before that, they used emigration as their method of removing Jews, and camps to encourage this emigration; child detention centers, correctly likened to concentration camps, have already been termed an attempt to discourage immigration, and certainly harsher American immigration policy is designed to keep out a certain group of people, much as the Nazis sought to remove a group already there. Abraham Miller, a political scientist, argues that Jews “were not a potential economic burden on the countries that could have taken them.” Again, this is only partly correct. Jews were fleeing ethnic persecution in Germany. But because the Nazis sought to extract as much wealth as possible before letting them leave, they did represent a potential economic burden and this was one of the barriers preventing successful immigration to places of safety. Evans rightly suggests there may be different warning signs. It is unclear why he writes off the “brutalization and militarization of politics” as singular to the Nazi state, however. He seems to argue that because the levels of violence are not the same that such a transition is not taking place. Yet Trump as a presidential candidate explicitly made appeals to violence during his campaign. Again reiterating that we are not facing gas chambers, it is useful to focus on the early periods of the Nazi movement and the rise to prominence.

Trump’s well-documented use of dehumanizing language is another clear similarity to the early stages of Nazi rule. He caters to a particular demographic of unhappy voters, as did the Nazis. After all, his “America First” rallying cry was “the motto of Nazi-friendly Americans in the 1930s.” Moreover, his support or, at best, toleration of modern Nazi groups in the United States, epitomized by his relativist “blame on both sides” comment after the demonstrations in my hometown of Charlottesville last August, indicates that the history of the Holocaust and the Nazis must continue to be part of our critique. The Nazis who descended on Charlottesville screamed “Blood and soil!” — the same racist slogan as their counterparts in Germany. Certainly, the Nazis and white supremacists are not statistically anywhere near the bulk of Trump’s supporters, but his apparent refusal to renounce their admiration for him must be troubling.

[Trump’s foreign travel departs from the norm]

Politically, the president has certainly taken actions which are in many ways parallel to those of the early Nazi movement. As Evans rightly notes, his propaganda machine would be immediately familiar to Joseph Goebbels’s Nazi office. The recent executive order making administrative law judges political appointees subject to executive power cannot be seen as anything less than an attempt to bring the courts in line with the administration’s political ideology. The Nazis called this “Gleichschaltung,” or coordination, as they sought to co-opt government and private organizations. Even his management style has similarities to Hitler. Like Trump, Hitler was reluctant to surrender too much authority to one subordinate, and so his Cabinet (which he never called) was a den of backbiting and maneuvering underlings seeking the support of Hitler, who was the only one who decided policy. There are similarities with Trump, even if he has not achieved this level of dominance. Let’s again be clear: Trump is not Hitler; Hitler was arguably a far more astute politician with deeply held convictions and the means to turn a fledgling democracy into a totalitarian state, something that should be much more difficult here. Nonetheless, these historical comparisons are not hyperbolic and should at least give us pause.

There is this, for example: John Fitzgerald, a GOP congressional candidate in California, stated live on the radio that “everything we’ve been told about the Holocaust is a lie.” He went on to receive 23 percent of the primary votes cast, making him the official Republican candidate for the House of Representatives. The GOP endorsed him, then retracted that endorsement. This is not an isolated event. In Illinois, Holocaust denier Arthur Jones won the Republican primary for the state house. The “most prominent conservative challenger” for Republican Paul D. Ryan’s House seat from Wisconsin is a white nationalist and anti-Semite. When actual Nazis are running for office, “never again” seems to take on a new urgency. After all, the historical Nazis did not seize power illegally at first; they were elected.

If there is a silver lining to careful, nuanced and appropriate comparisons of modern politics to the Holocaust, it may be the education of our electorate. A recent poll showed Americans to be woefully ignorant of the historical event. Judicious, reasoned and thoughtful comparisons and analogies to the Nazi period, particularly its early years before gas chambers and Auschwitz, could not only encourage the public to take a closer look at current events but also inform them more about the Holocaust that some politicians are now denying ever happened. We should take Lipstadt’s warning seriously, but additionally, rather than withdraw the Holocaust from our analysis, we should employ its lessons carefully but powerfully where appropriate to highlight troubling developments in our own country.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36458108)



Reply Favorite

Date: July 19th, 2018 3:54 PM
Author: bossy aphrodisiac sweet tailpipe lay

SO basically conflate every authoritarian tendency within Nazism as part of the holocaust rather than the Nazi regime and then MAYBE you can make comparisons between what Trump is considered to be doing and the holocaust.

Sorry people lots of stuff happened in Germany between 1930 and 1945 which is not the holocaust.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36460487)



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Date: July 19th, 2018 4:30 PM
Author: bistre shrine

no u

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4029171&forum_id=2#36460709)