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Well this would be scary if it were true, but the premise of America's democracy is that it's not. If it really were true that there was some "evil words" that

Well this would be scary if it were true, but the premise of America's democracy is that it's not. If it really were true that there was some "evil words" that would spread through the whole population like wildfire like some virus, then sure, free speech would be a bad system. You allude to WWII almost as though you're insinuating the root cause of the WWII was insufficient political correctness.

bonaldi 8y ago
And America’s democracy is in robust health, is it? “Fake news” sourced to state-sponsored actors not currently a subject of concern there? Oh, and speaking of viruses, anti-vaxxers aren’t still a thing there, are they? I’m sure the good speech will have cancelled out the bad on that subject already. As for WWII, do I think the weaponisation of the first broadcast communication medium had a huge hand in the rise of Fascism in Germany? Yes, I do.
- froasty 8y ago
  Then it's clear that you're entirely ignorant of the history of radio in Germany, in particular its contribution to the rise of the Nazis. Before 1933, German radio broadcasting was conducted by 10 regional broadcasting monopolies, each with a Weimar representative. Their radio had a distinctly anti-fascist and anti-Nazi slant up to the Nazi victory in 1933. If anything radio hindered the rise of Hitler. https://www.princeton.edu/csdp/events/Petrova04042013/Petrova04042013.pdf https://www.princeton.edu/csdp/events/Petrova04042013/Petrov...
  - bonaldi 8y ago
    Can I suggest you read at least the abstract of your cites? “This negative effect [of four years of anti-Nazi messages] was fully undone in just one month after Nazis got control over the radio in 1933 and initiated heavy radio propaganda.” (Emphasis added)
    - froasty 8y ago
      Clearly literacy, as well as history, eludes you. By March of 1933, the Nazis had risen to power. The Nazis did not weaponize radio and then rise to power. They rose to power and then took over radio. And just how did they manage to dismantle the Weimar democracy and take over all forms of mass media so easily? Because for years prior, those in control of the German government had justified every violation of fundamental law, order, and governmental restraint in order to pinion the ability of political enemies to operate freely in the name of democracy and propriety. Yet, it turns out that, as your kind apparently never learns, power changes hands and the tables are turned against you. And yet now you have no tenable defense against being silenced--your opinions are the ones deemed too pernicious to allow to exist in a "free" society (as every society claims to be!). Your protestations are now "fake news" and, all-too-suddenly, you find yourself, your allies, and countless other innocents in a railway car to places like Kolyma or Auschwitz.
      - bonaldi 8y ago
        You are again failing to read your own cites. "Radio propaganda helped Nazi to enroll new party members and encouraged denunciations of Jews leading to their deportation to concentration camps and caused open expressions of anti-Semitism." The weaponisation of radio by the Nazis, which naturally had to occur after they took power, is what drove the rise of fascism in Germany. You're really going to struggle to make the case that propaganda in no way supported the Nazi state here. And I guess the Germans must also be in that group that "never learns", what with their strict controls on Nazi speech. Still, they seem to be doing better at avoiding fascist leadership than the soi disant land of the free.
        busterarm 8y ago
        > Still, they seem to be doing better at avoiding fascist leadership than the soi disant land of the free. Are they really? https://newrepublic.com/article/144954/return-fascism-germany-greece-far-right-nationalists-winning-elections https://newrepublic.com/article/144954/return-fascism-german... If you've been paying any attention, you'll noticed that Merkel has completely caved to anti-immigrant fears among Germans and backpedaled almost entirely.

bonaldi 8y ago

And America’s democracy is in robust health, is it? “Fake news” sourced to state-sponsored actors not currently a subject of concern there? Oh, and speaking of viruses, anti-vaxxers aren’t still a thing there, are they? I’m sure the good speech will have cancelled out the bad on that subject already. As for WWII, do I think the weaponisation of the first broadcast communication medium had a huge hand in the rise of Fascism in Germany? Yes, I do.

froasty 8y ago
Then it's clear that you're entirely ignorant of the history of radio in Germany, in particular its contribution to the rise of the Nazis. Before 1933, German radio broadcasting was conducted by 10 regional broadcasting monopolies, each with a Weimar representative. Their radio had a distinctly anti-fascist and anti-Nazi slant up to the Nazi victory in 1933. If anything radio hindered the rise of Hitler. https://www.princeton.edu/csdp/events/Petrova04042013/Petrova04042013.pdf https://www.princeton.edu/csdp/events/Petrova04042013/Petrov...
- bonaldi 8y ago
  Can I suggest you read at least the abstract of your cites? “This negative effect [of four years of anti-Nazi messages] was fully undone in just one month after Nazis got control over the radio in 1933 and initiated heavy radio propaganda.” (Emphasis added)
  - froasty 8y ago
    Clearly literacy, as well as history, eludes you. By March of 1933, the Nazis had risen to power. The Nazis did not weaponize radio and then rise to power. They rose to power and then took over radio. And just how did they manage to dismantle the Weimar democracy and take over all forms of mass media so easily? Because for years prior, those in control of the German government had justified every violation of fundamental law, order, and governmental restraint in order to pinion the ability of political enemies to operate freely in the name of democracy and propriety. Yet, it turns out that, as your kind apparently never learns, power changes hands and the tables are turned against you. And yet now you have no tenable defense against being silenced--your opinions are the ones deemed too pernicious to allow to exist in a "free" society (as every society claims to be!). Your protestations are now "fake news" and, all-too-suddenly, you find yourself, your allies, and countless other innocents in a railway car to places like Kolyma or Auschwitz.
    - bonaldi 8y ago
      You are again failing to read your own cites. "Radio propaganda helped Nazi to enroll new party members and encouraged denunciations of Jews leading to their deportation to concentration camps and caused open expressions of anti-Semitism." The weaponisation of radio by the Nazis, which naturally had to occur after they took power, is what drove the rise of fascism in Germany. You're really going to struggle to make the case that propaganda in no way supported the Nazi state here. And I guess the Germans must also be in that group that "never learns", what with their strict controls on Nazi speech. Still, they seem to be doing better at avoiding fascist leadership than the soi disant land of the free.
      - busterarm 8y ago
        > Still, they seem to be doing better at avoiding fascist leadership than the soi disant land of the free. Are they really? https://newrepublic.com/article/144954/return-fascism-germany-greece-far-right-nationalists-winning-elections https://newrepublic.com/article/144954/return-fascism-german... If you've been paying any attention, you'll noticed that Merkel has completely caved to anti-immigrant fears among Germans and backpedaled almost entirely.