January 26, 2006
Maybe it's my recent re-reading of Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich talking, but someone stop me if I am crazy in seeing a few hard and fast similarities between Hamas and the late-1920s/early-1930s Nazi Party:
- both elected during times of minimal government control of the territory and in an area with a "poor" economic prospects, at best
- both groups gained fame as organizations for street thugs through open and unabashed violence
- both love a good outdoor ralley with pretty flags, weapons, and nationalistic chanting
- both love artistic posters in public places
- both appealed to the population with the promotion of territorial unification and seeking retribution against the Jews
- both were hoped to be "toned down" through elections and elevation within democratic offices, as world leaders rationalized that previous thuggish activities could never play well from a ruling government
Then again, there is one dissimilarity that really hits me. In November 1932, the last election before Hitler became Chancellor and the Nazis truly solidified power, the NSDAP only had 33.6% of parlimentary seats (down from the previous July, in which the Nazi held their greatest Weimar-era seat percentage at 37.8%). It seems that Hamas picked up about 57.5% of seats, with 76 out of 132.
Posted by: wineaholic at
01:30 PM
| Comments (13)
| Add Comment
Post contains 255 words, total size 2 kb.
Posted by: Damian P. at January 26, 2006 02:04 PM (AVn2f)
Posted by: Howie at January 26, 2006 02:38 PM (D3+20)
Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at January 26, 2006 03:08 PM (0yYS2)
a Hamas member who goes by the nickname Hitler was elected yesterday.
Posted by: Steve Sharon at January 26, 2006 03:24 PM (Hj2fX)
They have been allowed to do nothing. This breeds hate and gives hate the time to turn into genocide. Had these people carried on with their lives, they would be too busy to hate. But now, we see with our own eyes the situation that continues to unfold. We will be lucky if this area is not engulfed in a conflagration that could turn global.
Posted by: jesusland joe at January 26, 2006 03:48 PM (rUyw4)
Posted by: Brian B at January 26, 2006 03:51 PM (rGfpg)
I'm sure they must be good at something aside from making noisy displays and long speeches, but I'm drawing a blank here.
The Germans applied their orderly mindset to asswhuppage and the problem of ethnic diversity with famously extreme results. Their tall bodycount has less to do with the extent of their hatred than with their talent for killing people and the serious, methodical, German way they tackled the project. They pioneered mass murder as an industrial process.
Arabs are not Germans or anything like them. Seriously, picture a concentration camp run by Arabs. Here's a hint if you're having trouble: They wouldn't manage it any better than anything else. Half the Jews would escape in weeks through holes in the fences because the guy hired to repair them is the commandant's son-in-law and never comes to work; or maybe they'd just climb out because the only thing the guards can hit with their AKs is the sky when they fire them at weddings. Not many Jews would die inside because the gas chamber would fall into disrepair, start leaking and kill people standing near it, so the guards would be afraid to use it.
However ill-suited to running Auchwitz the Palestinians would be, they are even less able to arrange the situation in the first place. This would require a victory on the battlefield. Not only do they lack the talent for this, but they show no interest in acquiring it. Their idea of armed struggle against Israel involves showy but pointless things like sporadic suicide attacks on discos and firing one 81mm mortar round per day in the general direction of Tel Aviv. A German (or an American) would save up that ammo for a proper bombardment, bring it down on an identifiable target, and follow up with an assault.
I don't see Hamas turning this around. The worst they could do is raise the meyhem level some.
Posted by: ShannonKW at January 26, 2006 04:17 PM (dT1MB)
I thought everyone in the bar was going to choke to death before I realized what I'd said. Thankfully the bartender thought it was as funny as everyone else. I was a little embarassed to say the least.
Posted by: Oyster at January 26, 2006 05:11 PM (YudAC)
Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at January 26, 2006 10:46 PM (0yYS2)
The Nazis were snappy dressers - if anything - they did know how to make a fashion statement without being ostentatious. Can't see arabs coming even close with towels and sheets.
Posted by: hondo at January 27, 2006 12:58 AM (3aakz)
Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at January 27, 2006 01:29 PM (0yYS2)
Posted by: ucjrpyfe gycsibzlf at July 07, 2006 06:20 AM (IHEMr)
Posted by: kristina at July 23, 2006 12:44 PM (pGN0q)
34 queries taking 0.0714 seconds, 168 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.