# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/61 "2009-09-17T03:07:41Z")
Do the various “Czars” really only have an advisory role? The Office of National Drug Control Policy, for example, looks like a lot more than a bunch of ivory-tower advisors to me. ---
**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, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/62 "2009-09-17T03:12:57Z")
I believe the fellow on the left is slyly suggestive of the more original sexual connotation. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/63 "2009-09-17T03:27:16Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Do the various “Czars” really only have an advisory role? [Sometimes, sometimes not.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czar_(U.S._political_term)) Remember, it’s a media designation, not an official or legal one. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/64 "2009-09-17T05:04:10Z")
Watching footage of the teabaggers on youtube is surreal. Oldies, the middle-aged and teenagers alike, all shouting in unison their demand, which is… "NO PUBLIC OPTION!, NO PUBLIC OPTION!, NO PUBLIC OPTION!, NO PUBLIC OPTION!, The public don’ t want to have any option, is what they seem to be saying. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/65 "2009-09-17T05:05:31Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > "NO PUBLIC OPTION!, NO PUBLIC OPTION!, NO PUBLIC OPTION!, NO PUBLIC OPTION!, > > The public don’ t want to have any option, is what they seem to be saying. Right-wingers are typically anti-choice. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/66 "2009-09-17T06:12:44Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I can only assume the fact that both communism and Nazism are evil means that they’re the same thing, roughly like serial killers are evil and child molesters are evil and thus serial killers are child molesters (or what a logic professor I had called the “God is love/love is blind/Stevie Wonder is blind, thus Stevie Wonder is God, q.e.d.” school of logic. I thought [Art Tatum](http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1179605/a/God+Is+In+The+House.htm) was supposed to be God. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/67 "2009-09-17T08:02:06Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#): > > By the same token, the Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany) was a democracy and a republic, because the country’s name uses both words, instead of the one-party police state it actually was. > > :rolleyes: at the stupidity of the claim Uh, East Germany most certainly _was_ a republic. Did you honestly think it was a kingdom? ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 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/510312/68 "2009-09-17T12:47:05Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Watching footage of the teabaggers on youtube is surreal. > [@](#): > > **JOE WILSON FOR PRESIDENT** “…I’m… not supporting Joe Wilson for President” 😃 ---
**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, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/69 "2009-09-17T13:08:41Z")
“Yes you are!” “No I’m not!” :throws sign into bushes: Isn’t this a Monty Python skit? ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/70 "2009-09-17T13:32:33Z")
> [@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) Definitely against. I may be reading too much into it, but I think the emphasis on “YOUR NOSE” even suggests the teabaggers are [mouthbreathers](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mouthbreather). ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/71 "2009-09-17T13:55:04Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I can only assume the fact that both communism and Nazism are evil means that they’re the same thing, roughly like serial killers are evil and child molesters are evil and thus serial killers are child molesters (or what a logic professor I had called the “God is love/love is blind/Stevie Wonder is blind, thus Stevie Wonder is God, q.e.d.” school of logic. Stevie Wonder isn’t God? [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBA4vWQRBA0) might change a few minds. Anyway, I’m starting to wonder whether the teabaggers are a great practical joke which only the perpetrators aren’t getting. Who would consciously name themselves after a dubious sexual practice? Who would seriously laud the clinically insane Glenn Beck, a real-life Howard Beale, as Presidential timber? Who would call for the expansion of Medicare (as many of the protesters did), while decrying all forms of government-run healthcare? It’s all high comedy in the vein of the “Billionaires for Tax Cuts” street theatre, only it’s done in absolute seriousness. If the Dems had any balls, they’d be telling this bag of losers, “Hey, you know that election we had in November? The people already spoke once in an adult fashion, and if you want to influence this conversation, you need to act like adults, too.” Where’s the “Everybody calm the fuck down, I got this” Obama we knew from the election campaign when we need him? ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/72 "2009-09-17T14:25:12Z")
It’s so hard not to laugh. The thing is something brought these people with no idea what they’re thinking to DC on a Saturday morning to protest . . . something. It’s kind of like Close Encounters where Richard Dreyfuss and his motly band stare wide-eyed at their neighbours and scrawl something that doesn’t make sense on a piece of paper, before jumping in their cars and disappearing towards the Feds. Except this time it looks like it’s the aliens doing the scrawling. They were all responding to something though, perhaps a combination of Beck, Fox and a non-specific fear of progress. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/73 "2009-09-17T14:39:34Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Anyway, I’m starting to wonder whether the teabaggers are a great practical joke which only the perpetrators aren’t getting. Who would consciously name themselves after a dubious sexual practice? Who would seriously laud the clinically insane Glenn Beck, a real-life Howard Beale, as Presidential timber? Who would call for the expansion of Medicare (as many of the protesters did), while decrying all forms of government-run healthcare? It’s all high comedy in the vein of the “Billionaires for Tax Cuts” street theatre, only it’s done in absolute seriousness. I’m pretty sure Glenn Beck\* is\* Stephen Colbert, except the part about letting his followers in on the joke. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/74 "2009-09-17T14:43:55Z")
> [@NajaNivea](#): > > “…I’m… not supporting Joe Wilson for President” > 😃 You LIE! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/75 "2009-09-17T14:58:22Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Do the various “Czars” really only have an advisory role? The Office of National Drug Control Policy, for example, looks like a lot more than a bunch of ivory-tower advisors to me. “Mr. President, this is your brain. This is your brain on drugs…” > [@psychonaut](#): > > Uh, East Germany most certainly _was_ a republic. Did you honestly think it was a kingdom? I think you’ll find most people just don’t know that _republic_ means, “state without a monarch”. Common usage in the US is based on the belief that the word has some connotation of democratic government. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/76 "2009-09-17T15:27:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I think you’ll find most people just don’t know that _republic_ means, “state without a monarch”. Common usage in the US is based on the belief that the word has some connotation of democratic government. The definition of “republic” that we learned in school was a state controlled by its citizens through representatives chosen by them. ---
**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, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/77 "2009-09-17T18:38:23Z")
> [@LilShieste](#): > > Definitely against. I may be reading too much into it, but I think the emphasis on “YOUR NOSE” even suggests the teabaggers are [mouthbreathers](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mouthbreather). Thought so, but with some of those idiotic signs, you never know. (The constant misspellings, the stunning ignorance of historical events, etc) I love it – I wonder if any of THEM will get it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 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/510312/78 "2009-09-17T18:59:11Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Thought so, but with some of those idiotic signs, you never know. (The constant misspellings, the stunning ignorance of historical events, etc) True. I saw the following sign on the news the other day (from some teabagger protest): **OBAMA 1933 ALL OVER AGAIN!** (with a swastika inside the O in OBAMA) Yeah, I think these guys flipped “reason” the bird long ago. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/79 "2009-09-17T20:35:33Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I think you’ll find most people just don’t know that _republic_ means, “state without a monarch”. Common usage in the US is based on the belief that the word has some connotation of democratic government. Indeed, most people do believe that. Most people including _the fucking Random House dictionary_[link](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/republic) > [@the dictionary](#): > > re⋅pub⋅lic  –noun > > 1. a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them. > 2. any body of persons viewed as a commonwealth. > 3. a state in which the head of government is not a monarch or other hereditary head of state. I know that it also means a state without a monarch, but when you and **psychonaut** imply that it doesn’t mean the definition, it’s just plain stupid. The usage you describe is not a connotation - it’s a denotation. Both of you, open a book before you criticize word usage. You can start with the dictionary. This post should not be construed as support for the tea baggers, just a plea not to fight stupidity with stupidity. ---
**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 17, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/80 "2009-09-17T20:39:06Z")
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