# Are the teabaggers really so dumb as to not know the difference between Nazis and Communists? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312 "2009-09-16T12:47:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/41 "2009-09-16T18:47:15Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Of course they don’t deserve to be treated with contempt. They deserve to be _exploited_ . Or used for food. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/42 "2009-09-16T18:59:10Z")
From [_The Nation:_](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090928/younge) > [@](#): > > There are three important points to acknowledge about people like Gladney. First, they are not new. The cold war in general and McCarthyism in particular was built on lies, misinformation, obsession and guilt by the most tenuous of associations. After Eisenhower defeated Taft at the 1952 GOP convention, a woman emerged insisting, “This means eight more years of socialism.” In the late 1940s, a chairman of a federal loyalty review board conceded, “Of course, the fact that a person believes in racial equality doesn’t prove that he’s a communist. But it certainly makes you look twice, doesn’t it? You can’t get away from the fact that racial equality is part of the communist line.” Today the Internet distributes these slurs faster, and cable TV gives them more outlets. But there has always been a sizable section of society that seeks to fashion a bespoke reality out of whole cloth. These are the people who believe that civil rights was really about miscegenation, abortion rights is about promiscuity and gay rights is about pedophilia. There are more of them than we’d like to think. And they are not going away. > > Second, you can’t argue with them. A good two and a half weeks after failed rescue efforts during Hurricane Katrina left bodies floating in the streets and people abandoned on roofs, 35 percent of the country believed that George W. Bush had done a good or excellent job responding to the crisis. That is roughly the proportion of the country with whom there is no real means of engagement. These are the birthers, Swiftboaters, climate change skeptics, Obamaphobes and Palin-tologists–the base. They live in a politically parallel world where everyone they know believes the same as they do. They don’t like established facts, so they come armed with their own. The left has such people too, but they are marginal. With no news channels to promote them or Congressmen prepared to advocate for them, their views rarely reach the mainstream. > > Third, we can beat them. These people gain the kind of purchase that shifts them from an irritant to an obstacle only when there is a vacuum of leadership and the absence of good alternatives. It is only under these conditions that they are able to cast unreasonable doubt in the reasonable minds of those who seek clarification, encouragement or a stake in any substantive change. This is precisely what has happened with the healthcare debate over the past few months. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/43 "2009-09-16T19:14:08Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > For the sake of completeness, I’m going to assume that everyone here has seen [this enlightening little video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPMjC9mq5Y). A must-see, if not. “McCarthy and John Wayne were right?” Uh, the same John Wayne who ALSO said “I didn’t vote for him, but he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job?” That John Wayne? Hmmmm… (Other than that, that was funny as hell! That one redheaded woman screaching was a riot) ---
**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/44 "2009-09-16T19:34:37Z")
These people should’ve been on the old “In Search of…” TV series. “In Search of Morons Who’ll Believe Anything” . ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/45 "2009-09-16T19:51:03Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > For the sake of completeness, I’m going to assume that everyone here has seen [this enlightening little video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPMjC9mq5Y). A must-see, if not. Holy [Kirisuto Sama](http://members.ozemail.com.au/~skyaxe/tomb.htm). “And you know that how?” and “Czar comes from Caesar in the Roman times and he was a king and here the king is Jesus!” are two unassailable pieces of logic though, and I agree that Nancy Poloskie [sic] is someone to look out for if she ever raises her head. (If you can’t even make a protest sign that would pass a spell check you really shouldn’t project your views too loudly.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/46 "2009-09-16T19:52:55Z")
> [@kitemaker\_chuck](#): > > “In Search of Morons Who’ll Believe Anything” . I need to get my eyes checked because I read this as Mor **m** ons. (Though either way it not only works but can include Glenn Beck.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/47 "2009-09-16T19:54:11Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > For the sake of completeness, I’m going to assume that everyone here has seen [this enlightening little video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPMjC9mq5Y). A must-see, if not. [This one](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090928/blumenthal_video) is even funnier/scarier/more patheticker. See also [this article.](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090928/jones) ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/48 "2009-09-16T20:05:11Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [This one](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090928/blumenthal_video) is even funnier/scarier/more patheticker. See also [this article.](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090928/jones) Wow. Somebody please tell me that this whole thing is a massive practical joke. Please. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/49 "2009-09-16T20:07:13Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > See! The Democrats ARE Commies! Except the North Koreans who are Republicans. Guess that would really explain a lot about Kim Jung Il… ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/50 "2009-09-16T20:12:32Z")
Also, just for the all-around contrarians, I still think the Democrats’ push toward gun control is stupid and unconstitutional, and would love to see them drop it altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/51 "2009-09-16T20:27:05Z")
> [@NajaNivea](#): > > Yes, and it sure doesn’t stop there. I stopped laughing after the first half-dozen times I heard “if you like socialism so much, why don’t you move to China?” Everyone knows they’re a democracy, not socialism. I mean, hell, it’s right in the name! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/52 "2009-09-16T20:31:31Z")
So thats what Sam Stone and Shodun look like. Cute couple! ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/53 "2009-09-16T20:44:13Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > Except the North Koreans who are Republicans. Guess that would really explain a lot about Kim Jung Il… Naaah, Lil’ Kim is gansta, and as such defies simple partisan denominations. He just pops caps in the ass of whoever tries to step on his bidness. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/54 "2009-09-16T21:01:22Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Well, “down with the Czars” and hammers and sickles are (entirely coincidentaly in this case) a good match. That is true, but one of those signs reads “More Czars Than The USSR.” Which is still technically a valid slogan, since there were zero czars in the USSR. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/55 "2009-09-16T21:01:38Z")
> [@kingpengvin](#): > > Do they not know that what makes America great is not its economic or military might but that it is an unending experiment in representative Free Democracy valuing the rights of the individual and adapting to the times to changes itself to become a better nation for its people. (This is from a furriner so take what you will from that) Nah, everyone knows that what makes America great is lowering taxes and killing all the people that Jesus would like killed. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/56 "2009-09-16T21:51:43Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Wow. Somebody please tell me that this whole thing is a massive practical joke. > > Please. Matter of interpretation, perhaps; see post #20. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/57 "2009-09-17T01:35:24Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > That is true, but one of those signs reads “More Czars Than The USSR.” Which is still technically a valid slogan, since there were zero czars in the USSR. But what about the ones they had in graves? Huh??? The sign didn’t say they had to be LIVE czars, did they? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/58 "2009-09-17T02:18:25Z")
What! Obama has appointed a Zero Czar! All right, now he’s gone too far, too far! I say!! Is nothing sacred? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/59 "2009-09-17T02:35:45Z")
Stupid question: since anymore, I can’t even tell what these people mean – [is the guy on the left FOR or AGAINST the teabaggers](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Odds%20and%20Ends/3445613397_9c01a19627_o.jpg) Obviously the guy on the right is making fun of them! ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/60 "2009-09-17T02:51:06Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Stupid question: since anymore, I can’t even tell what these people mean – [is the guy on the left FOR or AGAINST the teabaggers](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Odds%20and%20Ends/3445613397_9c01a19627_o.jpg) > > Obviously the guy on the right is making fun of them! Well, the outfit and the spelling initially causes one to conclude it’s FOR, but the sage advice definitely points to AGAINST. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312.md?page=4)