October 24th, 2008 (11:33 am)
current mood: aggravated
My friend, 
tristinmorgan posted a rather frightening letter she received on her blog.
You can see it behind the cut.
( Crazy misinformed email.Collapse )
These propagandist internet letters bother me on so many levels, not the least of which is how they weave enough truth into it to make the fiction seem real. They engage in the Wizard's First Rule: "People are stupid, and will believe a lie, because they fear it may be true".
In Germany, when Hitler came to power, it was a time of terrible financial depression.
Not true. Hitler converted the German Worker’s Party into the Nazi Party on July 29 1921, a decade before the Great Depression. He was elected head of the party by a vote of 543 to 1.
Money was worth nothing. In Germany people lost homes and jobs, just like in the American Depression in the 1930s, which we have read about in Thoene's Shiloh books. In those days, in my homeland, Adolph Hitler was elected to power by promising 'Change.' He blamed the 'Zionists' around the world for all our problems. He told everyone it was greedy Zionist Bankers who had caused every problem we had. He promised when he was leader, the greedy Zionist bankers would be punished. The Zionists, he promised, would be wiped off the face of the earth.
At the time, Germany was suffering the economic repercussions of losing World War I (the Treaty of Versailles), and the people needed to blame someone, the Jews were an easy scapegoat, due to their general financial well-being. Hitler was impressed by the German Worker’s Party founder, Anton Drexler, and his anti-semetic, nationalist, anti-capitalist, and anti-Marxist ideas. 10 years later, after Hitler had written Mein Kamfp, had served 5 years in prison for high treason, Hitler worked to bring Nazi Party back to power. He further pushed against the Treaty of Versailles, the wounded national pride, and blamed the (arguably) harsh terms of the Treaty on “international Jewry”.
So Hitler was elected to power by only 1/3 the popular vote. A coalition of other political parties in parliament made him supreme leader. Then, when he was leader, he disgraced and expelled everyone in parliament who did not go along with him.
Not true either, Hitler was never elected, aside from the near-unanimous internal party vote in 1921. In 1930, when the Great Depression hit, Germany’s political and economic turmoil gave Hitler the chance to rebuild the Nazi party into the largest political party in Germany, meaning they had the most seats in Parliament. It just so happened to be a mere 1/3 of all the seats. The current Chancellor of Germany (Papen) was removed by an 84% vote of no confidence by the Parliament. The still seated President of Germany named Hitler as Chancellor. Some deft political maneuvering ensued, careful placement of high-ranking officials and then the burning of the Reichstag, and subsequent blaming it on Communists. Basic rights were removed, including
habeas corpus, all the while the Nazi party campaigned for more seats in Parliament, using tactics including paramilitary violence, anti-communist hysteria, and government resources to publish propaganda. By 1932, Hitler’s Nazi Party had formed an alliance with the German National People’s Party, giving him a majority in Parliament and securing his grab for power, the elimination of more rights and his dictatorial, top-down leadership.
What began with the propaganda of children singing a catchy tune ended in the deaths of millions of children.
Wrong. The Hitler Youth were actually teenagers recruited into the Nazi party, preparing them for the “Storm Regiment” an adult paramilitary wing of the Nazi party. After Hitler was brought to power did the Nazi party lower the recruitment age for Hitler Youth to 10 and make attendance mandatory.
Then there are the right wing fear mongering that’s going on, tying the Nazi Party to
ANYONE in American politics is wrong.
EDUCATE YOURSELF:
Obama doesn’t want to abandon or kill people with disabilitiesObama doesn’t think one faith is better than anotherObama doesn’t promote hate and fear as a major party platformObama doesn’t want to kill unborn children or give government control over women’s bodies or how their morals guide them to live. This idea that a politician should try to get your vote based on fear, on hate, on how different “they” are from “us”, attempting to breed mistrust, paranoia, and worse, is something we should all, as Americans, be able to rise above and look beyond. We’re better than this. We are one AMERICAN people, a people who need to regain our sense of national pride, to do it without the specter of fear or paranoia, the darkness of hate and mistrust. We need to become proud of our neighbors, of ourselves, to understand that fighting for the rights of our neighbors and friends is standing up and fighting for ourselves.
I guarantee you this: I will NEVER vote for someone who promotes hate and fear, someone who rattles their saber or the saber of the American military might for political gain. I will
never vote for someone who advocates taking away another American’s rights, regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, gender, who they gain comfort and love from, or any other factor that makes them different from me.
Please feel free to share this.
