# How We Get From Here To Internment Camps **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 16, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186 "2016-11-16T18:22:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/61 "2016-11-17T17:59:12Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I don’t know if I’d call people who were willing to beat their neighbors to death with clubs at the drop of a hat “ordinary”. You haven’t met my neighbors. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/62 "2016-11-17T18:21:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe now would be a good time to stop smashing windows, burning things, and blocking traffic? Never attended a protest? Never witnessed a wrong, an injustice, that would move you to do so? Viet Nam war was perfectly OK with you? The Iraq War, no problem with any of that? Black people are just making shit up about the way the police treat them? No problem with any of that, but blocking traffic! You got kids, love 'em? If you had to eat a spoonful of shit every day of your life, and you look at them and realize that will happen to them, sure as you’re born… What would you be willing to do? Maybe even block traffic? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/63 "2016-11-17T18:25:12Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > You haven’t met my neighbors… I live in Minnesota. I _am_ your neighbor. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/64 "2016-11-17T18:37:17Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Looks like some people are wasting no time on trying to get started on the last step: [url=[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/16/gop-senator-to-propose-bill-criminalizing-illegal-/](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/16/gop-senator-to-propose-bill-criminalizing-illegal-/)] From the end of your article: > [@](#): > > The bill, if proposed and passed through the GOP-controlled Senate, likely would face serious obstacles in the current Democratic-controlled House. I was going to ask if I missed an election but now I realize this is just a state Senator in Washington. Doubt this is going to go anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Neo-Calredic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/96bed5/32.png) [@Neo-Calredic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neo-Calredic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/65 "2016-11-17T18:43:45Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I mean, they’re not gonna do that, but it makes great Constitutional precedent! Also, this guy doesn’t agree with this stuff, except it’s a great idea. > > [x.com](https://twitter.com/bad_takes/status/799079032499343360) Yup. Barely a week out from the election, and already they’re testing the waters of public opinion on the internment of Muslims. “It would be legal to do it. We’ve done it before. Which was horrible, _of course!_ But still, we want to do it, and this shows we could. Which would be good, somehow, even if that other thing we did in the past was horrible.” Granted, this douchenozzle is “only” the spokesperson for a pro-Trump Super PAC, not actually directly connected to Trump. Still shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that at least some of these assholes already have the possibility squarely in mind. Again, I’m not suggesting Trump is going to take office and start trying to round up Muslims the next day. While he’s probably stupid enough to try, those guiding him are not. They know there needs to be an inciting incident, so they will quietly start setting the stage to take action once one occurs – doing everything they can to continue poisoning the well of public opinion against Muslims, putting people who agree with their way of thinking in key positions, attacking laws that would stand in their way when the time comes. Sooner or later in the next four years, they will get what they’re hoping for – some kind of domestic incident they can link, however tenuously, to “Radical Islamic Terrorism.” If it’s big and/or scary enough, they will seize on the ensuing panic and set their plans into motion – and it will happen very quickly, before the public has a chance to calm down. Some people will undoubtedly speak out against this as it happens, and Trump’s ilk will be ready. Anyone else remember how anyone who protested or spoke out during the lead-up to Gulf War 2 was branded as cowardly and un-American? (“Of _course_ we have proof that Sadam has WMDs! They wouldn’t go to war over _nothing_!”) That was during a period when the country was far less divided than it currently is, and it worked very well for the powers that be at the time. Is this scenario outlandish? Sure. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen. We just elected Donald fucking Trump as President. He and his minions have promised – many times – that they will “register” Muslims and “round up illegals.” They WANT to do this. Given the rhetoric they’ve spewed since the election and the appointments Trump has already announced, they have every intention of doing it. The only thing standing in their way is the collective decency of the same country that was just stupid enough to vote them into office. Forgive me if my confidence in the ability of the American people to stand up for what’s right isn’t exactly overflowing at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/66 "2016-11-17T18:43:49Z")
> [@](#): > > …I realize this is just a state Senator in Washington. Doubt this is going to go anywhere. Great! So, its just that one guy then? Whew! What a relief! ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/67 "2016-11-17T18:49:01Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Never attended a protest? Never witnessed a wrong, an injustice, that would move you to do so? Viet Nam war was perfectly OK with you? The Iraq War, no problem with any of that? Black people are just making shit up about the way the police treat them? No problem with any of that, but blocking traffic! > > You got kids, love 'em? If you had to eat a spoonful of shit every day of your life, and you look at them and realize that will happen to them, sure as you’re born… What would you be willing to do? Maybe even block traffic? I’ve been to rallies and events before, some of them probably even labeled protests. I’ve never felt like [smashing windows at a car dealership](http://www.wweek.com/news/2016/11/10/portland-anti-trump-protest-turns-to-chaos-as-anarchists-smash-cars-and-bus-stops/), or [burning down a Little Caesars](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/25/ferguson-little-caesars-burned-down/70076306/) would be to anyone’s advantage or accomplish any of my goals. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/68 "2016-11-17T19:03:56Z")
> [@Neo-Calredic](#): > > Sooner or later in the next four years, they will get what they’re hoping for – some kind of domestic incident they can link, however tenuously, to “Radical Islamic Terrorism.” If it’s big and/or scary enough, they will seize on the ensuing panic and set their plans into motion – and it will happen very quickly, before the public has a chance to calm down. Hell, these guys would find an excuse to round up Muslims after a Timothy McVeigh type bombing, or a takeover of federal lands by sovereign citizen types like Bundy’s gang. Of course, it would only be for “muslim’s safety”. Riiiiight… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/69 "2016-11-17T19:04:26Z")
Neither have I. But I should stop, because of the risk that some asshole might take advantage? I’ll let that guy steal my right to protest? And the guy who says I should…that’s you? And this? > [@](#): > > …I’ve been to rallies and events before, some of them probably even labeled protests… That sounds kinda…flexible. The one’s I went to were protests, no ifs, ands, or buts. But the ones you went to, maybe sorta kinda would be “labeled” as protests. Doesn’t include Monster Truck Rallies on Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Just so you know. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/70 "2016-11-17T19:12:54Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > That sounds kinda…flexible. The one’s I went to were protests, no ifs, ands, or buts. But the ones you went to, maybe sorta kinda would be “labeled” as protests. Doesn’t include Monster Truck Rallies on Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Just so you know. It might just be conservatives’ aversion to the word “protest”, with its negative connotations of dirty hippies smashing windows. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/71 "2016-11-17T19:14:14Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I don’t know if I’d call people who were willing to beat their neighbors to death with clubs at the drop of a hat “ordinary”. There are very few people willing to do such a thing here in America. Dr. Milgram would like a word with you. It wasn’t the drop of a hat. It was the culmination of a prolonged campaign of ethnic hate mongering, with the final spark coming when the Rwandan president’s plane was shot down. An untold number of civilians went from going to work and making dinner and tucking their kids in bed one day to hacking people to death the next. Ordinary people. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/72 "2016-11-17T19:25:55Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > It might just be conservatives’ aversion to the word “protest”, with its negative connotations of dirty hippies smashing windows. In the dark days, it was just us, yes. Then it was Methodist ministers, and teachers, and doctors, and carpenters. And then, veterans. But not you. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/73 "2016-11-17T19:32:49Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’ve been to rallies and events before, some of them probably even labeled protests. I’ve never felt like [smashing windows at a car dealership](http://www.wweek.com/news/2016/11/10/portland-anti-trump-protest-turns-to-chaos-as-anarchists-smash-cars-and-bus-stops/), or [burning down a Little Caesars](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/25/ferguson-little-caesars-burned-down/70076306/) would be to anyone’s advantage or accomplish any of my goals. Clearly, you’ve never eaten at Little Ceasars. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/74 "2016-11-17T20:27:49Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Clearly, you’ve never eaten at Little Ceasars. At least the pizzas were properly cooked. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/75 "2016-11-18T01:16:27Z")
In today’s NYTimes online: > [@](#): > > **Trump Camp’s Talk of Registry and Japanese Internment Raises Muslim Fears** > > A prominent supporter of Donald J. Trump set off concern and condemnation from Muslims on Wednesday after citing World War II-era Japanese-American internment camps as a “precedent” for an immigrant registry suggested by a member of the president-elect’s transition team. > > The supporter, Carl Higbie, a former spokesman for Great America PAC, an independent fund-raising committee, made the comments in an appearance on “The Kelly File” on Fox News. > > He was referring to a suggestion by Kris Kobach, a member of Mr. Trump’s transition team, that the new administration could reinstate a national registry for immigrants from countries where terrorist groups were active. > > [Whole Article](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/us/politics/japanese-internment-muslim-registry.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0) ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/76 "2016-11-18T04:33:38Z")
The idea of registering Muslims is a violation of America’s liberal values. To be more inclusive the government should register all citizens from birth and track them using computer chips. Just to be safe. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/77 "2016-11-18T04:40:00Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > The idea of registering Muslims is a violation of America’s liberal values. To be more inclusive the government should register all citizens from birth and track them using computer chips. Just to be safe. You never noticed that tiny scar on your right temple? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/78 "2016-11-18T04:45:20Z")
Citizen Unit **running coach** has malfunctioned. Reboot, and download corrected personality. You have fifteen seconds to comply. ---
**Author:** ![OriginalGangster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea5d25/32.png) [@OriginalGangster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OriginalGangster)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/79 "2016-11-18T04:51:20Z")
The people did not support this. The dumbass electoral system does. Unfortunately, the prophecies seem to be true. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/80 "2016-11-18T05:14:55Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I don’t know if I’d call people who were willing to beat their neighbors to death with clubs at the drop of a hat “ordinary”. There are very few people willing to do such a thing here in America. In this book, the author said that one factor is that Rwandans are taught from infancy to never question authority, so when TPTB announced that the Tutsis were cockroaches who needed to be killed, they were, and that was that. > **[Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust: Ilibagiza,...](https://www.amazon.com/Left-Tell-Discovering-Rwandan-Holocaust/dp/1401944329)** > > Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust \[Ilibagiza, Immaculee, Erwin, Steve\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust Similar unquestioning deference to authority led to this tragedy. The kids were told to stay below deck until they were instructed to leave; those who defied that order were rescued and the ones who didn’t drowned. > **[Sinking of MV Sewol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_MV_Sewol#Secondary_causes)** > > The ferry MV Sewol sank on the morning of April 16, 2014, en route from Incheon towards Jeju in South Korea. The 6,825-ton vessel sent a distress signal from about 2.7 kilometres (1.7 mi; 1.5 nmi) north of Byeongpungdo at 08:58 KST (23:58 UTC, April 15, 2014). Out of 476 passengers and crew, 304 died in the disaster, including around 250 students from Danwon High School in Ansan City. Of the 172 survivors, more than half were rescued by fishing boats and other commercial vesse The sinking of Se... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186.md?page=5)