This is distinctly disturbing.
Across the country, rocks or bricks are being thrown through the windows of Democratic Party offices. Congressmen are receiving threats to themselves and their children. Even Sarah Palin herself makes some unsavory implications.
It seems the “break the windows” idea is coming from this guy. As mentioned in my first link, the parallels to Kristallnacht are pretty obvious, but luckily the scale is much smaller.
What’s going on here?
http://www.facebook.com/notes/sarah-palin/dont-get-demoralized-get-organized-take-back-the-20/373854973434
It’ll pass. Just stupid people acting out. I’m not sure why the brick guy hasn’t already been charged. Many on the right still can’t accept that they’re out of power and that there are people in America besides themselves who actually do have a say in how things go down. Too many decades, too long in power. Give them another year or two. They need to bake a bit in their wretchedness.
I found out that that kind of incitement to violence is illegal in Canada, and falls under larger hate speech laws. Not sure how the laws work here, but I would think Mike Vanderboegh would be prosecutable for something.
Not sure what “decades” Hunt is talking about but the guy would be prosecutable for destroying property and violent action, as for whomever is promoting it his language could be deemed as inciting of violence or panic (kinda like how your freedom of speech goes out the window [hehe, so to speak] if you yell fire! in a crowded theater) and prosecutable if there is an established link. Hate speech laws are mostly bullshit that ground legislation in cheap feelings, but if the guys really promoting criminal acts instead of simply “condoning” them (to use a funky word) there could be action taken.
The Canada hate speech laws (as I understand them by asking Canadian friends) draw a distinction between saying “I hate some person or group” (that is not illegal) and “You should hate this person or group for these reasons.” Bottom line is, it’s not illegal to simply offend someone.
RE: “what’s going on here?”
Fear. And as Yoda knows, “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to the dark side.”
This is all being painted as socialism coming to the US and since many don’t understand the extent to which we as taxpayers already footing the bill for so many things they think it’s new and the end of the US as we know it. Hint for republitards: medicare, medicaid, bankruptcy, insurance, the fact that emergency care is often taken care of if someone shows up bleeding at the emergency room doors — “socialism” is upon you and has been with us for quite some time though you stay blind until your handlers tell you otherwise.
So some idiots have turned to violence. I don’t really see the parallel with Kristallnacht since there was complicity with the government in that case. Unless you have some evidence that elements of the government are involved in buttressing and contributing to this sort of violence.
The only comparison I meant to make is the breaking of windows as a form of intimidation. I hardly think this is the same, other than that one fact.
Also, she isn’t “the government”, but Sarah Palin is a prominent personality/commentator/former politician who’s made some idiotic comments and a graphic with crosshairs on the top of Democratic districts. That kind of thing matters when so many listen to her.
Also, a hint for supposed modern day revolutionaries– your best weapon is no longer your gun (it’s not a match for modern weaponry), it’s your ability to spread information freely across state and national lines — that means access to the internet and the right to privacy and encrypted communications. Unfortunately most of the current would be revolutionaries fell silent when it came time to defend those sorts of rights post 9/11 and from their point of view the government is in enemy hands now.
Poetic Justice.
Well, bringing the Nazis into things never helps with communication or clarity so if that’s the only parallel you’ve got I’d drop it.
Never is a pretty strong word.
As I said in the original post, it was not my observation.
Thanks for the blogging advice.
Well, I don’t think “never” is too strong for internet forums considering Godwin’s law was coined in the 90′s. Feel free to use it in real life or maybe even chatroulette.
Anyhow, everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt. I don’t take myself too seriously, I’ve been wrong too often. So don’t take my generalizations strictly. All generalizations are false.
Nice blog btw, i guess this is my first time posting here.
Welcome, Mike. Thanks for reading and posting.
oh, i was unclear, when i said “Feel free to use it”, by “it” I meant the comparison with Nazis. I do think it’s a valuable comparison in many cases, it just gets thrown around too much and it’s loaded with emotion. Online forums don’t leave much room for subtle cues that would help distinguish when something is appropriate/helpful or no.
Never was too strong of a word, because now you’ve backpedaled and are applying it only to “internet forums”.
The Republican Party slash Tea Party have triggered Godwin’s Law IRL throughout the entire health care debate. (Although, weirdly, Obama’s been called a fascist, socialist, and communist all at once. There isn’t an equivalent Soviet form of Godwin’s Law I know of, but I nominate “Ivan’s Law”).
Considering the exact nature of the rhetoric being used, I find it at the very least ironic that people who bought into those arguments would advocate something at least superficially similar to Kristallnacht. I think a limited comparison still stands.
Ok, so granting that never is too strong, is “well, they’re doing it so we can do it” really the defense you’re going with? I’ve seen the comparisons from the right. They’re atrocious and stupid and like you pointed out, often sloppy.
As to my original statement, how about “bringing the Nazis into things rarely helps with communication or clarity”. But maybe communication and clarity aren’t what you’re aiming for, it certainly adds something to force of rhetoric (which i think is why people use it so often).
So what’s the intent with the limited comparison?
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The Kristallnacht comparison is misguided. Our situation is a flare up of anger towards the government. Kristallnacht was government sponsored vandalism against a group within the population. Get your premises right.