Video of the day -- "Don't Be a Sucker!"
An excerpt from a 1947 US War Department film. Just two years after the defeat of Nazi Germany, some Americans recognized the danger of the same kind of sickness taking root here, especially with our country's history of racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia. This warning is especially relevant today with the rise of a true Nazi mass movement in the US and Europe following October 7, which is increasingly open about its true nature. Nothing in our time is more important than completely defeating and crushing this movement.
(Some may be surprised that anti-Catholicism features prominently in the video. But many hard-core fundamentalists have long looked upon Catholicism as an evil or even Satanic perversion of Christianity. If they ever achieve their "Christian nationalist" vision for this country, Catholics might soon have almost as much to fear as I would.)
posted by Infidel753 at 5:41 PM
5 Comments:
I suspect the Catholics would be far worse off than you. You're a nobody faith-wise. Catholics are actively evil!
This of course is the glaring internal problem with Christian Nationalism. Which Christianity? I don't see them agreeing that one. For sure the different fundamentalist and evangelical sects can (to an extent) agree on what they hate but can they agree on what they like? I doubt it. This is the reason in the first place for such schisms and breakaways to have happened.
This is potentially both good and bad. Bad because if a Christian Nationalist coalition took over it would be chaotic. Good because that chaos is already there and I don't think they'll ever get together in a coherent enough way to get anywhere.
All excellent points. We haven't quite reached the boldness of the 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden - yet.
NickM: Oh, I'm sure they'd consider me actively evil as well. Just look at this blog.
I've regularly tried to make that point. Christianity has a long history of sectarian warfare and persecution or even extermination of dissident forms of the same religion, throughout the period when it held power. There's no reason to think a Christian government in the US would be any different. That's a big part of why the Founders were determined to keep religion out of government.
Ricko: Maybe not, but there have been swastikas displayed at some of these "pro-Palestinian" rallies, vandalism against Jewish-owned businesses à la Kristallnacht, at least one Jewish person beaten to death, and so on. I never thought I would see an organized movement doing this kind of thing in the US.
I share your concern, Infidel, and my worries extend beyond the pro-Palestinian antisemites. The elected officials who are pushing a pro-Putin agenda—some of whom also wrap themselves in their support for Israel—are routinely found to hobnob with antisemites, even neo-Nazis. We can ridicule Marge Greene and her Jewish space lasers, but she is now a force to contend with. Every time Trumpians talk of George Soros’ purported role in shaping events, they are pushing the International Jewish Conspiracy conspiracy. When Trump says Jews who don’t vote for him are betraying their religion because he supported Israel, he is delivering a dangerous message.
We must hope for a resounding election result that upholds democracy and demonstrates that Americans will not allow this hatred to spread farther—and we must do a better job with public education and community relations.
Annie: It's true that there are other groups that pose a somewhat comparable threat -- I mentioned the danger of a Christian nationalist theocracy -- and the far right who try to backstab Ukraine are certainly a close parallel to the far-left who try to backstab Israel. But the specifically anti-Jewish mass movement that erupted after October 7 is the clearest, closest, and most dangerous parallel to the original German Nazi movement that this country has ever produced. And it's present in Europe as well, making it even more dangerous.
We certainly need "a resounding election result that upholds democracy and demonstrates that Americans will not allow this hatred to spread farther". However, this particular problem can't be solved by a "vote blue no matter who" approach. We need to get the Nazi collaborators out of Congress. If I lived in one of their districts, I would vote against Tlaib or Omar even if it meant voting for a Republican, because that prioritizes removing the greater evil. Fortunately they are, I think, facing primary challenges, which offer hope of removing them while keeping those seats Democratic -- but one way or another they need to be voted out.
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