Ken Burns - American Failure The Holocaust

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Caught part 1 last night, this was the most disturbing thing about this country I've ever had my eyes opened to. Some of the things covered like how horrible Henry Ford was I had been aware of, but most of it was new to me. The most shameful part of our history by a long shot was our failure to act to save those people. Our outright acts to try and appease that fuck Hitler was sickening to learn. 

And how today's maga's have copied the 1930's nazi playbook should be disturbing to all. From turning against the media to banning books, it's all happening again,,, here now.

"When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled 'made in Germany'; it will not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course, 'Americanism.". Halford E. Luccock, Keeping Life Out of Confusion (1938)

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1930's Hitler Rally vs 2022 Trump Rally

Apparently they were upset that Biden only called them semi-fascist and wanted to set him straight. 

"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross” 

-It remains debated whom said this and/or if 'the cross' portion was added to something that Sinclair Lewis or Upton Sinclair may have said but it seems to ring true anyhow

 

Not to stray too far off topic but here's one of today's headlines,, a pub calling his party out for what it is, soooooo rare I had to read it twice - 

From CNN: 'Welcome to fascism': Top Arizona Republican blasts Trump-backed candidates who might try to overturn future elections

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/18/politics/rusty-bowers-fascism-trump-elect...

From the politicians of the day to leaders of the Catholic church, and all down the line. The failures of so many so called good people to do what was ethically and morally right for the Jewish (and other)  people in Europe is just,,,, beyond anything I can reason with. I'm not just ashamed for my religion or country, I'm ashamed for all fuckin humanity.

Parts 2 + 3 will be for those with strong internal fortitude. 

^mormon guy politician whom recently said he would still/again vote for Dumbo if given the chance in '24 has since changed his tune and now says the entirety of the MAGA (bowel) movement needs to be flushed. Here here!!

>>>a pub calling his party out for what it is, soooooo rare I had to read it twice - 

That is why it was so important for Biden to call out MAGA as fascists. It finally gave the "normal" media permission to say it. The Washington Post is saying that he has embraced Q after previously flirting with Q. Still not enough. He put out a picture of himself wearing a Q pin and played their song during the rally so I would say it has gone beyond an embrace and they are fucking each other now. 

If our country was ruled by a mob boss (kinda seems like it was just yesterday, doesn't it?), he or she would address our conduct during the Holocaust like this: "It's business. It's not personal."

Not very long after our willful blindness of the Holocaust and our courting of Hitler for business purposes, the CIA staged a coup against the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh, and we did this at the behest of the company now known as BP, or British Petroleum, by way of Winston Churchill.

https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/16/world/secrets-history-cia-iran-specia...

These are just a couple of stories from the long, sordid history of our so-called republic. But these things shouldn't come as a surprise when you take into account that the US was founded by outlaws who overthrew the rule of law to form a new nation. And why did our founders do that? Simple. "It's business. It's not personal."

the corporate class welcomed fascism then, and now.

 

Corporatism is an integral part of Facism.

The so-called Communism of the Soviet Union kept that corporate power within the state.

That's really the only important difference between those two types of totalitarianism.

Correct me if I'm wrong, I read an interview with Burns where he said 225,000 Jews were immigrated during the period.  Only one fifth of an allowed quota into the USA.

Had to stop watching midway. Most of this is not news, hits too close to home (our family in Poland was decimated, 3 little cousins escaped to France and their mother went insane) to me and it's too fuckin depressing. Yes, we all need to bear witness and never forget how hate, white supremacism  and propaganda can lead humans to commit genocide and atrocities. It can and will happen again because humans are easily led astray. 

 

I watched the beginning of the first episode and am recording them.

What set the tone for me was Burns' assertion that, based on US immigration quotas of 1924, Hitler thought we'd be his allies in a quest for a "Viking country," and that Hitler learned about camps and mass exterminations from our treatment of Native Americans. I wish either of those had been cited. Either way, I can only guess where he's headed from there.

MY mother is a survivor. After the War she was in a DP camp until 1951. At that point she was sponsored to come to the US. That meant any refugees had to be paid for, from passage to room and board, by private parties.

If you haven't seen it, there's a documentary called "Night Will Fall," which is about the making of the only documentary Hitchcock ever made. He was commissioned by the Allied High Command to make a movie about the death camps, to be used at the Nuremberg Trials.It was scrapped because the High Command felt that it would bring too much sympathy to the Jews, and the British and US public would open their arms to the refugees.

>  we all need to bear witness and never forget

No doubt, Nancy; I'm with you about finding this hard to watch. There's a point where bearing witness becomes something more like voyeurism, and, for me, I think I've seen enough already.