Althouse: "You should kiss the ground you walk on if you were born in this country — take it from an old man who once had to wear the Star of David on his shirt."

April 18, 2014

"You should kiss the ground you walk on if you were born in this country — take it from an old man who once had to wear the Star of David on his shirt."

"There's a safety to living in such a diverse place. It's much more difficult to brainwash a population that is composed of so many different nationalities and so many different viewpoints."

48 comments:

gerry said...: It's much more difficult to brainwash a population that is composed of so many different nationalities and so many different viewpoints.

Of course, it becomes more dificult to prevent once your government's executive branch and legislators conspire to silence dissent using delays and threats of prosecution to intimidate its citizens.; 4/18/14, 8:43 AM
Anonymous said...: reminds be of a line from one of Clancy's later books. "Executive Orders"

The hero and his sidekick are tracking down the Ebola bug and are talking to a Black American Colonel who is the Military Attache in Sudan (I think).

The Colonel makes some remarks about how dysfunctional and f'd up the place is, and ends with a line like:

"don't repeat this, but the best thing that ever happened to me was having my ancestors shipped to America. South Alabama is heaven compared to this shit hole"

America has issues, but it beats most every place else on earth, as measured by emigration and immigration.; 4/18/14, 8:48 AM
Rusty said...: "There's a safety to living in such a diverse place. It's much more difficult to brainwash a population that is composed of so many different nationalities and so many different viewpoints."

Unless, of course, you're a member of the lefts nomenclatura.; 4/18/14, 8:49 AM
SJ said...: The United States is a special place. Due to the history of early immigrants, and the decisions made at many places since then, the United States is a place where people can be safe to be different.

We, the United States of America, are in danger of losing that special status, at least with respect to people who want to be able to disagree publicly with the governing officials.

When the President lets the IRS be used to punish his political opponents, when he doesn't see much wrong with the DOJ attempting to trump up charges against those opponents, then the United States is in danger of losing its status as a safe place for dissent and difference.

God help us if it becomes standard practice for the President to use the power of government to crush his political opponents.; 4/18/14, 8:54 AM
David said...: The link goes to an interesting Facebook page, Humans of New York.

I did not realize there were interesting Facebook pages.; 4/18/14, 9:00 AM
bbkingfish said...: When this man wore the Star of David on his shirt, our government was busy packing Japanese-Americans into concentration camps, and the white citizenry cheered the government on with great enthusiasm. So much for the alleged protections of diversity.

Fear makes people easy to brainwash. In fact, you might say fear almost makes people beg to be brainwashed.; 4/18/14, 9:01 AM
rhhardin said...: Unless you're bashing some populist target.; 4/18/14, 9:12 AM
Paco Wové said...: "There's a safety to living in such a diverse place"

Tell it to the Bosnians.; 4/18/14, 9:14 AM
West Texas Intermediate Crude said...: @bbkingfish
1. Viewed through the retrospectroscope, the internment of Americans of Japanese descent during WWII was in no way justified.
2. Conflation of the internment of Americans of Japanese descent to the systematic enslavement, torture, and extermination of millions of people based on their ancestry does violence to the English language and to the concept of logic.; 4/18/14, 9:26 AM
Illuninati said...: "There's a safety to living in such a diverse place. It's much more difficult to brainwash a population that is composed of so many different nationalities and so many different viewpoints."

Big mistake. The reason Jews have been safe in this country is because it was founded by Devout Christians who came here looking for religious freedom. The best friends Israel has are conservative Evangelical Christians. Altering the ethnic and religious makeup of this country will make the Jews less safe.; 4/18/14, 9:36 AM
Paco Wové said...: I also note that the whole E pluribus unum bit seems to gone by the wayside.; 4/18/14, 9:41 AM
gerry said...: So much for the alleged protections of diversity.

Well, at least we didn't kill 60 to 80 million as progressives did in the USSR, China, Korea, North Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.

Did I mention that one of the reasons the Ukraine wants to steer clear of Russia is The Holodomor?

Stop hating the United States.; 4/18/14, 9:48 AM
DrSquid said...: While there is no defense of FDR's actions vs Japanese-Americans, let's be precise in our criticism and history lessons. They were placed in internment camps, not concentration camps. Inexcuseable: yes. Brainwashing and torture: no.; 4/18/14, 9:59 AM
DrSquid said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/18/14, 9:59 AM
YoungHegelian said...: @bbk,

When this man wore the Star of David on his shirt, our government was busy packing Japanese-Americans into concentration camps, and the white citizenry cheered the government on with great enthusiasm. So much for the alleged protections of diversity.

And, of those Japanese internees, how many emerged alive at the end of the war? About 98-99%, right? A little different stat than those of the Nazi death camps.

"White citizenry"? Jeezus, do you ever quit with the lefty babble? I wasn't aware that that American blacks disagreed with the internment policies at the time. Also, you fail to mention that the internment policy went all the way to the SCOTUS and so had full judicial review. You may not like the fact that the Executive Branch has those sort of powers in war time (nor do I), but it seems, according to the law of the land, it does. Also, ALL of the Allied powers interned refugees and/or "undesirable" ethnics in the course of the war (e.g. Canada also interned its Japanese). WWII was a struggle for national survival, not some later "war of convenience".

And by the way, how come the left never brings up the fact of how awful religious pacifists like the Jehovah's Witnesses were treated (interned in Canada, persecuted in the US? I guess that's because the Left thinks that oppressing ethnic minorities is just awful, but persecuting religious minorities is all in a day's work.; 4/18/14, 10:06 AM
Anonymous said...: our government was busy packing Japanese-Americans into concentration camps,

While sending Japanese American citizens to "internment" camps was arguably unconstitutional and racial discrimination (compared to treatment of far more dangerous Germans), it is a loaded statement to call them "concentration" camps which most people equate to Death Camps.; 4/18/14, 10:12 AM
richard mcenroe said...: Difficult, but with enough help from a compliant press and academia...; 4/18/14, 10:15 AM
richard mcenroe said...: The Drill SGT -- one of the more interesting/sadder things about the Clinton involvement in Somalia was the distress it caused many of the African-American troops deployed.

Because even these patriotic volunteer enlistees had been taught, and believed deep down, that on some level the problems of the black communities they grew up in were the fault of the white man, something that was done to them.

Then they were sent to Somalia, and saw what blacks were capable of doing and even eager to do to other blacks, of their own free will, with no white man for an excuse... and it seriously messed them up.; 4/18/14, 10:18 AM
richard mcenroe said...: bbkingfish: Yeah! Remember all those ovens and crematoriums at Manzanar... oh, wait...; 4/18/14, 10:19 AM
Big Mike said...: I have little to add to what gerry, Rusty, and SJ said above. I note with concern that the congressional Democrats have gone so far as to purge the "Blue Dog" caucus from their ranks and regard that as A Good Thing. The liberal mind in 21st century America is closed tight.; 4/18/14, 10:21 AM
Andy Freeman said...: > our government was busy packing Japanese-Americans into concentration camps,

Where they lived until the camps were closed.

The internment wasn't a good thing, but it was nothing like the German concentration camps.

> So much for the alleged protections of diversity.

Being alive and later released is nothing?

Note that we even had court cases over the whole thing.

> Fear makes people easy to brainwash.

And what's your excuse for making false equivalences?; 4/18/14, 10:22 AM
RecChief said...: But, they're trying; 4/18/14, 10:39 AM
somefeller said...: reminds be of a line from one of Clancy's later books. "Executive Orders"...

I'll tell you what, if there's anyone who knows what African-Americans think or should think, it's Tom Clancy.; 4/18/14, 10:41 AM
n.n said...: Cultural and moral diversity is also dissonance, which empowers a minority to rule through exploitation of real and manufactured divisions. The value of this class of diversity really depends on the underlying order and the minority who hold the reins. However, the concept of diversity which denigrates individual dignity is fraught with dangerous pitfalls by design.; 4/18/14, 10:46 AM
bbkingfish said...: W.T.I.Crude. said...

"2. Conflation of the internment of Americans of Japanese descent to the systematic enslavement, torture, and extermination of millions of people based on their ancestry does violence to the English language and to the concept of logic."

I did not attempt such conflation.

The subject under discussion was a man who claimed to have been forced to wear a Star of David on his shirt, and that we in the USA are immunized from (free from)such treatment by virtue of the diversity of our population. This is balderdash, and I said so.

My larger point was that populations are roughly equally susceptible to manipulation (brainwashing) by government because it is relatively easy to induce fear in the population.

In the future, I suggest you try reading with greater introspection, and you will be less likely to see conflation where none exists.; 4/18/14, 10:46 AM
Matt Sablan said...: The internment camps were horrible and wrong.

But you know what? America, as a whole, has acknowledged that. In our museums, we have entire exhibits that remind us: "Here's where we failed to live up to our ideals. Let's not do it again."

The Holocaust Museum calls out where America failed to help in WWII; there are other exhibits.

It's one of the things America does right. We acknowledge our failings and try to correct them.; 4/18/14, 10:57 AM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: Great quote....I'm feeling a little optimistic lately. There seems to be something in the air. A collective disgust with the leftist bullies and America haters whether in the media, government, or wherever. Academia obviously. Kind of reminds me of the frustration that birthed the Tea Party.; 4/18/14, 11:29 AM
a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...: We were going to let you be Jewish anyway but thanks for yelling in my ear. Reminds me of the recent Jerry Lewis video.; 4/18/14, 11:42 AM
Wilbur said...: "I'll tell you what, if there's anyone who knows what African-Americans think or should think, it's Tom Clancy."

Absolutely correct. If there's anyone who knows what African-Americans think or should think, it's Somefeller.; 4/18/14, 11:44 AM
Rusty said...: The Russians in occupied eastern Ukraine what jews to register with the government.
The bitch is in heat again.; 4/18/14, 12:00 PM
paul a'barge said...: There is a bit more to the reason America is not fertile ground for fascism than its diversity. Need an example? England. Need another? Canada. Lots of diversity, no Bill of Rights, no history of kicking out the Brits.

The diversity worship is simplistic and getting a bit long in the tooth.; 4/18/14, 12:03 PM
Gerrard787 said...: It is regular elections, a free press, an indepentent judiary and a constitution which protect folks from brainwashing. Diversity has little to do with it.; 4/18/14, 12:04 PM
Rusty said...: The Russians in occupied eastern Ukraine what jews to register with the government.
The bitch is in heat again.; 4/18/14, 12:04 PM
paul a'barge said...: @bbkingfish: "our government was busy packing Japanese-Americans into concentration camps"

With good reason, as it turns out.

Go back to the history, only this time read all of it.; 4/18/14, 12:05 PM
Jason said...: The principled objection to the internment of Japanese Americans at the time, including the dissent in Korematsu, came from the Republicans. It was the Democrats, the party of eugenics, Jim Crow and the KKK, that were gung ho to round up the undesireables.; 4/18/14, 12:06 PM
paul a'barge said...: Some of you people insist on going on and on about the Japanese internment camps during WWII. This is revisionist, politically-correct history at its worst.

Mostly these are the same people who go on and on about Abraham Lincoln and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.

Go back to the history. All of it. In times of war, crappy things are done for good reasons. And political correctness never won a war.; 4/18/14, 12:08 PM
test said...: America, as a whole, has acknowledged that.

We also ended internment when the war was over, an obvious difference those who excuse the gulags with Japanese internment routinely ignore.; 4/18/14, 12:08 PM
Andy Freeman said...: > I did not attempt such conflation.

No, you actually did such.

> This is balderdash, and I said so.

You claimed that it was balderdash.

> My larger point was that populations are roughly equally susceptible to manipulation (brainwashing) by government because it is relatively easy to induce fear in the population.

Except for the small problem that your "larger point" isn't supported by your "evidence". In fact, your evidence argues against your point.

The US isn't perfect, but many of the folks complaining about its imperfections both get them wrong and are working to make things worse, often by lying about the imperfections and what we get right.

If you aren't willing to be part of the solution, can you at least stop being part of the problem?; 4/18/14, 12:26 PM
ken in tx said...: The internment of Americans of Japanese descent was unjust, illegal, and unconstitutional. However, the internment camps were not concentration camps. Concentration camps refer to prison camps for political prisoners. The relocation camps were much more humane and well run than the internment camps in which the enemy placed Americans. Internment for enemy nationals is part of international law during war time. The problem here was that these people were not enemy nationals, but rather they were American citizens.

BTW, Japanese Americans who did not live on the west coast were not interned.; 4/18/14, 1:57 PM
Kirk Parker said...: West Texas,

Indeed, especially in regard to your #2.

Not that I disagree with your #1, it really was unjustified (especially in light of the fact that the one place where it might have actually been justified, Hawaii, wasn't in fact included!)

But I have a friend who, upon occasion, has a reunion get-together (NOT in-site!) with her fellow high-school classmates from the internment camp. Yes, rather than being worked to death--or worse--our internees were provided with the basic amenities of American civilization, include free public primary and secondary education.

Still not a good thing, but it differs from the Nazis in kind, not just degree.; 4/18/14, 2:30 PM
Richard Lawrence Cohen said...: "*CLAIMED* to have been forced to wear a Star of David on his shirt"?

I guess it was just a rumor, then. And no one could possibly claim to have experienced anything worse. Unless it was done to them by the United States.; 4/18/14, 2:31 PM
cubanbob said...: "The principled objection to the internment of Japanese Americans at the time, including the dissent in Korematsu, came from the Republicans. It was the Democrats, the party of eugenics, Jim Crow and the KKK, that were gung ho to round up the undesireables."

Jason a little known fact is that the great advocate for civil rights J Edgar Hoover, yes that Hoover, the FBI Director, advised none other than FDR that internment was neither needed or wise.; 4/18/14, 3:20 PM
Paco Wové said...: "The Russians in occupied eastern Ukraine what jews to register with the government."

Apparently, this was a hoax, or at least something that everybody is disavowing any complicity in.; 4/18/14, 7:27 PM
West Texas Intermediate Crude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/18/14, 8:34 PM
West Texas Intermediate Crude said...: Ken in SC-
Unjust- yes. Illegal and unconstitutional- apparently not. It was litigated up to the Supreme Court and found to be ok, at least as I understand it. Later judged to have been the wrong thing to do, but our contemporary judgement was that we were dealing with an enemy who had a different outlook on war and life in general. Their conduct of the war, against the USA, Chinese, Filipinos, etc., completely justified American judgement at the time.

To you and Kirk Parker and all the rest- how will we as a society react when a Pakistani-backed (or Yemeni, or Saudi) group sets off a collection of dirty nuke weapons in multiple downtown American cities simultaneously next week or next month or next year? I don't think it will be pretty, and it will not be justified, or effective. It will be unpleasant to look like one of "them," however.; 4/18/14, 8:44 PM
Gary Rosen said...: " I suggest you try reading with greater introspection, and you will be less likely to see conflation where none exists."

Very artful weaseling!; 4/19/14, 3:10 AM
a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...: When spoken to John Cohen on a street in New York this speech is dear. It enjoins him to feel that he is an American Jew and should be pleased to be American, that he can contribute because he is allowed to collaborate in the American project. Spoken at us through the window of Mr. Cohen it becomes hectoring, saying that none of us should feel we possess truth, my negative opinion negates your positive one, that here the highest ideal is that 'all parts of the social salami are equal.' You can link through to my website
where you can buy a book on Amazon.; 4/19/14, 8:44 AM
Nichevo said...: "a man who claimed to have been forced to wear a Star of David on his shirt"

Bbk, do you disbelieve that this occurred, or merely that this gentleman was one to whom it happened?

Because if the latter, for what reason? That his philosophy apparently diverges from yours? Doesn't look Jewish perhaps? The number tattooed on his arm too faded for you to make out clearly?

If the former, I would like you to come to the Holocaust exhibit in the library of my alma mater, the Bronx High School of Science at 75 W 205 St, Bronx, NY 10468, where I would be happy to show you samples of such garb.

Then I will smash your face into the green marble floor till it breaks, but at least you will understand why.; 4/19/14, 1:41 PM