A while back I reported this thread which likened a performance at a Trump rally to the Hitler Youth. I am very disappointed to see that nothing has been done. Some of us have relatives who were alive at the time and remembered and related the real thing and a couple of performing children are nothing like the parades of the racist gay-bashers of the 30s and 40s.
Whatever one thinks of Trump or the performance, this is many steps too far.
You want the mods to regulate over-the-top analogies? Why, that would be like forcing robots to steal childhood pets!
That’s a good thread. I think I wooshed some people in it. (Or my observant joke sucked.) What kind of moderation do you recommend for it?
You buy the next round.
But that’s it! No more after that. Moderation in all things.
You realize that thread is in the BBQ Pit, right?
The moderation of a comment like that would be significantly different in other forums.
It’s really, really not many steps too far. It’s the Pit, and while I think it’s a bad analogy and the sort of nonsense that cheapens politics, it’s the goddamned Pit, where shitty arguments go after they die.
Do you know who else wanted to censor over-the-top analogies?
Trump?
I never thought of Hitler Youth rallies back in the day for spending time on the threat of homosexuals.
I suppose a discussion of The Producers in Cafe Society would be right out too.
I agree with the o.p. that the comparison to the Hitler Youth was inappropriate. The Hitler Jugand had a better sense of style and could hold pitch flawlessly if somewhat mechanically, and a Nazi era Duetschland audience would have demonstrated (or at least convincingly faked) enthusiasm for the rally. The garishly attired, discordantly pitched dancing girls overseen by an audience which appears to be controlled remotely by timed electrical shocks in their chair arms is far more reminiscent of Soviet Young Pioneers. And after all, Josef Stalin is a better example for Trump to emulate; Hitler had to rely largely on personal magnetism and support by his close circle of advisors to ascend and gain power, which are not qualities that Trump has a surfeit of. On the other hand, Stalin was a blunt, often crude man but he was very skillful at manipulating people for his own gain and judging when to change alliances and shift blame to former compatriots, which are qualities that Trump has in spades.
Stranger
<golf clap>
I have to disagree. First off, I don’t think Trump is really comparable to Hitler or Stalin.
But I think Trump’s campaigning style is closer to Hitler’s than Stalin’s. Hitler rose to power by seeking public support - he made speeches and got the crowd fired up. He stayed outside of the government right up to the moment where he took the government over.
Stalin was not a populist. He worked his way up through the ranks of government bureaucracy and took over the political system from within.
Patience. President Trump will address your concerns.
I wouldn’t say so… it’s hyperbole meant to make a point, and that point is that the rather cringe-worthy performance by the little girls had a really eerie fascist/totalitarian vibe to it.
Just because something was horrible doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t be used in a hyperbolic way. Maybe it’s not in the best taste, but since when has that warranted censure or editing?
At risk of riling up the offenderati around here, this kind of thinking is the worst consequence of political correctness gone awry. The notion that something can’t be discussed, made fun of, or referred to in bad taste because it was bad, or offensive or whatever is repugnant, and runs counter to free speech.
Someone is complaining about a pit thread and demanding Moderation?
It is to laugh.
I’ve placed an order for a thousand cadmium rods. The OP can stick them where he sees fit.
Party bureaucracy, I think you mean. I don’t know that Stalin actually held any government position until the 1940s, long after he had consolidated power. (Of course, in a single-party state, the distinction between the ruling party and the government positions its members occupy isn’t always evident.)
That was the Brownshirts.