So why not take advantage of the clarity of vision? Read these articles from 1934.
These are from a Quaker quakersplaining to a group of Jews how to deal with that rambunctious fellow, Hitler, who’s being a bit rude out there in Germany. Just be nice!
Read the whole thread. Honestly, we’ve been here before. When will we learn?
But that’s a totally unfair comparison because reasons. Also, shut up because free speech.
it’s like we need some kind of final solution to this problem. ;)
really though, it’s like I’ve been repeating for ten years now….
we have the capability to recognize authoritarianism, and NOT feed it misinformation and lies, but rather work through things openly.
it’s not the capability we lack, it’s the will.
so, without that will, all we have left is to marginalize or keep force down with force.
those are the only choices.
since we ignore the former, and it’s pretty much to late in this cycle to actually stop this cycle reasonably, that leaves the latter.
what it boils down to is that we ALREADY have made the choice. We will let the authoritarians run rampant until they cause significant destruction. Then we will kill them in a big war.
it’s inevitable.
Not to defend Cadbury’s both sidesism, because holy shit, but I think it’s worth noting that he was also an agnostic and he later he received a Nobel Peace Prize for the life saving work the Friends Service Committee did in WWII. I’m not sure if he ever repudiated that article but he might have. I’m looking now until I stop caring.
It’s also worth noting that a few Quakers took up arms in WWII.
And Gandhi criticized the Jews for not simply using nonviolent resistance against the Nazis who were busy trying to kill them.
It’s like the joke a rabbi in North London once told me.
During the war, two Jewish resistance fighters are caught by the Nazis and are to be shot.
The German lieutenant leading the firing squad says, “To show you the munificence and mercy of the German people, I will allow you to have a last cigarette, you Jewish swine.”
The first fighter spits back, “Stick your cigarette up your arse, you Nazi bastard.”
The second one turns to him and whispers, “Don’t make trouble, don’t make trouble.”
I’m afraid this is where we are again …
This is a perfect example of what I’ve been saying today. Sure, the Nazis were crude and unpleasant, but we kept our cool! We were civil and polite and accommodating, and after a while, they saw reason, and then we all got together and made Volkswagens. Cum ba ja!
Don’t you see? The Jews did not take his wise advice, and hence the Holocaust occurred. :-(
I’m sure that if we look hard enough, we’ll find somebody making that argument.
As a descendant of a long line of Quakers, I’ll just say that I’m very, very glad to be an atheist…
“I’m sure that if we look hard enough, we’ll find somebody making that argument.”
Haven’t seen that particular one, but I have seen plenty of the “If every Jew had been armed… ” idiocy.
“Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.” — Schiller
But this is totes different! Because REASONS!
/s
My wife has a friend from Germany, and she was quite upset about Trump’s plan to merge the departments of education and labor. She said that Hitler did this before Germany went all Nazi, and with this change set it up to decide for students what vocation they should go into, depending on what skills were needed. We might be going in the same direction, where our educational system is geared to produce units of skill for corporate America to utilize.
sound familiar?