Sign seen at the fake grass roots anti-health care protest in Washington DC.
[I had intended to insert a photo here of the sign carried by the phoney protesters in DC, but I will not further stain the memory of the human beings depicted in it by placing it here on my blog. If you don't know what I refer to, go to the Huffington Post where it is documented.]
They've gone too far.
When will decent people rise up and tell these brainless mobs that comparing health care reform and President Obama to the slaughter of millions of Jews is indecent, inhumane, and unacceptable?
More important, Congressional Republicans took part in the protest and not one had the moral courage to condemn the slur committed on the memory of the Holocaust.
I don't watch FOX, listen to Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, or Malkin, so I don't know if any of those self-absorbed rabble rousers denounced the sign. But I'm guessing none of them did, because feeding into the murderous rage of phoney grass roots imbeciles attracts more imbeciles to their audiences, and that means more dollars in the bank for them.
Cynical heartless bastards. All of them.
Eight years ago, during a trip to Germany, I visited Dachau. The stark horror of what that place represents has stayed with me since then. If I remember correctly, after the war, the people of Dachau were given the chance to rename their city, for obvious reasons, but instead chose to keep it. And they were correct to do so. We cannot remove the monstrous history of that place and all the other camps where men, women, and children suffered and died just by changing a word. Nor should we ever allow the memory of the horrors committed there to be appropriated by mindless fools who have no sense of decency or human empathy for what the signs they carried represent.
We as a nation have reached yet another new low in our political discourse.
Today I am ashamed to be an American.
UPDATE:
“ A CHEAP AND DISGUSTING ABUSE OF HISTORY”The Simon Wiesenthal Center is calling on the organizers of today’s grassroots rally in Washington D.C. to publicly repudiate the use of Nazi and Holocaust imagery, sometimes gruesome, in the protest against government ... [Simon Wiesenthal Center - 11/06/2009]
One of the most disturbing images from yesterday’s Tea Party rally against health care reform on Capitol Hill was a protester’s gruesome sign showing a pile of dead Holocaust victims. The banner — captured by ThinkProgress here — read: “National Socialist ... [Think Progress - 19 hours ago]
Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) has a message for Rep. Michele Bachmann:
26 comments:
Beth,
The disgusting sign has been documented and David A. Harris, President of the National Jewish Democratic Council, has condemned the fake protesters' use of it.
As usual, you don't know what you're talking about. All you and your friends do is drive-by commenting, adding nothing to the discussion but adolescent charges.
Please go away.
Oh, and Beth, you are some kind of hypocrite to come here and post your nonsense when you don't allow anyone except your think-alike drones to comment at your blog:
From Beth's link:
This blog is open to invited readers only
http://beth113113113.blogspot.com/
It doesn't look like you have been invited to read this blog. If you think this is a mistake, you might want to contact the blog author and request an invitation.
Beth,
I noticed you accidentally removed your post. Here it is so that my answer to you makes sense:
To: shawkenawe@yahoo.comBeth has left a new comment on your post "DISGUST":
Me thinks you're cherry picking your information.
But lets face it, nobody ever said that the Democrats are smart!
Posted by Beth to Progressive Eruptions at November 7, 2009 9:04 AM
This crowd are dinosaurs and they know it. Malkin. Beck. Limbaugh. O'Reilly. Horowitz. Breitbart. Drudge. Tea-baggers. Minutemen. et. al.
All floundering in the tar pit and getting increasingly more desperate.
Their time is coming to an end and it won't be too soon. The world and America's place in it are changing rapidly and this crowd will be preserved specimens in the not too distant future video and audio to remind us of their particular brand of hate mongering.
Shaw: Unfortunately, I saw the photo. I actually got sick to my stomach.
We have the right to oppose the Health Care bill, as I have done on my own blog.
But, I have NEVER used the disgusting, vile analogies of Obama=Hitler, Bush=Hitler, Health Care Bill=Nazism. Those horrible, depraved analogies don’t belong in political discourse.
I don’t understand how people can be so callous, so wrought with selfishness that they have no regard for anyone but themselves. Human decency has evaporated and has been replaced with something so repulsive it doesn’t even have a name. I don’t recognize humans anymore.
And look, in the 2 days time, we had 2 shooting sprees. What is going on? People have no regard for their own lives and even less for others.
It's apparent that certain segments of the rightwing are uneducated fools and have no clue on how to debate ideas.
They've learned this scummy behavior from the worst of the windbags, Limbaugh. Listening to his rancid talk day after day has desensitized them to this sort of idiotic comparison.
Limbaugh's been comparing Obama to Hitler since last winter. Why are we surprised at his followers' stupidity about and insensitivity to mankind's brutality?
Limbaugh is toxic to this country and we're seeing the results of unthinking people acting out his maniacal wet dream.
The image (depicting a pile of dead bodies from the Dachau concentration camp) is HERE. A protester carried this placard within a few hundred feet of the Capital steps.
Why people such as Beth would go into denial mode is perhaps best explained by this recent study: There Must Be a Reason: Osama, Saddam, and Inferred Justification.
It seems there are certain people who actually deflect information because they are ideologically motivated to do so. Even when information comes from a reliable source that they favor, they will ignore or refuse to engage with any information that challenges their political preferences.
Implications: One can never change their minds no matter how solid is your evidence. Such an impasse usually triggers an exchange of back-and-forth name-calling.
To avoid conflict, my suggestion is to immediately present your evidence for the benefit of other readers (those more inclined to be open-minded), and immediately disengage from the one who is ideologically rigid.
Octo: As the saying goes: The truth hurts. It's not easy to admit when one is wrong. But I've always believed that "the truth will set you free". It's much easier to be honest and truthful than to hide behind a mountain of lies.
Nothing surprises me about what images or lengths Rush and his minions will go to if they think it helps their ratings or advances their hate based agenda.
I'm always proud to be an American. I'm not always proud of some of things other Americans say or do.
A couple of months ago I did a post about how recent studies have shown that in regards to political beliefs the less secure one is of their beliefs the more belligerent one will be in defending their position and the less likely one will be to accept facts that are detrimental to ones beliefs.
The reactionary right lives life as a self fulfilling prophecy.
I just had two comments deleted at a site because I informed the blog owner that her analogy was totally inaccurate and gave her the correct facts.
She believes that Hitler and Obama are the same and thus all the facts in the world will never alter that mind set.
Then you have all the reactionary right blogs with their flags, support of the troops, and quotes from the Founding Fathers: All which signify, in their minds, that their position represents the highest ideals of this nation but they do not exhibit those ideals.
Then you have this banner; which I posted on my blog and called out a few bloggers, by name, to refute this banner. These were intelligent bloggers and not your typical reactionary right robotrolls and not one word is mentioned.
Why? Because "...its politics and you win some and you lose some..."
Values, morals, and principles are just stump speeches and soundbites...politics is not about anything other than winning or losing.
You gotta do what you gotta do...
Lets pray that this bunch never makes it back into elected office.
First of all, I'm going to say the poster does cross the line. It's idiots like the ones that raise these images that make it hard to defeat sick-assed mistakes such as the current "reform" bill.
When will decent people rise up and tell these brainless mobs that comparing health care reform and President Obama to the slaughter of millions of Jews is indecent, inhumane, and unacceptable?
Strangely, this sick incident reminds me of anther sick incident where an idiot stood on the floor of the House and accused the GOP of killing people. With words, he painted the same kind of sick picture. Of course, he's trying to pass the POS bill, so he can't be the sick bastard, can he?
As for that "Beth," it's some idiot hit and run bitch that did that to me too. Some idiot from around NYC I believe.
Patrick,
Tens of thousands of Americans die every year due to a lack of health insurance.
If healthcare reform covers everyone then people will still continue to die but not due to a lack of healthcare.
As the status quo stands today, and the Republicans are all for the status quo, then in effect their policies do lead to people dying.
Thus the claim of Rep. Grayson was not incorrect.
But the passing of healthcare reform has absolutely nothing at all to do with concentration camps and or the deaths incurred in those camps.
What it does is creates an image that ties Obama to Nazi death camps and then to Hitler.
BIG DIFFERENCE...
Tao: Bullshit on the Grayson blather.
His statement and intent is that the GOP seeks for people to die. And then he reads a list of those who "died because they didn't have insurance." And I quote that phrase because 1. not having insurance doesn't kill people (as in something else does it and the people let that thing do so because they don't find a way) and 2. because you know and I know that Grayson is using bullshit numbers he found from some site that came up with them for said propaganda purposes.
The point is that both sides have pieces of crap that can't argue intellectually so they try to cast the other side as sick bastards that will kill people.
I expect that every decent person should disapprove of the sign. But those on the right should NOT apologize for it until the Grayson brigade does so as well.
You've gone over the edge here Patrick. The republicans don't want a national health insurance program. Many people that have no insurance wait to see a doctor till it's too late, or the treatment is far more expensive. So yes Patrick. It is the people that have personal responsibility by not wanting to burden the system who are victims. The same type of people I thought the republicans were all about.
And you want Grayson to apologise to republicans for this?
This is so far from rational thinking on your part I can't even make a joke out of it Patrick.
Again I say thanks to Shaw for exposing these haters for what they are.
It's up to people to counter this kind of hate and make these haters the object of ridicule and public rejection.
If you don't like Obama, fine. If you post that "Obama Eats Babies" then you should be rejected for the fool and hater that you are.
Why aid these idiots by putting them on your link lists? If we truly want to calm down the rhetoric we have to stop listening to them. We have to stop giving them the space to spew their garbage.
Who's fault is it that these kooks are getting any air time, or consideration at all?
My comments were recently deleted from a right wing blog and I was told to "Fuck Off" simply because I disagreed with the views expressed, that President Obama was at fault for the Ft. Hood killings.
Then this same blogger comes to my non-political blog posing as an anonymous and tells me "fuck off and get back on the pig I rode in on." Then another right winger comments that my Autumn photos were nice, to bad I ruined them by having Obama's photo on my blog.
Obama's photo is on my blog because he is the President of the United States, not because he is a Democrat. If Bush were still President, his picture would be there instead. There is respect that goes with the office, even if I disagree with his policies. I guess that makes me an Old Style American patriot, to be hated by the New Style American patriot. BS.
Call these haters out. Expose them for the simple idiots they are.
And when you get tired of them, visit my non-political blog. Today's post is about Norman Rockwell.
Tom: I haven't quite gone over the edge on this yet. I just don't believe that taking what does work in health care and killing it in order to "fix" what doesn't work by turning it over to a government that, under control of either party, can't actually solve this (or most every other) problem is the way to go.
The problem is that both sides of this debate, in fighting for their ideological bullshit, has set off to demagogue the other side. The only difference in this specific instance (the banner) is the offensive and inaccurate graphic imagery. Otherwise, the idiots highlighted are accusing the other side of wanting piles of bodies.
BTW, you can come to my blog and i won't tell you to fuck off (unless necessary), and even then, I'll be nice about it. :)
Patrick,
Ever here about something called PRIDE?
That stupid thing keeps lots of people from begging and going without...
Like without healthcare...
Try visiting a healthcare professional and telling them you are paying cash...
Its an alien concept.
Also, what passed today is health insurance reform...not healthcare.
It was just a package of incentives and penalties for everyone to get health insurance and not be denied.
It doesn't do a thing to healthcare its self.
Lack of insurance does kill people....
Tao: Ever here about something called PRIDE?
So you're saying it's pride that kills them and not lack of insurance?
It's an excuse either way.
Try visiting a healthcare professional and telling them you are paying cash...
Its an alien concept.
THAT'S why the whole health care/health insurance problem is a problem in the first place. Today's mistake is simply a step to consolidating all the bad ways we take care of medical expenses and giving it to the least efficient bunch possible.
It [the bill that passed today] doesn't do a thing to healthcare its self.
The person who pays for the health care has as much control (sometimes more) than the actual patient. And the government is notorious for exercising more and more control over anything it can, with terrible results.
Look at their fight against H1N1 (which is an appropriate role for government). Not enough vaccine supply, issues within the delivery pipeline, and excessive politicization, which is the standard.
I am one of the majority of Americans that feel something has to be done about the health care problem.
I'm not smart enough to have the answers. I doubt there are any absolute answers.
There are ideas, options, choices, and hot air.
I can't support what has become the health care bill. It's a mess, and not a good choice for those looking for choices. Not because it has a public option, but because it is bad law.
Patrick,
What we have now might be better than this bill, but to say it works understates the real problems that are hurting people, millions of people. We can do better. We can do better than this bill.
Tom: Our current system works much more than it doesn't. It's not an all or nothing thing. To really solve the problems, we need to address where it doesn't, not screw the people for whom it works to theoretically help those that it doesn't. The GOP doesn't go far enough until the Dems go way too far. Their problem is that they end up coming up with decent solutions only when they don't have the power to do so.
Pamela (above @ November 7, 2009 6:14 PM), I am still struggling with this issue. The research study caught my attention because it explains an aspect of why some closely held opinions are so intractable, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
But I sometimes wonder if these online arguments are actually about politics. Maybe they are more like Monday Night Wrestling. What I notice: Partisans don't trade facts, articles, citations or references to support their respective positions. All they trade are insults. It is about the adrenaline high, not the issue.
Inasmuch as this cephalopod is an academic and intellectual creature, Internet combat doesn't interest me (which is why I have decided to stay away from conversations that degenerate into hissy fits).
Besides, the time I spend arguing detracts from the time I could spend on writing posts, the ones I would prefer to write: Well-documented and well-researched.
Tom said: "Obama's photo is on my blog because he is the President of the United States, not because he is a Democrat..... There is respect that goes with the office, even if I disagree with his policies. I guess that makes me an Old Style American patriot, to be hated by the New Style American patriot. BS."
That's a good attitude that too few have. Quite commendable.
---------
Patrick: I agree that Rep. Grayson's complete dishonesty and "bomb-throwing" are pretty bad. But not nearly as bad as the cheap use of Holocaust imagery for attempted political gain.
dmarks,
You have actually heard of Joseph Cao before...
He was the Republican who was elected to replace one William Jefferson (remember? Bribes and money in his freezer?)
A republican in a safe democratic district.
Go to his website and read his biography...
Refugee from Vietnam, worked hard went to college made something of himself, lost home and business to Katrina and still believes in America...
Personally, I don't care what party this guy belongs to or what his position is on issues...
He understands what America is all about and he believes in the American Dream...
We tend to forget that what made our founding fathers so extraordinary is the fact that they were decent people doing the right thing...
Tao now on Cao!
"He was the Republican who was elected to replace one William Jefferson (remember? Bribes and money in his freezer?)"
Nah. Don't remember him. I barely remember that Representative Icebox had left Congress.
But now I will remember him.
I think I'll go to that website....
DMarks, when Cao was elected in a special election, the GOP crowed that this showed that Obama was already on the downhill slide and that people were no longer supporting him.
Cao, when he won, was a GOP golden boy. No longer though.
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