I’ve seen some real ones in Ireland. It’s literally a door, with something like an elevator shaft behind it. That’s all. Pretty terrifying idea for a 16 year old.
“Here’s the thing,” Robinson said. “Whether you’re talking about Adolf Hitler, whether you’re talking about Chairman Mao, whether you’re talking about Stalin, whether you’re talking about Pol Pot, whether you’re talking about Castro in Cuba, or whether you’re talking about a dozen other despots all around the...
Fact is, it’s an important work for historical reasons. If you want to understand how Nazism works, and how it differs from Italian fascism, and be able to draw the lines that connect Nazis to historical German (and other nationalities) anti-Semitism, you need to read it.
If I had a copy, I wouldn’t put it on display, but it is the kind of thing I can totally see being assigned in a college course on WW2 or some similar topic.
NB: I’ve only read a few excerpts for a class similar to the one I described above.
Also, I am against book burning in any circumstance. A book is never worth more as kindling, unless you’re actually freezing and then it would be a hard choice.
You can learn names and dates of battles etc., but you won’t understand the driving forces if all you have is “Nazis are bad.”
Nazis were humans, not some kind of mythological monsters. If they could do what they did, you can too. You need to understand why they did what they did, how the ideology motivated them, or compelled them, because those same forces can work on you as well, and sometimes in ways you don’t realize.
Primo Levi survived the death camps, and wrote about his experience extensively. Despite being a prisoner, he felt complicit in the Nazi project, just through trying to survive. At one point he recalls being on a work detail, during which he discovered a water pipe that had some water in it. He drank the water, and although he saw another prisoner lusting after the water, he didn’t share, because he wanted to survive.
That other man also survived the camps and later found Levi, and asked why he wouldn’t share the water. Levi had no answer at that time, but when writing his memoir he said the structure of the camp system was such that it employed even the inmates as agents of their own extermination.
He ended up committing suicide in the 80s.
If you don’t understand the psychological and social pressures working on you - which come from everywhere, btw, not just Nazis - you can’t fight against them. You will go along to get along.
So you know what Hitler actually said? So you don’t fall for something like “the Germans didn’t really know what was happening”? Yes, they did. It was published, and you can cite chapter and verse.
I don’t know why Camus is so often thought of a fiction writer. He wrote some pretty serious philosophy as well. It’s like calling Plato a writer of fiction.
I’m particularly a fan of The Rebel. His Letters to a German Friend are pretty interesting too.
The lawsuit argues that the Biden administration went too far in asking schools with government-funded lunch programs not to discriminate against queer kids.
Dan Savage pointed out in his podcast yesterday that in interwar Berlin, lgbtq-whatever-else-we-add-now people were more free than any time since probably ancient Rome before the Christian period.
It took about 3 years of Hitler in power to start shipping those people off to the camps. They still haven’t really recovered.
That was United Public Workers v. Mitchell, right? Unenumerated rights don’t trump enumerated powers? That was the Vinson court. He was nominated by Truman.
No, the Revolution got rid of the monarchy and neutered the clergy and nobility, but it was an urban revolution of the Parisian middle class, or bourgeoisie. The situation of the peasants changed little through the revolution, and it was persistent efforts of the bourgeoisie to impose Parisian culture on the countryside. It took until WW1 to construct a coherent French nation. Weber (not that Weber) showed that in Peasants into Frenchmen in the 70s.
And Napoleon had family connections in the Italian nobility. His uncle was a cardinal. His father was a lawyer and inherited a fair chunk of change. Napoleon was hardly any sort of peasant.
University of Wolverhampton is a large UK university based in the West Midlands, offering undergraduate degrees and postgraduate courses across 4 faculties.
That’s surely not true for a number of reasons. The UK wasn’t a thing, and modern English wasn’t a thing. Beowulf has a fair bit of jokes in it, and that’s some 200 years earlier, in Old English, than this thing.
Hell, I’m pretty sure Plato’s Symposium starts out with a three word pun. That’s Greek and not English of course, but the idea of picking out an earliest joke is just ridiculous.
I agree that college should be publicly funded, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards. Even CA, where college tution-free is in the state constitution, has found ways to get tens of thousand of dollars out of even residents in "fees."
Because fees aren't tuition, apparently.
I've been involved in higher ed for a long time, and I don't know anyplace where government funding for college or university is increasing. Even the free CC idea seems to be a non-starter.
The Supreme Court on Thursday made it easier for employees to seek religious accommodations in a case involving a lawsuit brought by an evangelical Christian mail carrier who asked not to work on Sundays....
There's also the issue that USPS DID accommodate him for 4 years and then changed their mind. I would be upset if my employer capriciouly changed the terms of my employment to my detriment too.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said “this is game over” for former President Trump in the classified and sensitive documents case against him after the release of the tape that appears to show Trump discussing documents he had in his possession.
I doubt very much that a president can pardon himself. If he could, why did no one, not even Nixon, who just won reelection, not use that power in over 200 years? Why not suspend Congress and govern by executive order? I mean, it violates the Constitution to prevent Congress critters from participating in a legislative session except in cases of Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, but who cares? The President can self-pardon! Lock them all up if they're being a pain in the ass.
It would completely upend the rule of law. Not even this clown car of a Supreme Court would allow that.
TIL: In 2002, Kenya formally donated 14 cows to the US as a way to show compassion to them after the 9/11 tragedy. (www.911memorial.org)
Trump posted what he said was Obama’s address, prosecutors say. An armed man was soon arrested there (apnews.com)
Moms for Liberty Speaker Says It's Time to Start Re-Reading Hitler, Stalin, & Mao (jezebel.com)
“Here’s the thing,” Robinson said. “Whether you’re talking about Adolf Hitler, whether you’re talking about Chairman Mao, whether you’re talking about Stalin, whether you’re talking about Pol Pot, whether you’re talking about Castro in Cuba, or whether you’re talking about a dozen other despots all around the...
Republican AGs Sue for Schools' Right to Deny Free Lunches to Gay and Trans Kids (jezebel.com)
The lawsuit argues that the Biden administration went too far in asking schools with government-funded lunch programs not to discriminate against queer kids.
Josh Hawley Busted After Using Fake Founding Father Quote To Push Religious Agenda. The Missouri senator gets called out on Twitter over a quote he falsely attributed to Patrick Henry. (www.huffpost.com)
The Missouri senator gets called out on Twitter over a quote he falsely attributed to Patrick Henry.
Conservatives go to red states and liberals go to blue as the country grows more polarized (apnews.com)
TIL that the words "lesbian" and "sapphic" both come from this legendary woman named Sappho who lived on the island of Lesbos (en.wikipedia.org)
Elon Musk supports eliminating voting rights for people without children (www.independent.co.uk)
18 Hasidic Schools Failed to Provide Basic Education, New York City Finds (www.nytimes.com)
TIL the UK’s oldest joke is a crude riddle that features in the Exeter Codex and dates back to the 10th Century AD - What hangs at a man’s thigh and wants to poke the hole that it’s often poked bef... (www.wlv.ac.uk)
University of Wolverhampton is a large UK university based in the West Midlands, offering undergraduate degrees and postgraduate courses across 4 faculties.
US Supreme Court blocks student loan forgiveness plan (www.npr.org)
Biden proposes 'new standard' after Supreme Court overturns affirmative action - UPI.com (www.upi.com)
Supreme Court rules for Christian mail carrier who refused to work Sundays (www.nbcnews.com)
The Supreme Court on Thursday made it easier for employees to seek religious accommodations in a case involving a lawsuit brought by an evangelical Christian mail carrier who asked not to work on Sundays....
Former prosecutor on new Trump tape: ‘This is game over’ (thehill.com)
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said “this is game over” for former President Trump in the classified and sensitive documents case against him after the release of the tape that appears to show Trump discussing documents he had in his possession.