Nazis Everywhere

I wouldn't quite say I'm boycotting the CNN brand, since I did watch the CNN/YouTube debate. However, I generally speaking prefer to get my rightwing propaganda from Rupert Murdoch, who's a bona fide professional and has been doing that sort of thing for years. The CNN-based alternative is amateurish and absurd. For example, Rick Perlstein describes a recent broadcast from Glenn Beck of CNN's Headline News franchise:

Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however. The goal is different. The goal is globalization. The goal is global carbon tax. The goal is the United Nations running the world. That is the goal. Back in the 1930s, the goal was get rid of all of the Jews and have one global government." He continued: "You got to have an enemy to fight. And when you have an enemy to fight, then you can unite the entire world behind you, and you seize power. That was Hitler's plan. His enemy: the Jew. Al Gore's enemy, the U.N.'s enemy: global warming." Beck added: "Then you get the scientists -- eugenics. You get the scientists -- global warming. Then you have to discredit the scientists who say, 'That's not right.' And you must silence all dissenting voices. That's what Hitler did.

See, it's exactly the same.

Comments

Is that the Onion?

Posted by Reality Man | July 29, 2007 2:35 AM

Who knew the polio vaccine was a fascist plot? Science Nazis vil rule da wurld!

Posted by joejoejoe | July 29, 2007 2:50 AM

Governments, the UN, NGOs, and especially those dreaded scientists have already begun their quest for global domination, as we can see from their successful plot to eradicate smallpox.

First they came for the smallpox, and I did not speak out, because I was not a smallpox ...

Posted by Warren Terra | July 29, 2007 2:58 AM

Just admit it Matt.

You cannot argue with a Hitler Comparison. Its like the machine gun in Rock Paper Scissors Machine Gun.

Anyways, all of this is moving closer to proving my own theory: That eventually, over time, analogy Hitler will have rendered more damage to the world (by way of creating stupidity) than real Hitler.

Posted by Neal Murray | July 29, 2007 3:04 AM

Globalism, and anti-globalism, are the red pill that will shatter the left-right paradigm asunder.

It's unfortunate that a few (very few, witness Beck) elements of the political Right have seized this thread for use in popular media, but we have to face up to it. Given an honest choice, free from propaganda, no one would sincerely accept rule by a global elite over national sovereignty, no matter the peril posed by their own.

Look at it this way: at least the Nazis were nationalists.

Posted by Scott | July 29, 2007 3:07 AM

Mr. Beck, meet Mr. Godwin. Mr. Godwin, Mr. Beck.

Posted by sangfroid826 | July 29, 2007 5:26 AM

Where is all this eugenics talk suddenly sprouting from?

Posted by Dave L | July 29, 2007 7:52 AM

Jesus, that's insane. The identical argument could be made about Bush wanting to unite the world; his enemy: the terrorist. "But," Glenn Beck objects, "terrorism is evil!" And global warming is good, I suppose?

Posted by RSA | July 29, 2007 8:35 AM

CNN International is actually quite good. They started out a report last week on the Turkish election that lasted nearly 8 minutes and was fairly comprehensive.

Posted by Randy Paul | July 29, 2007 9:15 AM

You can be born a Jew. Can you be born a global warmer? You can't! Thus Al Gore's campaign is even more insidious, due to the unreliable indicators for proper scapegoats.

Posted by Bill | July 29, 2007 9:29 AM

At my church we worship the God of Carbon and Dumping by spraying aerosol cans up in the air all day on Sunday. Al Gore makes us quiver in our boots.

It's amazing how when people write stuff like this, they don't seem to realize how they ultimately de-humanize Jewish people or they just don't care. Here, the agency of Jewish people have been downgraded to that of a non-living, destructive force. If you think about it, Beck's argument only has some clear line of causality if Beck actually believes that there is an international Jewish conspiracy running the world. Otherwise, A leading to B just doesn't have any explicit connection in his argument.

Posted by Reality Man | July 29, 2007 10:06 AM

Seriously, where the fuck is the ADL in this? Where are the picket signs and

Where is all this eugenics talk suddenly sprouting from?

Well, if you were to go through William Saletan's Human Nature archives at Slate for the past calendar year. I for one am someone who honestly thinks that there will be a massive problem with eugenics for humanity in the next century or two. I don't think that belief in genetic predispositions has to lead invariably to eugenics, but I do think that there are more and more people who believe in genetic determinism. And the consequences of that kind of thinking tend to lead in one awful direction.

Posted by Freddie | July 29, 2007 11:06 AM

The better point to make is this: If Gore actually believed that we had a crisis on our hands, he wouldn't be living his lifestyle. The fact that he is demonstrates that for him, at least , this is more about centralizing power than it is about the environment.

Which says nothing about the global warming debate itself - but it does say a lot about one of the major proponents in that debate.

Posted by James Robertson | July 29, 2007 11:25 AM

Now Matt, you are obviously thinking that somebody actually listens to what this guy says, other than Perlstein.... You are very wrong!!! CNN uses this guy only to help them into obliviousness!

Posted by casin | July 29, 2007 11:31 AM

1) I came across a Glenn Beck session on CNN while channel surfing the other day that cracked me up!

Glenn , while interviewing Ward Churchill's lawyer , was passionately trying to make the case for scholarly integrity:

"BECK: So that`s one thing, but that`s not what he cited in his paper, so he misquoted, miss-cited and misrepresented the facts. That is not freedom of speech, sir. "

2) Beck had better hope that's "freedom of speech" Because if the standard he is applying to Ward Churchill was applied to Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh or --yes, to Glenn Beck himself -- then they would be, in my opinion, toast.

Transcript at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0707/25/gb.01.html --scan down for "Ward Churchill"

Posted by Don Williams | July 29, 2007 1:11 PM

The fact that he is demonstrates that for him, at least , this is more about centralizing power than it is about the environment.

I suppose it might be a better point but it's still pretty damn awful.

Posted by DJ | July 29, 2007 3:41 PM

Beck added: "Then you get the scientists -- eugenics. You get the scientists -- global warming. Then you have to discredit the scientists who say, 'That's not right.'"

...and then you get the women?

Posted by imag | July 29, 2007 6:13 PM

Where is all this eugenics talk suddenly sprouting from?

http://www.michaelcrichton.net/essay-stateoffear-whypoliticizedscienceisdangerous.html

Posted by Fred Jones | July 29, 2007 7:56 PM

Beck: let them eat Mexicans.

Gore: let them eat cake (as long as it is made from locally grown and milled wheat flour, locally produced free range eggs, fair trade sugar and cocoa brought to American waters on hybrid tankers and peddle boated to the shore by MBAs [who should have higher aspirations like becoming bureaucrats, middle school principals or other public employees {yeah yeah I know prison guards but what can you do about crime when the Rethugs won't raise middle class taxes rates to 90% and give every poor child a decent standard of living + there are really important things to worry about like Plame, getting back to the REAL war on terror, and Plame}]).

Posted by Linus | July 29, 2007 10:18 PM

"You know, the Nazis had pieces of flair they made the Jews wear."

Posted by Reality Man | July 30, 2007 1:14 AM

Seems like we had global programs to eradicate small pox, polio, etc. Last I checked we still are not under a single government. Even the closely aligned nations of Western Europe have trouble uniting under a limited-power EU. This guy has been into the medical marijuana, though given that level of paranoia, maybe he's been filling prescriptions for barbituates.

Posted by What would Zeus do? | July 30, 2007 3:33 PM

Oh my God! This is terrible! Al Gore is trying to commit genocide on global warming! OK, we all need to band together to save global warming. Maybe we can give global warming jobs in our factories, or hide global warming in our attics, or get global warming some letters of transit so it can fly from Casablanca to safety!

Posted by David Conrad | July 30, 2007 3:39 PM

??
Doesn't this argument only sort of work if about 99% of the scientists in the world in the 1930's came to independent conclusions based on research in their own fields that we should murder all Jews for the good of the human race? What percent of all the scientists in the 1930's WERE Jewish?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famous_refugees#Science

Posted by cowalker | July 30, 2007 4:00 PM

James Robertson: The better point to make is this: If Gore actually believed that we had a crisis on our hands, he wouldn't be living his lifestyle. The fact that he is demonstrates that for him, at least , this is more about centralizing power than it is about the environment.

Which says nothing about the global warming debate itself - but it does say a lot about one of the major proponents in that debate.

Hmm. I thought supporters of the global war on terror weren't actually obliged to do things like join the army, or accept a tax increase that would pay for the war or accept higher fuel standards for their vehicles or institute gas rationing to give us more leverage in dealing with oil-rich states that support terrorism. I thought they didn't have to do anything except vote for the guy who likes war now, but when he was eligible for the draft, not so much. And the guy who advocated war, I thought all he had to do was make speeches, tell people to go shopping and make sure his lies about war were covered up.

Is there a different standard for people who are trying to get policy changes that will alleviate global warming? It's not sufficient that they voluntarily buy carbon offsets, which at least contributes something to the effort? They have to compromise their ability to travel and promote their message, or else they don't take it seriously?

Is it just me, or do we have to conclude by Robertson's reasoning that Bush doesn't really believe that the global war on terror is a crisis?

Posted by cowalker | July 30, 2007 4:14 PM

The better point to make is this: If Gore actually believed that we had a crisis on our hands, he wouldn't be living his lifestyle. The fact that he is demonstrates that for him, at least , this is more about centralizing power than it is about the environment.

Which says nothing about the global warming debate itself - but it does say a lot about one of the major proponents in that debate.

----

Where is all this "Gore's lifestyle" garbage coming from? It's amazing how rumors and sloppy reporting can take on a life of their own. He drives hybrids. He has solar panels on his house and buys premium-rate "green" energy from the power company to pull less from the polluting standard grid. He donates to building non-polluting power plants (solar/wind/etc) to offset any additional carbon release (aka paying for "carbon credits"). Where do these false accusations of extravagance come from? He's rich. He has a large house. He has a large family. He runs a business from home (and I assume employees work from there too). His power bill is going to be large. I never remember him saying we had to live in small shacks where air conditioning is opening the window. No. He just said to reduce unneeded usage, which he is leading by example. If everybody took just a couple little steps, the reduction would be significant.

Posted by Timothy | July 30, 2007 4:16 PM

Al Gore has dedicated most of his remaining political capital and influence to educating the public on the dangers of global warming and to encouraging political progress on the issue.

But yeah, he lives in a big house so he obviously doesn't take it seriously.

Posted by mpowell | July 30, 2007 5:29 PM

Try the new G. Beck math ... 1+1=3

The new G. Beck recipe ... salt+sugar=malted milk

The new G. Beck exercise program ... run+bike=swim

The new .... well, you get the picture.

Posted by hegemony57 | July 30, 2007 6:10 PM

Remember how the media ran with the whole Gore invented the internet and his "weirdness" in 2000 on right wing BS?His Carbon pumping lifestyle is the same. In the 60s they assassinated progressives...now they just assassinate their character.(Swift Boating anyone?)

Posted by drsteve | July 30, 2007 10:36 PM

"I invented the Internet", "weirdness" and "Al Gore lives in a big house therefore he is a hypocrite and should be ignored" are all irrelevant to any serious discussion of the merits of Al Gore's opinions or writings. The "I invented the Internet" meme is a fabrication, "weirdness" and "he's a hypocrite" are pure ad hominem fallacies.
The overall objective is the same: to prevent any serious discussion of Al Gore's ideas by engaging in distraction and irrelevant asides.
Another way of thinking about this: if you find yourself listening to a salesman whose sales pitch consists of telling you how awful his rival product vendors are, what does that tell you about his corporation's products?

Posted by Graham Shevlin | July 31, 2007 1:34 AM