Posted on 02/23/2016 1:42:28 PM PST by Citizen Zed
To understand the rise of Hitler and the spread of Nazism, I have generally relied on the German-Jewish emigre philosopher Hannah Arendt and her arguments about the banality of evil. Somehow people can understand themselves as "just doing their job," yet act as cogs in the wheel of a murderous machine. Arendt also offered a second answer in a small but powerful book called "Men in Dark Times." In this book, she described all those who thought that Hitler's rise was a terrible thing but chose "internal exile," or staying invisible and out of the way as their strategy for coping with the situation. They knew evil was evil, but they too facilitated it, by departing from the battlefield out of a sense of hopelessness.
One can see both of these phenomena unfolding now. The first shows itself, for instance, when journalists cover every crude and cruel thing that comes out of Trump's mouth and thereby help acculturate all of us to what we are hearing. Are they not just doing their jobs, they will ask, in covering the Republican front-runner? Have we not already been acculturated by 30 years of popular culture to offensive and inciting comments? Yes, both of these things are true. But that doesn't mean journalists ought to be Trump's megaphone. Perhaps we should just shut the lights out on offensiveness; turn off the mic when someone tries to shout down others; reestablish standards for what counts as a worthwhile contribution to the public debate. That will seem counter to journalistic norms, yes, but why not let Trump pay for his own ads when he wants to broadcast foul and incendiary ideas? He'll still have plenty of access to freedom of expression. It is time to draw a bright line.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Fixed it.
>>To understand the rise of Hitler and the spread of Nazism<<
Godwin’s Law out of the gate?
Wow, why read on?
It is KILLING the MSM and beard-scratchers that the American Public is kicking them to the curb.
Drink!
Who’s “we?”
Godwin’s Law in the first sentence
Trump could not exist except that Republican Leadership failed its constituents by doing 100% of what Leftists (0bama) wanted.
Trump is Boner and McTurtles’ fault.
When these Wile E. Coyotes play the Hitler card they are telling us they’re all out of arguments.
Lost the argument in her opening line.
This guy’s premise starts out by invoking Godwin’s Law.
Funny...this could have been written 8 years ago and would be believable in hindsight
Danielle Allen is like a Goebbels underling
Mein Fuhrer. I Can Walk!!
Gehen Sie Herr Trump!
The 5th column out themselves by blatantly crossing the Godwin line. They reek of desperation. Even my ‘D’ voting relatives are starting to catch on.
Oh yeah, that will be the death of the Trump campaign right there. I’m sure of it.
Hitler WAS NOT a capitalist.
Hitler, like Obama, was a socialist.
This ‘author’ is an imbecile.
It ain’t “Godwin’s Law” this Leftist *itch is guilty of. No, she’s advocating that her miserable “profession” shut-down and/or censor Trump’s Media access. In other words, she’s behaving like a, umm, er, NAZI.
I have to give unconditional praise and thanks to this author. In these clickbaity times where sites take metrics on everything, including how long you stay on their page and how far down you scroll, it’s common practice to save the big reveal that you’re comparing Trump to Hitler until somewhere around the end of the screed.
This guy? The sixth word.
Thank you good author, for saving me the time. Kudos!
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