Nazis in town tonight

[iplaw]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

I understand where you are coming from IP.  However, it is worth noting the tenancies that enabled the Nazi party to pursue its agenda has similarities to the way in which some fundamentalists are able to pursue theirs.  I attempted to articulate some of those similarities and point out the differences in goals.

I hate to tell you, but manipulation, coercion and propaganda are methods that human employs from time to time.  Anything can be categorized as brainwashing or propaganda if you try hard enough.  It's the goals that they are attempting to achieve that matter; not the tactics.

IOW, someone who uses propaganda and brainwashing to convince people that socialism is a good system is by no means as detrimental as those who use propaganda to convince people that they should kill others to ensure that a country becomes socialistic.

[iplaw]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

In all fairness IP, he didnt compare fundamentalist actions to Nazi actions but the similarity of their minds.  

Which I took exception to.  It's difficult for me to compare people who's goal was the extermination of an entire race of people with a religious movement comprised of mainly overweight, coiffured, and poorly dressed TV hucksters and snake oil salesmen.  i don't see a lot of similarity of thought there.

Oh, you mean like these:

Heh.  I just watched that last night.

[Conan71]

Dude, we must live in a parallel universe.  I watched the "Fletchathon" last night.  First comment I could think of when I saw the "Nazi" post was: "I hate Illinois Nazis!"

I thought R. Lee was perfect for his role in Fletch Lives.  I didn't realize that Julianne Phillips (Becky Culpepper) was Bruce Springsteen's former wife.

[iplaw]

Scarry, truly scarry.

[iplaw]

I heard there was a grand total of 4 morons who protested, and the only incident was the ticketing of someone who threw a half eaten apple at the protesters.  At least it was biodegradable weapon.

[cannon_fodder]

SO its okay to brainwash people as long as the immediate objective isn't genocide?

Here I thought protecting a society of free thinkers would prevent many of the atrocities the world has known.  If you train people to follow the heard in one arena, why would they feel free to go it alone in another?  Someone who blindly follows the thoughts of another will soon lose the capacity to determine if those thoughts are logical, strange, or even evil.

No one starts by saying join me and follow me and I will turn you evil.

[iplaw]

quote:SO its okay to brainwash people as long as the immediate objective isn't genocide?

The brainwashing is corollary to the point.  The TV evangelist scam artists aren't preparing an army to affect a violent overthrow of the nation, or the extermination of an entire ethnic group, and you don't have to go any farther than that.  Maybe I'm just blind to their sinister plans...

Nickelodeon has been brainwash kids with advertising for decades.  Check out the book "The Tipping Point" it has a great chapter on countless hours that were expended to hone the program Blues Clues, it's astounding.  Nickelodeon has singularly created the tween marketing sector through product hype, but I'm not going to relate them to Nazi germany.

quote:
No one starts by saying join me and follow me and I will turn you evil.

Of course not, but the person doing that brainwashing usually is directing the masses with his own underlying evil motives.  With TV evangelists, their underlying motive is greed, not a coup of the government or genocide of unbelievers.

I wish we could get people to speak out as forcefully against militant Islam as they do against TV evangelists.  But what we get are talking heads from all sides who fall all over themselves to be apologists for them.

[deinstein]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

I heard there was a grand total of 4 morons who protested, and the only incident was the ticketing of someone who threw a half eaten apple at the protesters.  At least it was biodegradable weapon.

[}:)]

[cannon_fodder]

I agree wholly with your underlying point IP.  As much as it pains me, this is the best example I can come up with... by the time people realized what Hitler was trying to brainwash people to do they were either unwilling or unable to stop them.    I dont anticipate something horrible from Jerry Falwell (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyE5wjc4XOw - hilarious), but I'd still prefer people do a little thinking for themselves.

and, btw, I believe militant Islam is  way more dangerous that TV evangelists. Unfortunately, I dont know any that I can try to convince of the error of their ways.

[Conan71]

This trumps Fallwell and the previous Tilton ones:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/07/fartingpreacher.html