IBM, Disney, Bush: Nazis?

[jbor]

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>From: "davemarc" <davemarc at panix.com>
>
> The equation that the Nazi "culture of blame" is equal to the post-genocide
> series of lawsuits against Nazis and their associates could be interpreted
> as suggesting that lawyers suing IBM for complicity are just as
> reprehensible as Nazis pursuing genocide.

The "equation", as has been pointed out, is between the "yellow journalism",
propaganda and ulterior motives of those who are distorting the historical
record in order to label Bush or IBM or Disney as Nazis and war criminals,
and the ulterior motives of the Nazi propaganda machine in exploiting
anti-Semitic sentiment amongst the German public during and after the Great
Depression. The equation is in the dishonesty, the insidious motives, the
manipulation of public sentiment, the rhetorical exploitation of actual
suffering, the incitement to hatred and persecution.

> In the case of the Nazis, the
> "culture of blame" was fundamentally a case of the oppressors blaming the
> victims,

The German Jews were not yet "victims" at the time this groundswell of
anti-Semitic sentiment was being whipped up by the Nazis (cf. Pynchon's
representation of Pflaumbaum in _GR_.)

> with extraordinarily dire consequences as well as a lack of legal
> standing among the victims.  That is not the case in the lawsuit against
> IBM.

All the talk about the judicial system and morality and civil rights is
really just a smokescreen isn't it? Opinion polls stand for nought in courts
of law or systems of ethics or the "historical record". Words are cheap. The
U.S. government was still amending the terms of its *business* agreement
with Nazi Germany as late as 1940, as you've stated, and pursuing a course
of economic self-interest and global aloofness which had been inaugurated
with G. Washington's 1793 proclamation of neutrality.

Certainly, the Lend Lease Act (1941-1945) was an arrangement whereby the USA
supplied equipment to Britain and its Allies. The Act was passed by Congress
allowing FDR to lend or lease equipment and supplies to any state whose
defence was considered vital to the security of the USA. About 60% of the
shipments went to Britain as a loan in return for British-owned military
bases. About 20% went to the Soviets. This relaxing of the strict policy of
isolationism was still born of economic and strategic motives -- which were
the motivations of the Neutrality Acts (1935-1939) which had grown out of
the Nye Committee (1934-1936) -- rather than any wish to intervene "in
support of Nazi victims."

The Nye Committee (1934-1936) was the U.S. Senate Committee which
investigated the dealings of the munitions industry and bankers and their
reputed profits from promoting foreign wars. The findings revealed high
profits and a deliberate hostility towards disarmament but no evidence to
support the theory that W. Wilson had at any time been influenced by the
financial "stake" in his relations with Germany.

> The bottom line is that neither the Disneys nor the Bushes
> have been subjected to anything that would put their treatment on a equal
> footing to that doled out by the Nazis onto their victims.

No-one here has been debating the topic in order to defend Bush, Disney or
IBM, or to say that they are "victims". No-one here has been attempting to
defend the Nazis, or to say that the Holocaust didn't happen, or that
anti-Semitism hasn't been long-standing and thoroughgoing in many cultures.

best