[lit-ideas] Re: Aren't you glad you no longer have a Hitler problem?
- From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 12:01:27 -0400
---- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence Helm
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 6/24/2006 11:17:18 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Aren't you glad you no longer have a Hitler problem?
Ring any bells? Nice try Simon: trying to find a parallel between Hitler and
Bush rather than dealing with the obvious parallels. But you are quite wrong.
Hitler never argued that they were under attack ? or rather not the sort of
attack you imagine. In 1936 on May 1 ?once an international day of celebration
of labouring people, now redubbed ?National Labour Day? ? he posed the
rhetorical question: ?I ask myself,? he declared, ?who are then these elements
who wish to have no rest, no peace, and no understanding, who must continually
agitate and sow mistrust? Who are they actually?? Immediately picking up the
implication, the crowd bayed: ?The Jews.? Hitler began again: ?I know . . . ,?
and was interrupted by cheering that lasted for several minutes. . . .?
A.A. And Lawrence immediately bays, "The Islamists ..."
Hitler never argued that Germany was under attack other than by the Jews. In
regard to external nations, he wanted Germany to be strong so it could gain its
needed living room.
A.A. Remind me again why we invaded Iraq? You are a talented Monday morning
quarterback, Lawrence. Given how well you judge what you would have done 70
years ago, what do you think of the current merging of Mexico with the U.S into
a United States of North America? Anthony Arnove (CSPAN Book TV) makes the
point that threat of attack is a smokescreen for a lot of things. Think it
might be a way to deflect attention away from this fundamental change, among
other things?
Lawrence
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Simon Ward
Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2006 6:53 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Aren't you glad you no longer have a Hitler problem?
I'm not so sure that Lawrence is applying the right similarities.
Hitler advocated a new reich. To achieve it he had to do two things. Reduce and
eradicate the democratic process in Germany, whilst also persuading the German
populous that they were under attack.
Ring any bells?
Simon
----- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence Helm
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2006 2:46 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Aren't you glad you no longer have a Hitler problem?
Very good Omar. I wondered what you would do to turn the tables. Because Eric
and I recognize the Islamist threat and oppose it, this grants us no bone fides
when transported back to the 1930s. It shows that we are warlike and likely to
support any war for any reason. I transported us back to the U.S., our own
nation, but you transport us to Germany and make us Germans and have us support
Hitler. Very clever. But is not what you have argued consistent with what
Neville Chamberlain did? He assumed that any sort of war should be avoided.
Peace should be obtained ?at any price.? There is no difference between
fighting for the U.S. against Fascism and fighting for Hitler for Fascism. War
is war and peace is peace. We should seek peace at any price.
There are, after all, parallels between the 30s and now. Islamism is fascistic
in nature as the Lebanese scholar Youssef M Choueiri argues in his Islamic
Fundamentalism. That is why Islamists and Saddam Hussein could declare common
cause so often. They wanted the same sorts of things. They had the same
enemies. Hitler, the Japanese, Mussolini, Quisling, and others declared common
cause in the 30s. And the Nazis recognized that American-style democracy was
anathema to their cause; just as Islamists and Islamist sympathizers recognize
that very same thing today. So they argue that their murderous excesses are to
be excused whereas our attempts to combat them are to be condemned. They are
being defensive when they blow up innocent women and children. We are being
offensive when we bomb Islamists and some innocents die in the process. They
are good. We are evil.
And I notice no Lit-Idea protests, at least not so far: no one else saying, ?I
would have been in the minority back then. I would have seen the danger of
Hitler and fascism and opposed them.? Just Omar saying that since Eric and I
oppose Islamism and an Islamic fascistic dictator we would have supported
Hitler back in the 30s.
Lawrence
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