4 ms·

The political orientation of a thought is orthogonal to an honest evaluation of its accuracy. Call it a broken clock fallacy if you will. The statement was abou

by adolph 5y ago

The political orientation of a thought is orthogonal to an honest evaluation of its accuracy. Call it a broken clock fallacy if you will. The statement was about criticism of the powerful, which is different from ridicule of the relatively weak. The concept seems facially valid to me although incomplete in that it seems to have an assumption of singular power rather than many different power domains. Taken further, an hallmark of power, prestige, might be defined as those things which seem so natural that criticism would not occur to the larger portion of people.

UncleMeat 5y ago
I'm not sure it was about criticism of the powerful. Jewish people don't run the world via a cabal. The original statement was arguing that because denying the Holocaust is socially disastrous and often illegal that Jewish people must therefore secretly be in charge of the levers of society. Biden is currently one of the most powerful people on the entire planet. Yet people happily chant "f--- Joe Biden" in public, put stickers saying this on their cars, and put up signs on their lawns saying this.
- mwcampbell 5y ago
  An alternative interpretation of the apparent contradiction about Biden is that the U.S. President isn't actually all that powerful, but more of a figurehead.
  - UncleMeat 5y ago
    You are going to start racking up all sorts of interesting "apparent contradictions" if you go down this route. One would experience some pretty intense social ostracism if one loudly criticized interracial couples. But I find it hard to believe that interracial couples actually run things. Ditto orphans, the disabled, and yes, Jewish people. Down this route is the precise conspiracy that the original Nazi who spoke these words was pushing. The original idea here is that because denying the Holocaust is social suicide and illegal in some nations, Jewish people must secretly actually run the world.
    - mwcampbell 5y ago
      I agree with you on all of that. I just thought that the ability to criticize the U.S. President could be easily dismissed.
- adolph 5y ago
  >>>> . . . in any epoch, to know who is in power, ask who you may not criticise. > I'm not sure it was about criticism of the powerful. Are “the powerful” not “who is in power?” The comment of the g-g-g-parent did not mention the Holocaust or any other act of genocide. Unless there is some anti-Semitic hidden message the statement is nearly a banal platitude. Also, your Biden analogy is as flat as your example of workplace ridicule of people affected by autism. A contrary example might be that the jeers of crowds are allowed for so long as they are not truly threatening or subversive. In the lead up to Biden’s election the news of his son’s laptop was suppressed. Effective criticism is not allowed.
  - UncleMeat 5y ago
    > Unless there is some anti-Semitic hidden message the statement is nearly a banal platitude. There is. The original quote is from an actual literal Neo-Nazi who used this statement to argue that Jews secretly run the world because Holocaust denial is ostracized.

by adolph 5y ago

UncleMeat 5y ago

I'm not sure it was about criticism of the powerful. Jewish people don't run the world via a cabal. The original statement was arguing that because denying the Holocaust is socially disastrous and often illegal that Jewish people must therefore secretly be in charge of the levers of society. Biden is currently one of the most powerful people on the entire planet. Yet people happily chant "f--- Joe Biden" in public, put stickers saying this on their cars, and put up signs on their lawns saying this.

mwcampbell 5y ago
An alternative interpretation of the apparent contradiction about Biden is that the U.S. President isn't actually all that powerful, but more of a figurehead.
- UncleMeat 5y ago
  You are going to start racking up all sorts of interesting "apparent contradictions" if you go down this route. One would experience some pretty intense social ostracism if one loudly criticized interracial couples. But I find it hard to believe that interracial couples actually run things. Ditto orphans, the disabled, and yes, Jewish people. Down this route is the precise conspiracy that the original Nazi who spoke these words was pushing. The original idea here is that because denying the Holocaust is social suicide and illegal in some nations, Jewish people must secretly actually run the world.
  - mwcampbell 5y ago
    I agree with you on all of that. I just thought that the ability to criticize the U.S. President could be easily dismissed.
adolph 5y ago
>>>> . . . in any epoch, to know who is in power, ask who you may not criticise. > I'm not sure it was about criticism of the powerful. Are “the powerful” not “who is in power?” The comment of the g-g-g-parent did not mention the Holocaust or any other act of genocide. Unless there is some anti-Semitic hidden message the statement is nearly a banal platitude. Also, your Biden analogy is as flat as your example of workplace ridicule of people affected by autism. A contrary example might be that the jeers of crowds are allowed for so long as they are not truly threatening or subversive. In the lead up to Biden’s election the news of his son’s laptop was suppressed. Effective criticism is not allowed.
- UncleMeat 5y ago
  > Unless there is some anti-Semitic hidden message the statement is nearly a banal platitude. There is. The original quote is from an actual literal Neo-Nazi who used this statement to argue that Jews secretly run the world because Holocaust denial is ostracized.