# Roger Ailes of Fox News goes full Godwin about NPR **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 18, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118 "2010-11-18T18:09:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![buckgully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@buckgully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckgully)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/21 "2010-11-18T20:46:11Z")
“We do both kinds of politics here: Republican and Tea Party!” With apologies to the Blues Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/22 "2010-11-18T21:21:30Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > The Nazis \*were \*left-wing, when you reallly look at their economic policies, even if self-styled neo-Nazis don’t like to think of themselves that way. The Nazis were right-wing in that they were highly nationalistic, emphasized traditional values, were racist, xenophobic, anti-international, and called upon a mythic past to promote a sense of group indentity. Militarism also tends to be right-wing, and while of course there have been heavily-armed communist regimes and rebel groups, right-wing regimes have undertaken more foreign military adventures and done so more blatantly in the name of national self-interest. And of course domestically in the US, it’s the right who are more heavily armed and pro-military. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/23 "2010-11-18T21:40:00Z")
And of course they were right-wing in that they were firm believers in private ownership of the means of production, left capitalists alone to do pretty much whatever they wanted, destroyed all forms of labor representation that might limit the powers of capitalists to exploit the working class, and even provided slave labor for private companies. Not really poster children for the left, there. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/24 "2010-11-18T21:48:54Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Little-known secret: they junked the name National Public Radio for just NPR because of their new official name, _Nationaler Propaganda-Rundfunk._ 😃 I’ve always heard Nazi Propaganda Radio. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/25 "2010-11-18T21:52:34Z")
Watching will set you free. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/26 "2010-11-18T21:59:36Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Watching will set you free. \*Anschauen macht frei? \* ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/27 "2010-11-18T21:59:39Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Just playing along with what Mr. Ailes must have meant as a joke, here, but which bits of NPR’s prgramming are ‘propaganda’, exactly? _Car Talk_? _This American Life_? _A Prairie Home Companion_? If you listen to the credits you learn that Click and Clack’s Russian chauffer is Pickup Endropov, an obvious alias. OK I know, a communist not a Nazi, but I don’t think most FOX news fans know the difference, or even the fact that they were at war with each other. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/28 "2010-11-18T22:18:29Z")
> [@villa](#): > > And of course they were right-wing in that they were firm believers in private ownership of the means of production, left capitalists alone to do pretty much whatever they wanted, destroyed all forms of labor representation that might limit the powers of capitalists to exploit the working class, and even provided slave labor for private companies. > > Not really poster children for the left, there. They’re pretty much only left-wing in that they gave free ponies to everyone. Okay, cheap vacations, but who’s to quibble? I was going to say that their social welfare policy was also centrist when I realize I have no idea how much social welfare they had. But when you had to have the government’s permission to change your job, that makes any pretense of welfare sort of moot. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/29 "2010-11-18T22:44:41Z")
I maintain that, even as a student of political science, no allegation I’ve ever heard is odder than those conservatives throw at NPR. Sure, it’s odd to call Obama a Marxist/Kenyan/Muslim whatever, but NPR=Nazism? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/30 "2010-11-18T22:55:36Z")
> [@villa](#): > > No they weren’t. People base this on the early economic program, which was never put into effect - never even tried in fact. The Nazis were a party that left capital to do its own thang, by and large. Yes. One of the reasons for the Rohm purge was that the SA expected the revolution to continue along the lines of the early platform. The big-capital funders of the Nazi Party’s electoral victories were scared shitless of that. Hitler, knowing which side buttered his bread, made a choice and the rest, of course, is history. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/31 "2010-11-18T23:13:30Z")
I listen to NPR all day, nearly everyday. The last year or more I find myself wondering when Fox bought NPR. IMHO, it seems that there are more conservatives spouting Teapublican babble, nearly unchallenged, on NPR than there ever were in the past. Also the call in shows like Diane Rehm and On Point take plenty of calls from conservative listeners. So NPR definitely has conservative listeners. Maybe thats what this is all about. Trying to woo conservative NPR listeners back to Fox and Rush. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/32 "2010-11-18T23:19:22Z")
Interestingly, the OP’s link has been updated to include the standard apology: > [@](#): > > UPDATE: On Thursday, Ailes apologized to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for describing NPR brass as “Nazis.” He wrote: “I was of course ad-libbing and should not have chosen that word but I was angry at the time because of NPR’s willingness to censor Juan Williams for not being liberal enough.” Abraham H. Foxman, ADL’s national director and a Holocaust survivor, responded: “I welcome Roger Ailes apology, which is as sincere as it is heartfelt. Nazi comparisons of this nature are clearly inappropriate and offensive. While I wish Roger had never invoked that terminology, I appreciate his efforts to immediately reach out and to retract his words before they did any further harm.” ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/33 "2010-11-18T23:26:32Z")
What strikes me about assertions such as this, many of the ones about Obama, and most of the other outrageous things that come out of Fox, the Tea Party and Palin, is that they are all examples of the Big Lie: [QUOTE=Wikipedia] The phrase was … used in a report prepared during the war by the United States Office of Strategic Services in describing Hitler’s psychological profile: His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it. [/QUOTE] What is so scary to me is that it seems to work, especially the last point - if you say it often enough and loud enough, it becomes accepted as (at least some version) of the truth. The media, ever quivering to trumpet the latest popular nonsense in a bid for audience, often repeat these lies as one legitimate side of a valid debate, and then it’s all over. Until the next Big Lie starts a new round. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/34 "2010-11-18T23:50:29Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Interestingly, the OP’s link has been updated to include the standard apology: Well, that’s fine for the Jews, when is he going to apologize to the Nazis? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/35 "2010-11-19T00:00:24Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > If I had the photoshop chops, I’d do up Big Bird as an SS. [Will Bert as a terrorist do](http://www.motifake.com/bert-and-osama-bert-osama-bin-laden-terrorist-middle-east-fu-demotivational-poster-75243.html)? > [@Frank](#): > > Yes. One of the reasons for the Rohm purge was that the SA expected the revolution to continue along the lines of the early platform. The big-capital funders of the Nazi Party’s electoral victories were scared shitless of that. > > Hitler, knowing which side buttered his bread, made a choice and the rest, of course, is history. Which, if it ever, Lord Forbid ya know, ever gets that far, is precisely what will happen to the Teabaggers. And they can kiss their guns goodbye too. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/36 "2010-11-19T00:08:32Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > [Will Bert as a terrorist do](http://www.motifake.com/bert-and-osama-bert-osama-bin-laden-terrorist-middle-east-fu-demotivational-poster-75243.html)? [This](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/ __cb20051003233524/uncyclopedia/images/8/8e/Bert-Hitler.gif&imgrefurl=http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:Bert-Hitler.gif&usg=__ sCU6H6jZcCL3I5cpOWy5izvWozU=&h=200&w=143&sz=20&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=m5_hvexsJ5uw1M:&tbnh=151&tbnw=108&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbert%2Bhitler%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D583%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=275&vpy=111&dur=317&hovh=155&hovw=111&tx=104&ty=84&ei=o7_lTPCyA9iPnAfhm83sDA&oei=o7_lTPCyA9iPnAfhm83sDA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0) is even more appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/37 "2010-11-19T00:10:19Z")
Never go full Godwin, man. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/38 "2010-11-19T00:26:32Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Just playing along with what Mr. Ailes must have meant as a joke, here, but which bits of NPR’s prgramming are ‘propaganda’, exactly? _Car Talk_? _This American Life_? _A Prairie Home Companion_? It’s that show where they boldly and stubbornly advance the most blatant of lies. Y’know… _Gall Things Considered_. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/39 "2010-11-19T01:11:53Z")
Quoting from **John Mace** ’s quote of FOX’s quote of the ADL director’s response to the apology: > [@](#): > > I welcome Roger Ailes apology, which is as sincere as it is heartfelt. I’m in a hotel room tonight. Will they charge me extra to clean up the sarcasm that’s all over the floor? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118/40 "2010-11-19T01:30:41Z")
I’ve just started reading [this book](http://www.amazon.com/Godwins-Rise-Fall-Noble-Dynasty/dp/0582784409/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1290130090&sr=8-2), which is causing me a certain amount of scatterbrained confusion every time I glance at this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-ailes-of-fox-news-goes-full-godwin-about-npr/561118.md?page=3)