Be totally honest, please

[NM11046]

I'm sorry and hesitant to put this out there because some posters here, who I really like, aren't going to like it but, ya'll are crazy. Over dramatizing things a bit aren't we? Mentions of Nazi Germany, Hitler, needing to actually leave the country. Fearing? Trump is surely nowhere near the best that could've been elected but people need to get a grip and save the outrage and unreasonable (yes-unreasonable) reactions for when something actually does go bad. Yeah, he's said some inflammatory things and yeah he may attempt some of the crazier sh#t he has talked about but I believe with every fiber of my soul that the good guys will prevail over any of the truly insane stuff you all seem to be most concerned about. It is hard to make strides forward but it will be even harder for society to let things slip backwards. Trust me, things will be alright. There are too many good and reasonable people in this country to allow things to get any where near as bad as some of you are predicting. Have a drink, smoke a joint, whatever, but please relax a little. That isn't to say ignore it or to not be vigilant but this worst case panic stuff needs to stop. Step back, take a breath, realize that this country is a lot more about your fellow citizens, the same ones you have lived amongst your whole lives up to this point, and a lot less about one man or handful of idiots in Washington.

JJ you saw that in the initial post the OP mentioned his family fled Nazis right? Anything mentioned specific to that was in response, and to Moraine's point all stated that this situation is nowhere near that. I understand your sensitivity to the topic, but in all reality everybody is in the same space as you.

[Moiraine]

 

 

 

 

We're going to have to agree to disagree. When the leader of your country is racist/sexist/bigoted, then saying you're worried he'll be some small version of Hitler is not at all a crazy.

I wouldn't be commenting if people were limiting the hyperbole to some "small version" of Hitler. You may have used the fraction 1/100th, others have done no such thing. Any failure to attempt to place comments like those in context, scope and scale does make a rather large difference to how it comes across. You (actually you this time) seem to have it reeled in to a reasonable limit but even 1% of a Hitler is like what, 60,000+ people exterminated? I mean he didn't just say some bad things and potentially implement some questionable policies, he committed genocide on 6 million people. I guess anybody that feels that putting Trump in that same boat is welcome to do so, I'm just trying to convey what that looks like to a reasonable person.

Dude, that is NOT what I meant by the comment of 1%. lol. I don't think Trump is going to have 60k Muslims/Mexicans/gays killed, and it shouldn't look that way to you because I didn't say it. If that's what I meant I'd sure as hell say it.

 

The first part of being a smaller version of Hitler to me is running on the same premise - nationalism, and saying racist/bigoted things. Compared to Hitler, the things Trump has said are not as racist. So that's part of the "smaller version." And I don't think he'll "exterminate" any Americans. I fear he'll infringe greatly on the rights of minority groups. For instance, have Muslims monitored solely because they're Muslims, or Arabs/Arab-Americans monitored solely because they might be Muslims. Or do stop and frisk, almost exclusively to Blacks.That to me is a small version.

 

The other comparison, which I've already stated, is how the people see these respective leaders. The Germans were excited about Hitler's message and from what I've read a large group did want the Jews punished. But there is no way in hell they expected what actually happened. This is something I've thought about many times through the years. How do things get to that point without the citizens taking up arms and protecting their fellow man?

 

And there are reactions I have myself that explain it to me. When someone is hurt for what they look like or for some other trait they have no control over, I get really upset and think it's awful. But how likely would I be to stand up for them, not with words, but actually fight for them. How far would I have to be pushed in order to do that? I fear I may not be a lot different than the Germans who did nothing. When the Jews started having to wear stars there were probably a large group of Germans who thought it was awful but thought no harm was really being done.

 

Then they were segregated but still alive so they again probably thought it's okay, they're not being harmed. And it went on from there. We need to make these comparisons because with the nazis, they snuck this by everyone gradually.

 

But I agree with everyhing said about our system of government. We have protections in place that will prevent this. It's just, having the person in the most powerful position want to do these things, is a cause for concern.

[Landlord]

Where are the posts comparing Trump to Hitler? You're the only person I can recall mentioning it, to be honest JJ.

 

That being said, Jews and Germany were taken completely by surprise by the rise of Hitler's Nazi Germany. They thought, for lack of a better term, that this charismatic new leader who was shaking things up was making their country great again, and there was some legitimate outrage by many Germans about just how bleak the economy was. Hitler found a great scapegoat as to why, to unify the German workers against a people group.

[zoogs]

 

I've seen or read of waaaaaaaaaaaay too many people shout some grotesquely un-American things (often at Trump rallies!) regarding what they want to do to _______ to take for granted that it could never here.

 

It could happen, if we let it.

 

Stay out of their way and watch what they do. By the time you decide to protest you may find that such voices no longer carry any power.

How do you know that those people weren't planted by the DNC? They were already caught on tape stating that they paid mentally ill people to go to his rallies to start fights just to get bad publicity so they could paint his supporters in a certain light?

 

 

This is a determined blindness. Please open your eyes. You aren't part of that hatred, I don't believe that. Don't own it.

[Danny Bateman]

 

I've seen or read of waaaaaaaaaaaay too many people shout some grotesquely un-American things (often at Trump rallies!) regarding what they want to do to _______ to take for granted that it could never here.

 

It could happen, if we let it.

 

Stay out of their way and watch what they do. By the time you decide to protest you may find that such voices no longer carry any power.

How do you know that those people weren't planted by the DNC? They were already caught on tape stating that they paid mentally ill people to go to his rallies to start fights just to get bad publicity so they could paint his supporters in a certain light?

 

 

How do you know that's a legitimate tape? The guy who made it has a long history of doctoring tapes to fit his narrative.

 

People who are trying to deny or pretend somehow Trump has not been surrounded by a cloud of bigotry, hatred, and xenophobia need to wake up. He most definitely has, and there's miles and miles of evidence. Eventually there's not going to be anybody else to blame and we're going to have to face reality.

[cornstar]

Where are the posts comparing Trump to Hitler? You're the only person I can recall mentioning it, to be honest JJ.

 

That being said, Jews and Germany were taken completely by surprise by the rise of Hitler's Nazi Germany. They thought, for lack of a better term, that this charismatic new leader who was shaking things up was making their country great again, and there was some legitimate outrage by many Germans about just how bleak the economy was. Hitler found a great scapegoat as to why, to unify the German workers against a people group.

I'd like to think that we've actually learned from history.

 

I could be wrong, I guess..

[zoogs]

I'd like to think that we've actually learned from history.

 

I could be wrong, I guess..

One lesson from history is that we will never learn from history, I think.

 

The lessons of the past must be re-learned, again and again. We will make progress, extraordinary progress, but that has never not been extinguished by one reactionary force or another -- only for later generations to build it up again.

 

There's an interesting Post piece here about Fukuyama's "the end of history" -- more aptly, how it is never the end.

[RedDenver]

The real fear, at least IMO, is the US going the fascist/imperial route. Since the US has by FAR the biggest, most powerful military on Earth (US spends more on military than the next 8 largest militaries combined), there's not a whole lot of places to run to.

 

The fight is here. And the best way to defeat dictators is within their own country before they can assume complete power. And if a dictator does rise, again the best place to fight back is within the country.