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Onion Story Gets Blown Out of Proportion
A 3-year-old Onion video titled "Martial Law Plans Revealed?" has swept across the internet recently, and taken the gullible along with it. The video has some preaching from the highest mountain top about the evils of a government turning fascist, and an equal number explaining until red in the face what The Onion is.
I think we ignore The Onion as a serious news source at our peril, especially now that mainstream media has all but abandoned serious reporting themselves. Imagine what could have been avoided if people had listened in 2001. It's like their reporters had used a fricking time machine!
Try citing The Onion AV Club as a source on Wikipedia. No one will believe you. Condescendingly, they'll explain that The Onion is satire.
Even if that were true (and it's not -- see some of the other replies to you) the complete lack of critical thinking skills displayed by anybody who believes this remains... disturbing to say the least. (You have no idea how tempted I was to say "classified" there.)
I mean honestly. "Classified flesh-eating?" Do these idiots truly believe that the people would leave a term like flesh-eating in there next to something classified? It's both the worst and the most descriptive term in the sentence! "A new Bill of Rights will be drafted" is silly enough on its own, but just gets worse when paired with "to be approved by classified."
I know our own history is funny enough that none of this is IMPOSSIBLE (it basically happened), but to anybody with a handful of functioning brain cells it should be more than enough to throw up red flags and start looking into things -- starting, perhaps, with the fake congressman. But instead morons treat it as a reason to start running their mouths about their terribly ill-informed opinions on fake news stories. Bravo, morons, for continuously proving why the right to speak is not bundled with the right to be listened to.
-slam the right. It's practically a new passtime to slashdot.
They invite it, though, with right wing politicians calling Obama a socialist, a 'secret Muslim', not born in the U.S., talking about death panels in the healthcare bill, etc. And that's in the GOP itself, not just in the TEA Party.
Citation needed.
Facts have a liberal bias.
No, those aren't Democrats, they usually register Green or Indie, if they
register at all.
Both major parties are considered mainstream, and so they must be part of
the the big conspiracy. Voting for any candidate that actually has a chance
of winning seems to be an anathema to them. Some actually outright call
voting an act of endorsing "the system" as if there is some all powerful
international karma genie keeping track and ready to kick out the government
if voter enrollment fell too far.
(Not that I don't like the Green party on principle, they have a better platform
than the Dems, but it seems to have the liability of being a magnet for
despondent borderline nutjobs, and in certain states, a takeover target for
wannabe communists. Which is a drag on the other states where the adults
are in charge of it.)
Someone had to do it.
OK, it's just intellectually dishonest of you to use the results of that poll once it was shown that the numbers were made up. It's one thing if you want to push your Democratic agenda, but you better be using real data if you don't want to be compared to the scum of the earth. And by the scum of the earth, of course, I mean......marketers.
Seriously, that just made you look really bad. Learn to find good information.
Qxe4
We say that the NAACP now understands what it's like to be unfairly accused of racism, lose your job, and have nobody listen to your side of the story.
I don't think it actually shows Americans are crazy, I think it reflects the deep-set distrust Americans have of their government. And this is something that extends from the left to the right. And it's probably a good thing.
It would be a good thing if it was a distrust of government in general. But as it is, it's the distrust of the government so long as your party is not in charge.
the right, especially the religious right, that excels at propogating misinformation.
Perhaps because religion left or right excels at propagating misinformation?
I'm sorry, but how does being robbed make you guilty of vote theft? Where does that investigation show that ACORN rigged the election? How does any of this address the made up pimp video? Breitbart lied, end of story.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Pretty much the entire Obama era so far has been an example of the left experiencing all the things they did to the right and an administration doing all the things Bush did. The country didn't change at all.
Pretty much the entire Obama era so far has been an example of the right projecting all the things they did onto the left and the Democrats doing all the things in the Republican's interest. The country didn't change at all.
Thought I'd fix that for you.
I find it interesting that the Republican talking points are an extreme example of projection. If they accuse someone of embezzlement, or pretty much anything, you can be sure of three things:
a. They really believe it and always will, no matter how much you point out facts that prove them wrong
b. That when said facts disagree with their worldview, they will accuse the source of being left wing and biased and therefore by definition incorrect
c. That somewhere, they are actually doing the same thing they are accusing the left of, except much more efficiently and effectively.
Examples of this would be the family values thing, the deficit thing, the not giving a fuck about the veterans thing, the being in the pocket of industry thing, the government program = welfare thing (i.e. a huge amount of the defense budget), the racism thing, the litmus test thing, the only policy being that to gain power politically thing no matter what the cost to the country thing, the voter intimidation thing, the voter fraud thing...
I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Well, probably not, but whatever. I'm going to go back and watch the continuing subjugation of our citizens to the almighty dollar. Hopefully I can continue to afford to buy popcorn.
The NAACP never said the entire Tea Party was racist. They said that the Tea Party has never denounced the racists in their midst. The NAACP has, for instance, denounced the New Black Panther Party. And, when it looked as though Shirley Sherrod might be racist against white people, they denounced her. So, you are flat out wrong.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
At some point, we can only hope, people are going to accept the most simple explanation, that Germany and Russia both wanted a chunk of Poland and that's why there was an alliance between the two, and at one point further down the road, Germany needed oil and eastern territory more than it needed Russian acquiescence, and so the alliance collapsed.
The idea that communism and fascism are some sort of ideological fusion, and that this fact has any effect on history, is hokum, and both Nazi Germany and Communist Russia were driven by their leadership's self-interest and geopolitical pressures, and that their ideology had nothing to do with it. Unfortunately we are damned to live among people who expect history to have an ideologically consistent basis, so that the "bad guys" and the "good guys" can have nice, narrative-ready reasons for losing and winning, instead of having to accept that the outcome was simply a consequence of many practical decisions made in the heat of the moment that could have just as easily gone the other way. Asking someone what their ideological attitude about private property is, or what they believe constitutes a "nation" or "people," tells you almost nothing about wether they are "good" or "Evil" or if they'll naturally agree with someone else on issues that happen to have a confluence of interest.
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
How long ago was the video taken? Any idea? It was taken in 1986. So, what does a 24 year old video tell us about the NAACP of today?
spun, I suggest that you check your facts before getting off into one of your rants. It might prevent you from making a bigger fool of yourself than usual.
The video was taken on March 27, 2010, after Sherrod was appointed to the USDA (interestingly, after she and her husband received a substantial settlement from the USDA for a complaint about racism). However, the incident that she described took place back in the 1980's.
P.S.
I'm also pissed because Obama signed the Patriot Renewal Act. What the hell??? Didn't Obama say he's repeal that piece of shit? Obama should have vetoed it as soon as it crossed his desk.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
As well as Germans, Nazis, Russians and Communists.
All four of those are VERY different things and no two of them are synonymous to each other.
Or maybe I am wrong.
Maybe in your universe Fascist is synonymous with Italian and American is synonymous with racist cowboys?
Also, as someone has pointed out below - Nazis and Fascists were ALWAYS actively against Communists.
Regardless of the Hitler-Stalin pact - which was a ruse for both sides, only it was German dictator who decided to break it first.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Yeah, Regan's tax cuts brought in so much money the national debt went through the roof. Wait...that does not sound right. Regan's policies were a complete failure.
Calling the Nazi party 'national socialists' makes about as much sense as calling North Korea the 'democratic peoples republic of korea'. I hope you read this because it's an important lesson for you.
mediocrity rules, man
Arguing that communists and nazis can be considered the same is the like categorizing apples and oranges are of the same family because they both grow on trees
You tea baggers are all the same. Ignorant and dumb as a bag of rocks
"Suppose you were an idiot...and suppose you were a member of Congress...but I repeat myself." Mark Twain