4 ms·

NSA is literally Hitler now, is it?

• jlgreco 13y ago
  > "NSA is literally Hitler now, is it?" The "Yuppie Nuremberg Defense" is a pop-culture reference to the movie Thank You For Smoking. In the movie, the phrase is used to describe the defense "I've got a mortgage to pay", offered up by a lawyer^W spokesperson who worked for large Tobacco firms. (The Yuppie Nuremberg Defense should not be confused with the Superior Orders defense (often called the Nuremberg Defense); with the Yuppie version the defendant asserts that the listener should excuse them because they did it for the money, not because they were commanded to.) So, if we assume that analogies, references, and allusions to history are verboten, I am actually saying "The NSA is literally Big Tobacco". How senselessly inflammatory of me.
• javert 13y ago
  Yes. The US is, actually, on a path towards authoritarianism. We have the same variables as Hitler (or Stalin), just assigned with different values.
• typon 13y ago
  The classic I dont have an argument therefore I will invoke Godwin's Law laziness.
• summerdown2 13y ago
  Please consider which is more likely: a) The author believes the NSA has a toothbrush moustache, wears its hair combed in a side parting, and is responsible for invading Poland and starting world war two, or. b) You have taken a metaphor literally when it was really meant as an illustration of why a certain line of argument is not accepted any more. Please don't do this. This type of exaggeration has a tendency to shut discussions down rather than allow the points to be considered.