Jordan Peterson once related an interesting story about his teaching career. At the time, he was teaching at Harvard. His class, no doubt, consisted of the virtual flower of American youth, the class presidents, the kids who volunteered at soup kitchens while graduating valedictorian…the regular best and the brightest. And he calmly explained to them, “Statistically, given the time and place, it’s almost certain that just about all of you would have been Nazis.”
No doubt this triggered rounds of righteous indignation and personal offense. But, statistically, he was pretty much right and, having listened to Peterson at some length, I’ve little doubt none of them could provide much evidence or plausible argument that he was wrong.
The point wasn’t to indict the students, per se. The same could be said of just about any random sample of the population. And, yes, the same could be said of you. Or me. If you’re reading this, if you were born in that time and place, it’s highly likely YOU would have been a loyal, goose-stepping, Nazi. The odds are, in fact, that just about any of us, would have been.
Maybe that’s a bridge too far. Maybe that’s something you can’t accept. So, if it makes you feel any better, for whatever reason I can’t fathom, consider that you probably would have been a loyal Soviet communist, happily applauding Comrade Stalin’s liquidation of the Ukrainian kulaks through forced mass starvation in the Holodomor and turning people in to be shipped off in cattle cars to the gulags.
Think about it for a moment. It’s a pretty sobering thought. It’s not your political enemies. Not those people. Not the people from the other socio-political tribe. Not “the deplorables” or “those damned progressives”. It’s you. Personally.
The point is that the line between good and evil is not one that is driven by “our team/tribe versus their team/tribe”. Or you and your friends versus those other people and their friends. No, it’s a line driven through each and every human heart. Each and every one of us has it within ourselves to be a monster. Each and every one of us has it within ourselves to destroy the world and butcher the innocent and rationalize it in the name of whatever noble ideals and goals we hold out as sufficient to justify it.
So, when you’re looking for Hitlers to destroy and Nazis to banish, odds are you probably need look no further than the nearest mirror. And when you’re looking to visit the wrath of God on those who run afoul of your noble, just programs, stop and consider that the person who has become most deserving of God’s wrath may well be you.
My Lai
When the SHTF the LEOs and military will (mostly) do what the Sergeant says
We’re wearing the masks, aren’t we?
I’m not.
Me neither.
When mandatory to enter the business, to avoid the business getting into trouble. The mask comes off once I’m out the door.
Vestibule to vestibule. I make it a point to pause and set stuff down to take it off if necessary.
There is a local business that has a sign that says if you aren’t wearing a mask they will assume you have a medical condition. Fortunately the sheriff doesn’t consider mask enforcement a priority.
Since the thread is about Nazis, I bet we all would dutifully wear a swastika armband if that was necessary for shopping.
I have a medical condition.
Since the beginning of May I saw precisely* two (2) people in Massachusetts without masks inside a store. I go to grocery and many other stores all the time.
*Excluding my household members.
I haven’t met any government officials during my trips out.
Not a single government official has so far demanded me to wear a mask. Not the police. Not the TSA, even though I’ve flown seven times since the start of the covid psychosis. Every single time mask enforcement was done by private businesses. We live in a fascist society. The lines between private and public are blurred.
Let me reiterate my point. If private businesses demanded us to wear swastika armbands, we would comply and then smugly lecture others that it’s their store or their airline.
The recent DIA disclosure about using cellular locator data – they didn’t obtain it unlawfully, they simply bought it from the corporate fascists collecting it.
I just assumed the maskless people you encountered were elected officials.
ZING!
When the SHTF the
LEOs and militarywill (mostly) do what the Sergeant saysAnd they’ll fully convince themselves they’re heroes for doing it.
Fortunately, we are a little (little) better in that regard now. A little.
Ending the draft helped.
People have lost empathy and compassion on their fools journey to perfection.
(when I say “perfection”, I mean most people want others to be perfect and don’t see any need for self-reflection)
It goes back forever. When the moment of truth comes, very few people can answer the call.
Nice article and a good reminder. Thanks!
One thing that is not talked about much, is that these COVID lockdowns have completely trashed what little church/faith life was left in the US. I had gone to Sunday Mass faithfully for at least 20 years. Now I’ve gone maybe 3 times in the last year.
I think that was the point.
Definitely. Target the places where people build strength, community and resilience.
Yep. We tried the online broadcast service at home a few times and….eh, it’s not church. Worship is only part of what we get from church. The community is the rest of it.
We tried plugging in with a church when we moved back here in June. Fool’s errand, to say the least. Now that the churches are open and unmasked around here, it’s much easier to get to know people.
Yep, same here.
Fortunately our church small group (5 couples, then 4) kept meeting all summer and fall. We took a break for the Holidays. We are about to start back, although I think only 3 couples now.
Our church is a mega-church, so they stress the small groups as a way to have the community. Otherwise, you get lost. There is a young singles small group that does a weekly happy hour. Back in the day, that would have been great.
Wife and I met in a young singles group at a big church. It was an open secret that Wednesday night Bible study continued at a local watering hole after we left the church.
Despite attending churches with congregations that were sometimes uptight about alcohol, most of the pastors really enjoyed drinking with me.
Here’s to hoping that the new church we’re attending continues in that trend.
Most churches I’ve attended just prohibited alcohol at church or at church events. Yet I’ve had pastors over for dinner and served drinks.
We don’t allow booze at work, either. Nothing unusual there.
Our office has a fridge full of alcohol. Before lockdowns, we had evening and weekend events with food and drink paid for by corporate. I could tell an event was imminent by the sound of someone restocking the fridge.
That might make Catholic Mass a bit tough. :-p
Lutheran too.
How many people actually drink the wine? Isn’t it mostly consumed by the priests?
Peter was always my favorite apostle. Horribly flawed in really real ways.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
Yup, people will throw away their goodness to be popular with the in crowd.
And to exacerbate the problem, when the “in crowd” fades away, most of the members deny ever having been part of it. Germans in the 50’s were big on denying they ever supported Hitler, yet his support was widespread. Sure there were those who claimed loyalty to avoid getting persecuted, but there were just as many who were enthusiastic true believers.
We’re slowly seeing the same shit now – the Covid paranoid and the mask nazis. And in a few years, if not a few months, all of them will deny ever having been Covid paranoid or a mask nazi. And if you confront them with evidence, they’ll just say “What I really meant at the time was…”
Yup, people will throw away their goodness to be popular with the in crowd
I always read it as more of a cautionary tale about cowardice. Peter wasn’t denying Christ to the cool kids. He was denying Christ to a frothing mob that ended up crucifying Jesus.
I’ve been reading from this daily. For me it’s a good reminder that hatred isn’t helpful no matter what side you’re on. “Justified” anger and violence is still anger and violence.
I can honestly say I probably would not have been a Nazi. This isn’t me patting myself on the back, just that I’ve never been a joiner in general. What I probably could say is that I wouldn’t have rocked the boat once they took power. IE, kept my head down and tried to stay out of the line of fire. I don’t think that’s _better_ per se, but I just don’t envision me being an enthusiastic goose-stepper.
Yep. I would have probably been anti-Nazi, but not outspoken about it. I probably would look for ways to recuse myself from society. Kind of like I’m trying to do now.
Actual Nazi Party members didn’t exceed, I believe, 15% of the German population. If memory serves.
Peterson had a point, though. If you were ambitious and wanted to get ahead (like those Harvard students), I suspect you were much more likely to join.
So, I think I’d be more the “keep my head down”, but not a goose-stepper, myself. Pretty sure I don’t have the stones to actively support the resistance to a vicious regime.
*returns to browsing Uruguay real estate listings*
what mr famous said
if I could type that’s exactly what I would say
I have very little contact with others
Yep, also not a joiner. I’ve never understood how people are seduced by politicians of any kind. I mean, I REALLY do not get Trump’s appeal – I can accept that other people find him appealing, but I don’t get why.
who?
we dont vote for people
we vote for policies
Have you ever had a five minute conversation with an average voter?
Yep, also not a joiner. I’ve never understood how people are seduced by politicians of any kind.
I think evolution favors the personality type of joiner over individualist, since collectivist societies tend to outperform individualist ones on the most important issue related to survival: the ability (and willingness) to kill. Nature is kind of evil.
Humans evolved in a subsistence environment. Our instincts reflect that environment. It will take a long time for our instincts to change to reflect a different environment.
I had a professor that was a former Hitler Youth. During breaks he would talk about what it was like. He said it was easy to go along, ignoring what you knew and suspected. You didn’t talk about it. He got caught up in something bigger than himself. Eventually it was too late to question.
See the “1619 Project” for an example of what happens when you let someone who hasn’t learned this lesson, or chooses to ignore it, start re-writing history.
It’s worth noting that the NSDAP membership did not all share Hitler’s vision. Many were happy to build up the “Stab in the Back” myth, scapegoat the Jews and other undesirables, and otherwise help the Nazis get in power but who themselves didn’t (necessarily) want to have a network of concentration camps or turn Germany into a totalitarian police state or even to have Hitler be an unquestionable dictator. But they were all killed in the Night of Long Knives or driven into hiding thereafter. The 1619 Project is insidious but most of the people perpetrating it don’t think it will end up the same way as Mein Kampf. I wouldn’t call them useful idiots, as they’re not idiots, but for some reason most revolutionaries don’t realize they’ll get the bullet too.
But they were all killed in the Night of Long Knives or driven into hiding thereafter.
Well, Ernst Rohm, the pro-labor, pro-gay, anti-capitalist, true-blue socialist who was Hitler’s main rival also hated the Jews with a passion, so I think the final solution was probably baked into Nazi ideology.
Where’s Underzog when we need him? 😉
*scoffs indignantly*
I think the general point is true, but in all those times, there were some people, however small, who didn’t go along. Whether loudly or quietly.
I would like to think that considering where I am on the political spectrum now, it would have, in some of those situations, put me on the good side. Which probably means the dead side.
Nazi in Germany? Nah, I think I end up at Los Alamos instead.
Stalinist in USSR? Probably 50/50 dead in a gulag of a nose down quiet engineer/scientist and technically a party member, but not in spirit.
Slave owner in the deep south? Yeah, if my family had been further south than KY and had, you know, money, I could see it happening. Can’t deny that one.
You may have not. It’s indeed possible. But, if you would not have, you would have been the far exception.
And, honestly, I take my particular side of the political spectrum because I can’t say with absolute certainty that I wouldn’t have. And, if a great guy like me can’t be trusted not to become an absolute monster given the chance, I sure as hell don’t want to trust other people with that.
And, if a great guy like me can’t be trusted not to become an absolute monster given the chance, I sure as hell don’t want to trust other people with that.
Amen.
Everybody imagines themselves valorous heroes in the Resistance, or at worst emigrés to an Allied nation with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
The reality is that opposing the Nazis put you as a nameless corpse in a ditch (early on) or just another statistic in the death camps.
The reason so many people were either NSDAP supporters or quiet conformists is because to do otherwise cost you big time. It’s very hard to wrap our comfortable minds around, but the odds you made it out safely (or at least were remembered as a hero) if you didn’t want to be a Nazi were pretty damn low, especially if you waited — and you would have waited because unlike those of us in the present day, “Kristallnacht”, “Reichstag Fire”, and “Night of Long Knives” were not pre-marked on your calendar.
This, and the parallels to today are haunting. How many of us (myself included) are comfortable bitching from the anonymity of our computers, waiting for “that one step across the line” as we inconspicuously push the line back and back and back? I’m in that group. I dutifully wear my mask to avoid being kicked out of stores. I dutifully shut my mouth like a good little peon when the leaders of my company proudly say bigoted things and implement bigoted programs. I dutifully keep my relationships with the tech companies who have gone evil.
Cowardice, I know thee by thy acts. I’m not a Nazi, I’m a coward. I’m guessing I’m not the only one here at this site, and I don’t say that to particularly insult anyone. Standing up against evil requires the ability to give up everything you have, including your life. We’re way too comfortable to do anything like that.
-James 4:4
I’m way too friendly with the world, and it makes me weak.
What trashy said.
Dammit.
I’m way too friendly with the world, and it makes me weak.
It’s a survival skill, and so far it has worked. I’m not trying to spread a black pill here. This freeway has a lot more exits before we get to Naziville or Commietown. We’re not on the best road right now, and we can end up in a bad place. But we are not guaranteed to end up there, and it is better to prepared and optimistic than vulnerable and pessimistic.
This here.
I semi-joke about expatting to Uruguay, but laying the groundwork is part of my “being prepared”. At some point, we’ve missed too many exits on the road to Commietown, and I’ll be packing my bags.
But there’s still some exits left. I think the 2022 election may be the go/no-go event. If the backlash is squashed or isn’t enough to give the proggies a thorough thrashing, then I think we may get out while the out-getting is good. I increasingly have the feeling that this isn’t my country any more. If I’m going to live in a country that isn’t mine, there’s no particular reason it should be this one.
I tend to think along those lines. If the political class in the USA is going to destroy our guarantees of liberty unique to the USA, specifically RKBA, freedom of speech, and republican government, they’re going to do it whether or not I resist.
Rather than continue living among the tragic reminders of what once was and may never be again, why not go to a place with similar restrictions that isn’t insane, at war with half the world, and won’t be pretending and giving lip service to the freedoms they have actually turned their backs on?
If I’m going to live in a country that isn’t mine, there’s no particular reason it should be this one.
I’ve really been chewing on this. Even when I was thinking Chile, it was with the illusion that I’d be able to live something close to my chosen life. But that isn’t reality. It will be time to be something different.
One thing that concerns me is that my GF and I are not necessarily on the same page regarding concern and awareness–she thought I was far overconcerned about COVID when I first tried to talk with her about it in early February last year. At the time, I thought prudence demanded care in preparing for a pandemic, but I was more concerned about societal overreaction. As it turned out, we were both right in some ways, but my early concern put us in a much better position regarding the various shortages and restrictions. She didn’t even want to talk about it.
I’m concerned that she won’t see the greater concerns until it’s too late to do much to escape any real problems, at least effectively and efficiently.
We’re way too comfortable to do anything like that.
Yep, until we’re not, and by then it is terribly late in the game.
We’re All Nazis – I’m not
I did Nazi that coming.
Keep your comments German to the discussion.
Don’t be a sour Kraut.
Now you’re just Teuton your own horn.
You’re just sour that you are not a Kraut.
Dag nab it!
Aryan you special?
Yeah fuck off.
I’m not a Nazi.
Oh sorry. That was a visceral reaction before I actually read it.
Just what a National Socialist would say.
I’m sure I would have gone along with the crowd. I remember being totally on board when GWB ordered the invasion of Iraq. I imagine it would have been a lot like that. The only reason I wouldn’t would be the knowledge I have from studying psychology and libertarianism. But those things would not have existed in 1930’s Germany.
When GWB made his “we will fight terrorists everywhere” speech, my first reaction was “Damn, we are invading Northern Ireland.”
I remember thinking “oh shit we are fucked”
congress on step reciting pledge oh allegiance “we are really fucked”
lefty relative responds “whhhhuuu? whhhaaaa? what do you mean?”
*me turning red in the face and smoke coming out of my ears*
It’d so hard to strip away the cultural context. How many people here are non-joiners because it’s their personality versus because they don’t mesh well with this particular culture (or their upbringing made them wary of joining)?
Nature v. Nurture. How much of your personality is inherent? How much was built by experience?
I don’t want to be part of any group that would have someone like me as a member.
I actually remember my quote to my sister as the Iraq invasion was happening: “Boy, this sure doesn’t seem like a very good idea.” To be honest, I actually thought it would be even worse than the very bad thing it turned out to be.
I was, however, all for bombing Afghanistan. The country was attacked, clear self defense. Spending a couple decades of nation building in a place that cannot be a nation? Yeah, not so much.
^^THIS^^
I have said it before, but as soon as the Taliban government fell, we should have left with a warning: Dont come back or we will too.
The successful pacification of Germany and Japan (with concurrent and ongoing de facto occupation of those two) taught the wrong lesson to a lot of policy-makers. Or rather, they perhaps missed some important parts of the lesson.
It is incredibly hard to learn from success; so easy to think you understand everything you need to replicate it. When in fact you are far more likely to miss important details. Even easier is to eat your own bullshit about how you were on the right side of history.
” I remember being totally on board when GWB ordered the invasion of Iraq” I cried real tears that day.
It was gonna be a cake walk. Kick their ass, take their gas. Easy to be tough and brave when it’s someone else’s kid.
I told everyone I could that the ME was gonna be another VN. “Oh, no, this isn’t the jungle, this will be easy in the desert”
Yep. I was all about war in those days, I’m ashamed to admit.
Still don’t have any problem with attacking Afghanistan in 2001-02, though. The problem is in never getting the hell out of that pit.
I’ve always said that if we were going to do anything about Afghanistan, the best plan would have been to load up a mess of B-52s out of Diego Garcia, arclight the living shit out of the whole country, then drop leaflets stating “This is what happens when you fuck with us.” Then left them in the wreckage of their own country.
I was at a St. Patrick’s Day party when that invasion was announced. The fiancee of the host was activated and shipped out a couple weeks later.
In ST Paul years back there was a man with an anti-abortion sign, day after day he protested, alone. I never saw any others join him but he was a dedicated protester. Did he convert any one? I don’t know but he was a believer in his cause.
Good read no matter what, Thanks!
Ill take Nazi over the other choices the Germans had in 1932, I hate Commies,
They are indeed slightly different.
And apparently the entire political spectrum of possibility lies between them.
national vs international socialists?
hold them up in the sun and you cant see daylight between them
The point wasn’t to indict the students, per se. The same could be said of just about any random sample of the population. And, yes, the same could be said of you. Or me. If you’re reading this, if you were born in that time and place, it’s highly likely YOU would have been a loyal, goose-stepping, Nazi. The odds are, in fact, that just about any of us, would have been. – honestly depends on what this means. I doubt I would have been a true believer enthusiastic nazi. I probably would not sacrifice myself heroically in the resistance either. I would probably try to keep my head down and not get killed.
this is a point where I should probably use quotes or something.
You appear to exist.
I got it
It would help.
” Maybe that’s a bridge too far. Maybe that’s something you can’t accept. So, if it makes you feel any better, for whatever reason I can’t fathom, consider that you probably would have been a loyal Soviet communist, happily applauding Comrade Stalin’s liquidation of the Ukrainian kulaks through forced mass starvation in the Holodomor and turning people in to be shipped off in cattle cars to the gulags.”
I don’t know about the USSR but here in Romania there were plenty people who just held their head down without being loyal commies or happily applauding anything. And it is a valid distinction.
Most likely, that would have been me. I talk a good rebel game, but what I crave most is anonymity and being left alone. I feel pretty secure that I would never have joined in persecuting others, but honestly I probably wouldn’t have stood up for anything either, just would have tried to stay in the shadows doing my own thing.
You speak for many, Chipper
Yep.
What’s funny is that you almost sound a little ashamed about that – as though it is wrong to not want to join in fucking over “the other”, or violently and fruitless opposing an angry mob. The problem isn’t people like you (and me) – the problem is the fucking behavior of humans in a mob.
Some of those keep-their-head-downers snitched. You didn’t have to be a card-carrying member of the NSDAP or the CPUSSR to tattle to the police.
The bitter, resentful “why are they getting away with things when I have to keep my head down” mentality should not be underestimated.
Some of those keep-their-head-downers snitched – yes but many did not. a lot of the snitches were found out after the commies fell.
I would have fought them in my own special way by swing dancing every night with a cabal of the like-minded in defiance of Covid lockdowns.
I would have sent my sister out, had I had one.
Swing Heil Peter! Swing Heil!
The point is that the line between good and evil is not one that is driven by “our team/tribe versus their team/tribe”. Or you and your friends versus those other people and their friends. No, it’s a line driven through each and every human heart. Each and every one of us has it within ourselves to be a monster.
Some are a lot more than others. Not all have the same power hunger, status hunger, jealousy etc. This was very clear in commie countries especially in the early stages of the terror. Many supported the purges – the scum – many fought them, and many were against but held their head down.
How many opposed them, though, really? I mean, not now, now that they’re out of power. I mean at the time. Sure, after the fact, it’s all well and good to say they opposed them. But, if they kept their head down (and I’m nowhere near blaming anyone for doing just that; that kind of stems from my entire point) how do you know they opposed them?
how do you know they opposed them – friends talking and hopping no one was a rat? Stories from old people in the villages… Many refusing to rat though it would bring them benefits. Many like my parents refusing to take part in communist party stuff though it was not beneficial. You can not really know but you can estimate.
hell the huge amount of dark humor commie jokes that went around back then
I see your point. And it’s a solid one. But, then how did all the horrors that happened under Ceaușescu happen? I mean, my guess is that he did have the support of a significant part of the population.
Early the commies had the support of the russian army. Communism was not that popular in pre ww2 Romania. A lot of the worst stuff happened pre Old Nick. And by Ceausescu a lot of the spirit of the population was crushed. And Romania was under the iron curtain. It is not like people had hope of doing anything. Others tried and Russia said fuck no. Without the fucking russkies communism would have fallen before 89 in Eastern Europe
You had the Hungarian and Czech examples for one thing.
yes those were examples
I mean, my guess is that he did have the support of a significant part of the population.
But what is significant? A determined and organized minority can rule a nation. There are many examples of a small fraction of a populace holding power over everybody else. Syria is today ruled by Alawites, who only account for 10% of the population, and there are many other such examples from history, such as South Africa, Rwanda, Zanzibar, and, really, any society with an aristocracy.
I am going to have to disagree.
The New York Times
@nytimes
President Biden is perhaps the most religiously observant commander in chief in half a century. A different, more liberal Christianity grounds his life and his policies.
Much as I dislike Jimmy Carter, I believe his devout faith is 100% sincere.
Biden? Hell no.
Oh yeah.
I was thinking W, but yeah, Carter too.
But the NTY assures me we’ve always been at war with East Asia, so it must be true.
Yeah. Didn’t G. W. Bush go to church regularly?
George the Lesser thought he talked to God every night before tucking himself in. For whatever else you’d say about him, there’s no way in hell I’m buying that Biden has more faith than he does. Or that Biden eve has faith, period.
Let me guess…. Kennedy?
A different, more liberal Christianity
You know what we call Christianity, but different? Not Christianity.
Let’s be honest. It’s the same, but you get to abort the babies.
Ron Mazzzoli represented Louisville in congress for about 20 years when I was growing up.
His big 3 issues:
1. Big welfare state, bordering on socialism.
2. End the death penalty.
3. End abortion.
He was very Catholic. I don’t think the D party would put up with him today. Actually, I know they wouldn’t.
As far as I know he’s not even “personally” opposed to abortion.
I mean his administration is forcing all Americans to pay for abortions which … uh… rather un-Catholic to me.
But as far as I know the man’s not said one solitary thing even against the practice the Church condemns.
Now despite being not particularly religious I went to Catholic school and there’s a difference between interpretive Church law and God’s law. It’s possible Joe Biden doesn’t even think abortion is evil? Speak up Joe. Let’s hear it.
What a leader that guy is.
Well, the half a century nearly rules out Carter.
W clearly was more religious than Biden.
Who I doubt is religious at all.
Its just more DemOp Media gaslighting. I can’t figure out why, though. His opponents won’t believe it, and his supporters either won’t care or would actually object.
In my anecdotal observations, liberal Christians are quite numerous in well-to-do suburbs nowadays. Maybe they would have been conservative Christians a decade or two ago, maybe they’re just transitioning to eventually being atheist or agnostic, who knows. In either case, there’s enough cultural overlap with the government employee-office worker-blue state voter set that it’s probably just meant to appeal to them and make them feel welcome. Shove the rabid atheists under the rug for now.
biden is a sociopath – i.e. zero faith
the gushing worship and praise for Biden /Harris is sickening
tempted to say more retch inducing than obama
For you Tulsi fans.
I’ll be in my bunk.
I wonder what she’s up to. She’s been very visible lately. It makes me think that she’s planning to form a 3rd party.
I agree, she is up to something. She’s on a lot of shows and she’s saying stuff that could get a person cancelled. She could just as easily have gone back to Hawaii and spent the rest of her days surfing and frolicking on the beach in a bikini – OK now I’LL be in my bunk.
Would.
Of all the votes I threw away last year, voting for her in the SC primary was probably the best.
OK, the fact that she is Pie-bald makes her twice as hot.
i actually donated money to her primary. partially chaos, partially liked some of the things she said.
The power of
“There, but for the grace of God go I”“Better him than me” should not be underestimatedPlenty of people will take part in whatever system is in place in order to get ahead. There’s a scene at the end of the movie Kolya where the cops who had been going after the main character suddenly see which way the wind is blowing in the Velvet Revolution and start protesting too. Similarly, when I worked in that part of the world, I worked for a guy who had been a “big animal” in the local Communist party. He still had a bust of Lenin next to 3 volumes of Das Kapital on his bookshelf, and yet he became a big capitalist and used his connections (and Russian mafia money) to privatize one of the big pharmaceutical manufacturers. I don’t think people in the US are any different.
I will stipulate that libertarians are probably a little less likely to have been Nazis/Commies, if only for the sole reason that their entire political philosophy hinges on renouncing the sort of power that allowed the Nazis/Commies to be monsters.
Also by holding this unpopular untrendy philosophy shows one is not a bandwagon loyalist
I can say under the Nazis I probably would have been labeled an undesirable. I come from a long line of proud alcoholics. My family name comes from the word “backstreet” or alley in German. I would have been sterilized or something.
I figure you would be first on the list.
*throws hat onto the ice rink*
*golf ? clap ? *
Repo Man always comes through:
Leila: I’d torture someone in a second if it was up to me
Leila: Otto, don’t go! What about our relationship?
Otto: Huh?
Leila: What about our relationship?
Otto: Fuck that.
Leila: You shithead! I’m glad I tortured you! I’m supposed to be the one in that car!
Trust me. I’m a doctor.
In an interview with 8News, Chair of VCU’s Division of Infectious Disease Dr. Gonzalo Bearman said wearing two face masks would “probably be reasonable,” as mutant strains of the novel coronavirus appear. The new strains possess the potential to be more contagious and it remains uncertain if today’s vaccines are as effective against them.
“At the very beginning of the pandemic we were not recommending wearing two masks or even a mask in public at the very beginning, and then we went to public mask use. Certainly as we learn more about the infectivity or infectiousness of these new variants, and if the vaccines are not as effective against us those variants, then wearing two masks or ‘double masking’ would probably be reasonable,” Bearman said.
Remember when mask wearing was about protecting others, and not yourself?
Best to just wrap your head tightly with Saran Wrap, just to be on the safe side.
Thanks for the article.
Each and every one of us has it within ourselves to destroy the world and butcher the innocent and rationalize it in the name of whatever noble ideals and goals we hold out as sufficient to justify it.
Kind of, but I’m not sure that’s exactly how I’d put it. More simply, humans are animals and very dangerous animals at that. The glitz of modern culture with its indoor plumbing, electricity, and air conditioning doesn’t change who we are. One of the most dangerous notions of that past 60 or so years is that humans have evolved past their violent past into some sort of futuristic peaceful higher-level being. It’s a first-world illusion that 3rd world shitholes don’t operate under. Based on the number of heavily armed Glibs on this site, I’d say most of us don’t harbor this illusion about humanity either.
60 years isn’t even a blink in human history. And I think we’re all going to be reminded of that.
Good article. A couple of things to add:
As someone upthread said, we here are self-selecting hider-outers and non-joiners. The rest of us are probably go-along-to-get-along-ers, but not vocal either way. Rebels? Not so much. We have too much to lose. None of us (I’m guessing) are out to get ahead by any means necessary.
Jordan Peterson’s followup to “we are all monsters” is this: If you know you are a monster and can see the evil within yourself and do nothing toward an evil end, then you are virtuous. If you are not evil (rare), then being not-evil is not virtuous.
That’s an excellent point. But, I think seeing the monster inside yourself is probably what our society needs a lot more of these days. Right now, a lot of people scare the hell out of me. Not because they’re personally threatening. But, because I could see them ready to become that monster and be perfectly convinced they were angels.
See most of Twitter for an example.
Well, yeah. Hell, I won’t even pretend I’m immune from what I’m talking about. Any number of times I’ll read an article about some statist bastard and there’s a part of me that feels like, “Yeah, this shit would almost be worth it if I could visit the full measure of what you’re recommending on you.”. Then sanity and basic decency return and I realize “No, I’d like nothing of the sort. I want that shit to not happen at all!”. But, I know it’s there. And it’s a conscious choice to reject it.
I think those of us who inhabit this space are more self-reflective than the average bear and at least try to self-correct according to a set of principles we hold.
One could argue that it depends on the definition of “rebels.”
These days, even speaking against the narrative is a rebellious act. You risk much simply by posting online.
Though the result isn’t generally government death squads at your door (except when it is), one might argue that having your entire livelihood destroyed by the mob (which is left unchecked by government) is a close second as far as life-wrecking acts go.
In that sense, many of us here are absolutely rebels, even if it doesn’t mean we’re all rushing outside with our rifles.
OT: Finished this audiobook “Lost Islamic History”. Pretty interesting, particularly the various ways that Islam spread from the Arabian peninsula all across the world. The Islamic Golden Age was also fascinating.
But I gotta say, the author did a pretty, pretty, pretty good job of totally glossing over the Armenian Genocide. He mentioned some nonspecific “conflicts between Ottoman Turks and Armenians” then said that an Ottoman reformer “oppressed Greeks, Arabs, Persians, and Armenians” but never goes into more detail than that.
I guess you have to read a lot of different books from different viewpoints to get a full picture of what really went on.
I made an interesting find a few years back: there are quite a few “Armenian genocide denial” websites. You could substitute Jew for Armenian and Turk for Nazi and they’d be close to identical.
A common thread with genocide denialists is the insistence that “relocation” or other central planning that results in mass death doesn’t actually count as genocide. Holocaust deniers, Homodor deniers, the Armenian genocide, etc you will always find some variant of
“Well yes, the government did force millions of people to leave their homes with nothing but their clothes and a single bag, but the deaths of exposure, hunger, and disease resulting from that were a tragic mishap and unintentional.”
Yeah, that’s one of the threads: the Armenians died from hunger and thirst.
Well, yes, if you put a bunch of people on trains, take them to the edge of the desert, kick them off the trains, and tell them to take a walk, I guess they will die from hunger and thirst.
Dumb question – but didn’t the Armenian genocide come quite late relative to the Islamic Golden Age? Also, the Islamic invaders did quite a number on the Indian subcontinent – that’s a near genocide that is very little appreciated.
Super late. The Armenian genocide was 19th century to 20th century. That modern people got away with such an evil thing supposedly inspired Hitler on how to “solve” his “problem”. Also, the Turks didn’t just genocide the Armenians, they genocided a bunch of non-Turks who were non-Muslim, although the Armenians made up the bulk of the victims. And yes, the invasion of India was quite bloody and much closer to the Golden Age.
It seems a strange conflation – the Golden Age of Islam and the late Ottoman era.
I’m no expert, but I thought the Hindu genocide and the Golden Age overlapped.
Setting aside (((us))), it’s not that most people would be Nazi’s, it’s that most people would be Good Germans. Or good Protestants in Northern Ireland, good Catholics in Eire, and so on. That is just human nature, and it really explains the masks and why people are wearing them.
But, to Peterson’s point, all of those in that classroom* WOULD have become Nazis. Not because I dislike them (hint; I do) but because they are the strivers. They are the type to push to get ahead, to use every available advantage, real or unreal. And in the mid-thirties, being a Nazi in Germany was a real, tangible advantage in jobs, mating, housing, and so on. And that would be a perfect fit.
*b
*But not the jews, they would be the first to go.
Okay. Fine, you’d have been a loyal commie shipping people off to the gulags. Happy?
Father’s side of the family came from Sweden right before WWII got heavy. One uncle died in WWII and my grandfather welded ship parts during the war. I would probably follow a similar course and get away from the troubled areas rather than try to fight from inside the country.
https://twitter.com/michaelmalice/status/1354124083244523524
Eh, Jackson .. . Tubman… what’s the difference?
They both relocated Americans.
Nice.
Such a shame that Trump didn’t ram through the cool version of the Tubman 20.
Maybe redo all the bills with iconic action poses of some kind – Washington crossing the Delaware, Lincoln chopping logs or something, etc.
Lincoln
chopping logskilling vampires.Can we have the Zapruder film Kennedy on the half-dollar?
The right frame could be a quarter.
In the 1980’s, I would have been a prime candidate. I was firmly in the “Kill a commie for your mommy” crowd. John Rambo was the coolest.
Now? Fuck that. I don’t take orders well.
The real question is would/will I flee the Nazis/Commies or fight. I don’t have an answer on that one yet.
The lesson that Peterson tries to convey to all the drooling idiots out there is that when you look at history, if you’re not identifying with the evil, if you’re not recognizing your own capacity for doing those evil, abhorrent things, then you’re doing it wrong.
The cost of fighting evil is very high. It carries a price for more than just yourself. Evil always makes your family and friends bear the burden for your actions as well. And therein lies the rub, are you so committed to fighting evil that you would sacrifice not only yourself, but your family as well? Because that is what it comes down to.
Red Dawn.
I love the idea that the Commies take Texas easily and have no problem holding it.
Shortly after the war in Croatia ended I had a beer in Zagreb with a guy who was returning home for the first time since the war started. He said, “When your neighbor, a Serb, comes home wearing a Serbian paramilitary uniform, you have to decide what to do. Do you act like nothing is wrong and hope all will be well? Do you go join the Croatian paramilitary? Or do you leave?” It’s a decision that I sure hope I never have to make.
There was a bit of history there, though, since the Ustashe slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Serbs just 50 years prior to the 1990s wars.
Probably why he didn’t choose the first option.
Remember what I said a few threads ago, about how in a disaster, it’s critically important to stay mobile? This is a good example of why it’s important.
The lesson that Peterson tries to convey to all the drooling idiots out there is that when you look at history, if you’re not identifying with the evil, if you’re not recognizing your own capacity for doing those evil, abhorrent things, then you’re doing it wrong.
This reminds me of the Jungian concept of the shadow self. People who profess they could never, ever possibly kill could be telling the truth and they are to-the-bone pacifists. But most people that make that denunciation are lying – they know that part of their humanity is in them and they are terrified by that, so they deny it’s existence. These are the people that commit atrocities just as surely as the sociopath – the difference is the sociopath does it with ease and these folks do it unexpectedly.
In Germany, there were the Nazi elite; the members of the Party who comprised a minority of society but used their membership to advance to positions of political and commercial power; the go-along general public; and the far less common resistance, which ranged from people who simply refused to grant their sanction to the Nazis, through people who actively sabotaged and fought the Nazi regime.
At what point in Germany’s road to totalitarianism was it ethically and morally the sound choice to move along the resistance spectrum toward more outright opposition? It was never wise from a survival standpoint, except perhaps for the cynical few who may have tried to burnish resistance cred once it was clear the Allies would be victorious.
Failing to employ psychologically damaged individuals and afford them elective, non-service related medical care hurts our national security.
“Look, when you ban people, patriots, who … are smart, who are able, who are talented from joining the military, that only undermines our national security,” Jean-Pierre declared. “That is not the way to go. And so, what President Biden is doing is that he is lifting a ban that is essentially hurting us and should not be. And he’s going to work with the Department of Defense.”
“[A]t the end of the day, it’s about our national security,” she added. “And we have to be able to include everyone who is able … to serve and have that opportunity to do so. ”
Trump didn’t ban anyone from joining. The ban was on sex change surgery for service members. IOW, DoD wasn’t going to pay for anyone’s surgery. Sure will now though!
This
If you want to engage in elective surgery, do it on your own dime.
Sure, but make them buy both sets of uniforms.
Yeah, the Dems are so attuned to our national security needs. ?
You know who else the military rejects? People that are obese, blind and otherwise physically unable to perform the functions necessary to fight wars. What kind of ablist-fascist are you Jean-Pierre? Are they not patriots too? Why do you EXCLUDE them?
Minitrue hard at work:
Hoddamn these assholes for making me defend Tom Cotton.
It’s a post truth world.
We’re All Nazis – also this is a poor choice of title for a libertarian blog as all the progs and probably the Reason writers will read the title and take it as a confession.
they are already saying that
*shrug*
Cults are built on human psychology.
Humans are social creatures; pack animals.
The problem is when the pack becomes the mob. Individuals basically have four choices: lead the mob; join the mob; avoid the mob; and fight the mob.
So the interesting question is whether avoiding the mob is an ethical choice. Must you actively fight the mob to avoid sharing the guilt of the mob?
Most of ethics is about remaining comfortable in one’s own head.
But an ethical system that requires a person to sacrifice themselves to avoid a judgement of collective guilt? That is, as the kids say, pretty sketch.
Put me down for avoiding the mob, the mob’s an asshole that’ll tear you apart, sometimes metaphorically and sometimes literally, if you become it’s target for some reason.
Must you actively fight the mob to avoid sharing the guilt of the mob?
This is too binary, too “with us or against us”. So I say, no. Guilt arises from action or failure to do a duty. I’m not ready to say I have a duty to go after every group that I disagree with their beliefs or tactics. The world is full of mobs, after all.
Just looking for reassurance that it’s ok to hunker down and live life on my 1 acre plot in Iowa while cities across the country go up in flames.
It’s certainly okay by my standards. I don’t know if it’s a good strategic option, but there’s nothing unethical about keeping your head down and letting the world sort itself out.
This is the key here. It is not unethical to avoid the fight, but it may be a strategic blunder, since the mob may be interested in you even if you aren’t interested in it.
As I mentioned above, it is usually the case that you are not just making the decision for yourself, you are making it for your family as well.
The mob will exact its vengeance on them as well for your transgressions. That significantly alters the equation.
Ah-so, vee need to engineer better humans, ya?
https://preview.redd.it/wl3xv4j8qnd61.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=3073f31ddae686720f891224ddc112a1b2a8230b
Genius.
Yeah, pretty sweet idea.
Needs an “Out of Order” sign. Which works on more than one level.
Nah, no one would ever try it because Pepsi is disgusting.
MAGA white-supremacists invade Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico was placed under a state of emergency due to a spate of gender-based violence targeting women and transgender people, CNN reported.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, who was sworn into office earlier in January, announced the executive order Sunday, according to CNN, which translated the news release. Activists had pushed for the order over several years, citing a crisis of gender-based violence that sometimes resulted in murders.
“Gender violence is a social evil, based on ignorance and attitudes that cannot have space or tolerance in the Puerto Rico that we aspire to,” Pierluisi said, according to the Miami Herald. “It is my duty and my commitment as governor to establish a STOP to gender violence and for these purposes I have declared a state of emergency.”
I lived in Puerto Rico for a year. If you want a true example of a misogynistic and racist culture that’s it. As a white kid I had to fight gangs of kids all the time because they hated white people.
Women were not exactly treated equally either. I also remember my mom being stalked by a gang of men who clearly were either going to rob or rape her, I was with her at the time and was a preteen.
My sister 9 was actually raped while living there.
My stepfather was Puerto Rican and he just got tired of constantly being called a race traitor for marrying a white woman and eventually that ended that relationship.
Not really related, but this reminded me…..something interesting noted by Eric July: those passionate foes of whiteness Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and AOC are all married to basic white guys. Make of that what you will.
One of the ways truth and reality has been destroyed is the did Ilhan Omar marry her brother story? Last I heard the FBI was investigating, never picked up again. Did she marry her half brother in order to commit immigration fraud? Or did conservative media make it up? I don’t really trust either side and so I have no idea what is the truth and what is not.
From what I have seen, there’s a pretty good case she did marry him. The trail is confused by the fact that her family immigrated under false pretenses (and a false name) in the first place, and by Somali naming conventions.
It doesn’t help that he has decamped to England and isn’t talking.
Basic white guys are frequently in to cuckolding.
I wonder what ya’ll think of Jeff Bezos?
On one hand, his business genius and entrepreneurship, in general, is laudable.
Also, it was badass how he stood up to the Saudis and National Enquirer.
On the other, the dude is ruthless in his management style while at the same time funding and professing lefty views. He seems to be setting up the demise of his company by allowing the Washington Post to go batshit insane lefty and donating to leftist causes.
In addition, the dude has an ego that is not doing him favors including his public feuds with Trump and Musk.
It’s funny because I’ve watched documentaries about him and he went from this beta nerd to super alpha male chad.
I don’t know what to make of the dude.
Protip: If you ever have a problem with Amazon email Jeff Bezos. Its not really him of course but he is like the Santa of Amazon and his staff will fix your problem.
I don’t know what to make of the dude. – probably a sociopath? I am generally indifferent but I don’t like personality cults and he seems to inspire one in certain ranking Amazon employees. He was good at navigating the conditions of the time to grow his company, but I don’t think it would have been as big as fast in an actual libertarian world. I have no idea how shady the growth was though, but I think to much easy credit allowed a lot of fast growth of certain companies. But he was probably ruthlessly efficient and took advantage of everything that came his way.
He actually might be a sociopath. The way he presented himself as a doddering, harmless nerd in the early years of his company vs his actions and the way he acts now. He seems to be very good at manipulating others into perceiving him the way he wants to be perceived.
My friend had his credit card data stolen, and the fraudster ordered a bunch of shit off my friends amazon acct, shipped to like 10 diff addresses. His CC bank (Chase) immediately refunded the fraudulent purchases. However, Amazon kicked my friend off because they are demanding my friend still pay. According to Amazon, the vendors still need paid, regardless of the fraud. He’s had numerous calls, dozens of emails back and forth, and Amazon won’t budge.
And just like that, my friend and Amazon parted ways… indefinitely it seems.
What’s that email address, I’ll mention it.
Odds are Amazon paid the vendors already and are looking to get paid themselves.
However, I would imagine that they could/would recoup the money from the vendor. Most processors are not friendly to vendors at all.
According to Amazon, the vendors still need paid, regardless of the fraud. He’s had numerous calls, dozens of emails back and forth, and Amazon won’t budge.
“Is there anything else I didn’t order or receive that I should pay for? Like, your Christmas shopping? That 55 gallon barrel of lube you want for Valentine’s? Anything?”
Its SexyJeffy123@yahoo.com just send a dick pic and you’re friend will get his money back.
I kid, I kid.
Its:
jeff@amazon.com
The first one is Jeff Epstein’s old account.
Hell if I know what to make of him. His personal decisions alone are foreign to me.
Maybe Mackenzie was impossible to live with, but why in the ever-loving fuck did he go for a glammed up gold-digger like Lauren Sanchez? It’s not like she doesn’t have a track record in that department. She’s an admitted attention whore and not even that attractive. I thought he was smarter than that.
How can he not want to dial it back a bit on the leftism when Antifa turn up outside his house with a guillotine?
Because the bought the guillotine from Amazon.
they bought
Because those mobs are on the leash of those he owns.
I really like the services he provides.
Local grocery store doesn’t carry tamarind? Amazon has it! You’ll get it in 2 days (well, pre-Covid)
Bored? Search for “Alaska” on Amazon Prime video. You’ll be entertained for the rest of the evening.
Ordered something that doesn’t work or doesn’t fit? Take it to your local UPS or Kohls for painless returns.
But the deplatforming Parler was wrong.
It is going to be hard to give up Amazon, but I think it has to be done.
Every so often, I indulge myself in alt-history musings such as this:
What if Lee Harvey Oswald was the greatest hero to walk the earth? Could he have been mankind’s savior? What if killing Kennedy (a mentally unstable junkie) was a completely unrecognized act of stupendous bravery and sacrifice which kept us on the planet?
Anybody who stands against the great tide of humanity is going to get smashed to pieces on the rocks. Right or wrong, makes no difference.
Hmm. Interesting twist on the “time traveller kills baby Hitler” trope. You could do kind of a 12 Monkeys vibe, where the mentally unstable junkie actually set off a nuclear war, and the survivors send Lee Harvey Oswald back to prevent it. Maybe Jack Ruby was sent back to stop him, on behalf of a faction that prefers being king of the ashes. Or maybe Jack Ruby was just the clean-up crew, sent to make sure Oswald didn’t spill any beans.
The Third Bullet by Stephen Hunter has a fun thing like this.
https://www.amazon.com/Third-Bullet-Bob-Lee-Swagger/dp/1451640226
If you click look inside, and start on page 57, the guy goes through it.
Second season of the Umbrella Academy had touches of that.
This is a show I can’t get into I watched the first 2 maybe 3 episodes and every character is unlikeable, the family itself has no chemistry. Its like watching the X-men but literally every team member hates the other team member.
Superheroes with victimhood complexes.
Seems that way at first, but the relationships actually end up being more complicated than that.
Fair enough.
Titans is a pretty good team super hero show.
Yep. I’ve enjoyed the first two seasons. It was very entertaining to see what the production company thought the suburbs of Cleveland looked like.
It’s more likely that he was Johnson’s unwitting stooge.
I know next to nothing about Bezos-the-man, but he is an extreme rarity in that he successfully made all the transitional steps from garage entrepreneur to head of vast megabucks business consortium. And, as far as I am aware, he has continuously been personally involved.
The point is that the line between good and evil is not one that is driven by “our team/tribe versus their team/tribe”. Or you and your friends versus those other people and their friends. No, it’s a line driven through each and every human heart. Each and every one of us has it within ourselves to be a monster.
Solzhenitsyn FTW:
One of my favorite philosophical quotes.
“Because there’s a conflict in every human heart, between the rational and the irrational, between good and evil. And good does not always triumph. Sometimes, the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature. Every man has got a breaking point. You and I have one.”
–Apocalypse Now
The Horror! The Horror.
One of the most difficult things in studying history is understanding the psychology of the people living at the time. If you’re not careful you end up believing that people in the past were demonstrably stupider or less moral than you are. You can also forget that you have the advantage of learning from their mistakes.
If you’re studying the sixteenth and seventeenth century you have to try and understand that the religious issues they fought over weren’t trivial to them. If you’re studying the War of 1812 you have to ignore the current situation and understand that the USA had a reasonable need to stand up for itself as a new nation.
If I were a mid-thirties German I would have spent my early years hearing about Germany’s wonderful rise, her industrial might and her military success. I’d then have to face a war which I didn’t consider myself responsible for, a potentially unexpected defeat, an ongoing blockade, famine, political and economic breakdown, and communism.
I have a slightly unfortunate patriotic streak, and I hate commies, so I can imagine being quietly pleased at the supposed peacetime triumphs of the Nazi regime, and probably even the swift victory in 1940. I’m not a joiner, and I’d like to think I’d be disgusted at things like Kristallnacht. But essentially I think I’d be in the same category as millions of Germans – not actively involving myself in Nazism but not doing anything much to oppose it either.
I teach and it is amazing how students have such a difficult time understanding others perspectives, you would think video games and tv would at least have the positive benefit of getting them used to the idea of putting themselves in someone else’s shoes. But it’s all black and white good and evil to them. Founders were racist, racism is bad Founders are bad anything the Founders did as a result is bad because it was supported by racists. It’s simple, systematic black and white.
But it’s all black and white good and evil to them.
Because they’ve been taught to be intellectually lazy and they like it that way. Life is much simpler when you don’t have difficult questions to answer.
I despise the educational complex in this country for that exact reason. They have intentionally failed to teach critical thinking to an entire generation or more.
Oh, the teachers claim they are teaching critical thinking, but it usually means “Your thinking will agree with ours”.
One of my best education experiences was my 12th grade, civics teacher. He told the class Timothy McVeigh was an American Hero on par with the founding fathers then he said prove me wrong. The rest of the class was spent in a debate between him and the class.
Of course, the administration hated the guy, tried to get him fired but I helped stop it.
The activist left* sees history as something to be mined for straightforward battles between the goodies and the baddies in order to win points in the present. They are the good guys and people who disagree with them are the bad guys. No need to prove it.
These battles are not only black and white as you say but also unresolved. Obviously this erases the achievements of those who genuinely fought them, but never mind. It’s history as an episode of GI Joe.
*I don’t mean the many many high quality left wing historians
Hell, they don’t even have room for those who made incremental improvements in the human condition. Compromise is an evil.
That is not the exclusive domain of the activist left. You can find plenty on the right doing their own version of simplified history.
Video games, at least, are all about being able to play as a power fantasy version of yourself. Having to portray someone else is not considered desirable in the popular culture.
This Gamestop shit is hilarious. I bought & sold today for 20% gain, but held on to a couple shares to see how crazy this gets. “Weaponized autism”, indeed.
There were a lot of Americans in California who had no readily identifiable qualms about rounding up their ethnically Japanese neighbors and shipping them off to camps.
My family was too busy getting gassed and having medical experiments performed on them to join up. So I suspect it would have been the same for me.
J’accuse!
/Ilhan Omar
“My grammy never gave gifts. She was too busy getting raped by Cossacks.”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075686/quotes?item=qt0373252
Do not attribute to dementia that which may easily be explained by malice
President Joe Biden on Tuesday is unveiling an additional slate of executive actions to promote racial equity, a move to fulfill a key campaign promise that he made during the height of this past summer’s protests.
——-
Biden will also instruct the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reassess moves implemented under former President Donald Trump, including making it harder for plaintiffs to meet the legal threshold for proving unintentional discrimination, known as the disparate impact rule. The definition adopted under Trump and former HUD Secretary Ben Carson would also grant defendants more latitude to rebut those claims, but a federal court has put the rule on hold pending an ongoing legal challenge.
——-
The Trump administration was accused of racism and xenophobia, particularly for the former president’s penchant for calling the coronavirus the “China virus” in an effort to blame the pandemic on the Chinese ruling government.
“Advancing equity is a critical part of healing and of restoring unity in our nation,” Rice said.
JUSTICE!
HEALING!
UNITY!
The disparate impact rule needs to go.
Damn that Ben Carson…an obvious white supremacist if I’ve ever seen one.
Viruses are typically named for their place of origin. True, it should be the “Wuhan Virus”.
Well? I mean, viruses gonna virus, but I think some blame on the Chinese government isn’t out of line. Especially since it most likely was developed in, and escaped from, one of their labs.
So blaming a government is now racism, too? I can’t keep up.
https://twitter.com/justin_hart/status/1354126205943832576/photo/1
Haha.. good one
Late to the discussion. Someone upthread pointed out that most of the German people were just trying to get along. There is an excellent movie from 1944 called The Seventh Cross where Spencer Tracy is an escapee and seeks out the Hume Cronyn character. The latter is a worker in a factory and initially praises “Mr. Hitler’s” economy where everyone (most everyone) is working at a good wage.
Also on topic; Ron Paul’s column today addresses this very topic (TW: Lew Rockwell)
Wow, deep pull! I enjoyed The Seventh Cross and I’ve never come across anyone else who’s even heard of it, let alone see it.
As someone who prides myself on being a bit of a dissident to the totalitarians in our midst today, I don’t think I would have been a Nazi, or explicitly supported them. I would certainly keep my head down though. Knowing that the totalitarian regimes of the time punished the innocent families of dissidents would prevent me from rocking the boat.
I also recognize the power of the internet to build support for dissident views. I’m not so sure I would be as strong in my convictions if I were the only person who believed them (and there’s not many people in meat space that share my beliefs), but knowing there are hundreds of Tulpas like me is reinforcing.
I’ve said it before: the problem with a totalitarian regime rising to power is that they don’t come marching in with funny uniforms and foreign languages. They are your neighbors and family members. It’s not a slavering ogre crashing in the door, its the guy in the corner who gradually transforms into one. Leaving aside the issue of logistics, very very few people are willing to murder their neighbors to save a tiny minority that is relentlessly propagandized by the State as an evil conspiratorial virus.
The 1933 census in Germany counted 65 million people, of whom about 500,000 were Jewish. That’s .77% of the population. Just to put that in perspective, Muslims make up .80% of the current American population. 300,000 of those Jews quite sensibly emigrated before the invasion of Poland. So at the onset of WWII, when the actual industrial murder began, there were about 200,000 left in Germany, of whom around 180,000 were murdered before the war was half over.
The large scale slaughter of Jews took place in Eastern Europe. That’s where the Einsatzgruppen were, where the death camps were, and where the majority of the victims were from. There wasn’t really that large a German Jewish population, and as we see the majority of them sensibly fled before the killing began in earnest. 3 of the 6 million dead were Polish, with another million being from the Soviet Union. That’s where the Jews were living, and that’s where they were murdered. The average German didn’t think about that, in the same way the average American couldn’t tell you how many people have been killed in the Middle East in the last 20 years.
Also, these regimes thrive from a non-critical and gushing media that eventually becomes completely controlled. Trump was hated by the media beware of the politicians that enact authoritarian policies and are praised by the media they are the most dangerous.
Side note: I have been thinking about the fact that Biden might not really be in charge due to his health and that instead, we are seeing the third term of a very dangerous politician Barrack Obama.
Obama even joked this was the case, I think it very well might be.
A lot of Canadians aren’t convinced that The Hair That Walks Like A Man™ is actually running the show, either.
“Side note: I have been thinking about the fact that Biden might not really be in charge due to his health and that instead, we are seeing the third term of a very dangerous politician Barrack Obama.”
That is absolutely the case. Joe isn’t much more than a mannequin.
It also enables them to push much harder on their agenda as they do not bear the brunt of the reaction directly. Puddin’ Cup is going to take the heat as he withers away.
Biden was always just going to sign whatever came across his desk. That’s why the whole “Joe Biden is a moderate though!!!” talking point was bullshit. Even at the height of his ability, he was a hack who did whatever the political machine said to do. In his current dotage, hes just a signature writing machine.
Yep, and Obama and the Obamites can use old oatmeal fir brains as a foil to pass down all kinds of crazy shit they would have never had the nerve the nerve to pass down if their names were directly associated with it. It’s got to be a wet dream for those farging corksuckers.
Interesting take.
Both my side of the family (France) and the spousal unit’s side (the Netherlands) had family members that were part of the resistance movements during WWII, and my wife’s paternal grandfather actively hid Jewish children and, when able, got them out of the country. For my cousins, the hardest part of the resistance was the first couple of years, because they had no weapons (the occupying forces and/or the puppet government had confiscated all civilian weapons at the start of the occupation). They had to steal everything at great personal risk. Once they’d built up a reserve of weapons and money (turns out you could bribe German soldiers, at least some of the time), then it was on, baby. When the invasion of Normandy occurred, they got even busier.
There’s a lot of contrariness in both our families. I suspect we would end up being resistance fighters. Unfortunately, this would likely mean we’d die anonymously. That doesn’t appeal to me either.
“Interesting” times, indeed.
I’m curious about whether resistance fighters technically would be war criminals under the Geneva Conventions. No uniforms, sketchy, at best, chain of command, etc.
One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
Yep. You don’t storm a Nazi fortress with six guys concealing pistols under their coats. You murder small collaborators. The big shots have security. But their security has to go home at night. Sneak into his house, tie his wife and kids up, and step out from a closet and murder him when he asks whats for supper. Make sure his wife sees it, she’ll spread the word.
Did a drunken teenage German just foolishly head into a dark alley to relieve his bladder on a Saturday night leave? Sneak up behind him and cut his throat, and make sure to clamp down hard on his mouth when he cries for his mother with his last breath. If you have a grenade, slip it underneath the body. Probably it will be a German who rolls it over, but if its not oh well c’est la guerre.
The ones who got caught didn’t even merit “war criminal” treatment, AFAIK.
The other things that are always glossed over when you hear about Le Resistance is how exactly a resistance movement maintains internal and operational security, and political control. You have to be utterly ruthless at smoking out informers and discouraging collaboration from the population.
Wasn’t the core of the Resistance Communists?
Yes, especially early on. The big influx midwar came when the Germans starting stepping up use of slave labor, forcing thousands of military aged men into hiding. But the hardcore commies started the fight when Hitler stabbed Stalin in the back in 1941 and never really stopped.
I know I said I was going to wait for $150, but GME just bounced off $149.25 a few minutes ago.
Up over 90% today.
I missed the original context. What’s happening here?
https://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/21/01/19330873/gamestop-short-sellers-down-5b-and-counting-in-2021
Reddit autists putting a squeeze on hedge fund autists shorting GameStop.
The guy who started it all last year posting his $53k in calls he purchased is over $13MM as of last night.
I think he is still holding some of his original Apr 21 calls @$10 strike price, iirc.
Short squeeze on Gamestop stock. It’s more hyper than a toddler hopped up on Halloween candy.
$146.88 at close, it did hit $150 to the penny.
OMG Elon Must just tweet about it and it went up ~$22 in after hours trading. Haha!!
I missed the original context. What’s happening here?
The madness of crowds.
Literal Hitlers are everywhere.
Don’t know if it’s already been posted, but I’ll put this here.
Just because.
That’s spectacular.