I assume you mean mine- and you got the wrong end of the stick. Hitler didn’t underestimate America; he misjudged its President. He never planned to fight them, after all. Remember, the majority of Americans didn’t want to go to war, and only FDR’s influence made them.
Never Rule Out Stupidity - Bubbadog’s second rule of life
I could see such a statement as humourous if it was put in context with other statements that give one an idea as to it’s intent. But it’s not. Rather, it is decontextualized as much as it can be by the nature of it’s use of a signature. Without context, as a rule, I take things at face value.
Clearly, in addition to having neither intelligence nor a sense of humor, I also am lacking the omnicience you possess to know that Erasticity is NOT a European that looks down upon Americans. Actually, now that I think about it, I doubt if there are any Europeans that look down upon Americans. I apologize without reservation to the non-U.S. world at large, but most specifically to you, Gluteus, for posting a rant in a forum where it so clearly does not belong. But hey, I’m only American, what do I know?
I am not comparing anyone to Hitler. I am, however, bringing to light that categorical assumptions that an entire group of people are idiots is a fallacy. Had I been able to think of something by Ben Franklin or Mark Twain off the top of my head, I would have picked them. The first thing I could think of was the quote by Adolf and how it ultimately proved untrue. Given that I was initially irked by a German poster’s signature, the German connection gave it resonance.
I didn’t mention the brave Russian soldiers who stormed their way into Berlin, the hearty Londoners who courageously withstood night after night of bombings, the plucky French Resistance who fought the occupation from within, the distinction between war with a governmental body vs. war with the citizens of a nation or any of the other things that happened in the 30’s and 40’s because they were a digression of the point I was trying to make.
Only FDR’s influence? I think you’ll find it was Isoroku Yamamoto’s influence that woke the sleeping giant.
Hey You!, oh yeah…I remember now. The Japanese! The war in the Pacific! So jjimm wasn’t exactly correct when he said that we were sitting on our asses before we decided to come and save theirs. We had been fighting another, more dangerous war for our troops for a couple of years.
Erasticity’s sig is intended to be offensive, but when you consider how far removed it is from the eloquent original and how it has been done to death, you will see it for the flat and unimaginative tag that it is.
He is participating in an American-based, ignorance-fighting forum and that’s the best he can do?
And where is this generalization made? By whom?* I don’t think you understand Mencken’s bon mot, if you think it means “Americans are, as a class, mental defectives,” or is meant to make an unfavourable comparison between Americans and any other nationality.
It’s an observation about the relative safety of pandering to particular demographics, and it’s repeated so frequently because it’s true. Why do publishers print so many Jackie Collins knock-offs? Why is the Top 40 countdown consistently crap? Why do most movies insult their audience? How did The Littlest Groom make it to air? Why do people keep sending all that mind-numbingly stupid spam?
Because it’s financially much riskier to court the intelligent folks. There are so many more dim-witted folks, and it’s much easier to get them to cough up their cash. This is a universal. The “American public” part is incidental-- It just rolls off the tongue better than “the great masses of the plain people.”
Behold: American Idol was quickly followed up by Canadian Idol, and Australian Idol, and freakin’ Hibernian Idol. The maxim still holds. When people first make these observations, they tend to be thinking locally. You know P.T. Barnum was talking about his U.S. audiences, right? If you wanted to globalize his famous words, you’d have to say “There’s a sucker born every five-and-a-half seconds,” which just isn’t as euphonious, somehow.
People who use other currencies can be heard to say “the buck stops here,” too.
(Note: I don’t know Elasticity’s M.O., so apologies if you are making assumptions based on a history of digs against Americans.)
Nope. The British and French had been fighting the Japanese for several years before American troops showed up in that theater too- protecting Hong Kong, Indochina, Siam, Australia, and all that.
Here’s something that may cheer everybody up a little.
According to this post, Erasticity is American.
According to this post, their home state is Indiana.
So they appear to be an American who lives in Germany.
Behold: American Idol was preceded by the original, UK’s Pop Idol, so you guys don’t have to beat yourselves up over that. And AFAIK there hasn’t been a Hibernian Idol, unless it’s a US program (or you mean Eurostar, the search for a Eurovision Song Contest entrant).
Weirddave, I wasn’t insulted, just perplexed. The UK did try to mount land-based invasions of occupied Europe in both the 1st and 2nd World wars, but we were kinda underresourced/fucked 'em up.
Um, your welcome?
Seriously. Huh? You tell me the name of a band and I have to agree with whatever you say forever? Is that it?
I interrupt you programming for a pregnant pause . . . .
Speaking of thicker skins… oh never my, BG, you did recant your last pit thread somehwat.
“oh never mind”, even 
Timeline:
Sept. 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland.
Sept. 3, 1939: Britain, France declare war on Germany.
Nov. 4, 1939: U.S. passes Neutrality Act of 1939.
June 10, 1940: Italy enters war on Germany’s side, declares war on Britain, France.
June 22, 1940: France, Germany sign armistice.
Sept. 27, 1940: Germany, Italy, Japan sign Tripartite Pact.
June 22, 1941; Germany invades Soviet Union.
July 23, 1941: Vichy French government surrenders Indochinese colonies to Japan.
Dec. 7, 1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.
Dec. 8, 1941: Japan attacks Hong Kong, Malaya; U.S. declares war on Japan.
Dec. 11, 1941: Germany, Italy declare war on U.S.; U.S. declares war on Germany.
Sept. 8, 1943: Italy surrenders.
May 7, 1945: Germany surrenders.
Aug. 8, 1945: Soviet Union declares war on Japan.
Aug. 14, 1945: Truman says holtilities with Japan have ended.
It has been argued elsewhere that Hitler’s declaration of war on the U.S. was a major strategic error, as Americans viewed Japan as the main enemy after Pearl Harbor and there was by no means a consensus, at least at street level, that the fight against Germany should take priority.
Well, technically, this:
was compared to this:
…which means that a statement not by Hitler was compared to a statement made by Hitler…which could, I think, be considered as comparing Mencken (as was stated in the OP) to Hitler.
So yeah, jarbabyj was technically right, and you are, by extrapolation, the “fucking moron.”
I think you’re just trying (unsuccessfully in this case) to be pedantic, but I’ve been accused in the past of being “too nice.”
</hijack>
I though it was the Kaiser who said that back in the 10’s?
Burn the WITCHES!!!111
Well, let’s see. We have this from the OP:
So, he wasn’t comparing the target of his rant to Hitler (i.e. invoking Godwin) and, as he says, he wasn’t comparing Mencken to Hitler (which really wouldn’t have been Godwin anyway). He was just contrasting a couple of quotes.
Then you twist a bunch of shit together and say that “technically” jar was right. Then you say that I’m being pedantic. It is to laugh.
As for the “fucking moron” snipe. You may want to read for comprehension and see that I didn’t resort to name calling. Winston called jar a moron and when chucked her roll eyes at me instead of him I made a joke about that.
You need a clue.
Haj
It’s almost like I need a sig about the underestimating the intelligence of people. THE ROLLEYES WAS FOR WINSTON,CHARLIE. That’s why I put it at the end, after a comment about Winston.
And as for Godwin, I’ll admit I don’t have the 500 page rule book about internet discourse, but when someone juxtaposes a SIG LINE with a QUOTE FROM HITLER, it seems a bit of a stretch.