A direct response to Glenn Beck

I'm running behind schedule. I apologize. I'm currently working on the section that will debunk Beck's claims about links between Nazism and communism. I've done some reorganization of the main points of the script since I posted my first outline, but the three main parts are the same as before:

1. Refute claims that Marx and Engels were racists.
2. Refute claims that the Nazis were socialists.
3. Refute claims that communists killed lots of people and were just as bad as the Nazis.

Part 2 is further divided into three segments:
A. Explain some important ideological differences between Nazis and Marxists.
B. Describe the history of communist opposition and resistance to the Nazis.
C. Show how the economic policies of Nazi Germany were conservative and pro-capitalist.

What I am about to post is the script for segment A.

[FONT=Calibri]Note #1: Text in brackets – [like this] – is advice about the visual elements that I think should be used with the part of the script where they occur.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]Note #2: All italicized quotes should be shown on-screen, at the same time they are read. We might want to use a faint picture of the person who said the quote as a background. Also, ideally, the voice reading the quote should be different from the main narrator. We might want to have three voice actors: narrator; reactionary quote reader; Marxist quote reader.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]SCRIPT:[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Before we even begin, we must point out that Glenn Beck is comparing apples and oranges. Or rather, he’s comparing one orange [show an orange with a swastika on it] with a huge pile of different apples [show large number of apples with various communist symbols on them].[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]The Nazis were one party [show Nazi eagle-with-swastika logo], under one leader [show a picture of Hitler], in one country [show a map of pre-war Germany]. They existed for about 25 years [show text: “1920-1945”, below a swastika; and maybe add some other graphics to give an idea of a time scale].[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Communists, on the other hand, are a diverse collection of people from all across the world [show map of world, maybe with some communist symbol above it]. There have been hundreds of communist parties [show a large collection of logos of various communist parties], under hundreds of different leaders [show a large collection of pictures of various communist leaders]. The communist movement has existed for over 160 years [show text: “1848-present”, below a hammer&sickle; and maybe add some other graphics to give an idea of a time scale].[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]In short, the Nazis were a single organization, while the communists are a much larger number of people divided between many different organizations, some of which strongly disagree with others on a whole host of issues. The Nazis carry responsibility for each other’s actions, because they were all members of the same group and followed the same leader. But communists, with their large number of different groups, different leaders and different ideas, are another story. You can be a communist and oppose Stalin, just like you can be a conservative and oppose, for example, Otto von Bismarck [show a picture of Bismarck]. Or you can be a conservative without having ever heard of Bismarck. But you can’t be a Nazi if you’re against Hitler.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Having said that, let’s dive right into Glenn Beck’s allegations about similarities between Nazism and communism. First off, Glenn Beck claims that Hitler was somewhat sympathetic to Marxist ideas – that is, communist ideas. This is a bald-faced lie. To find out what Hitler really believed about Marxism, you only have to read Mein Kampf. The book is fully available online, and we encourage you to check for yourself. Here are just a few of the things that Hitler wrote about communism. They start in chapter 2:[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]“Marxism is... a pestilential whore, cloaking herself as social virtue and brotherly love, from which I hope humanity will rid this earth with the greatest dispatch.” <Mein Kampf, chapter 2>[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Just a few paragraphs later, we find out that Hitler considered German socialists to be "the mortal enemies of our nationality." <Mein Kampf, chapter 2> He does not mince words.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]In chapter 3 we find out that Hitler’s hatred of Marxist socialism was related to his hatred of democracy:[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]“The Western democracy of today is the forerunner of Marxism which without it would not be thinkable. It provides this world plague with the culture in which its germs can spread.” <Mein Kampf, chapter 3>[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]It goes on and on. In chapter 4, Hitler says:[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]“In the years 1913 and 1914, I, for the first time... expressed the conviction that the question of the future of the German nation was the question of destroying Marxism.” <Mein Kampf, chapter 4>[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]In chapter 5 we are told that Marxism is "a treacherous brotherhood of the Jewish poisoners of the people", and that "Marxism's goal is and remains the destruction of all non-Jewish national states." Hitler also tells us, for the first time, what he thinks the German government should have done to get rid of the socialist movement:[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]"What, then, should have been done? The leaders of the whole movement should at once have been put behind bars, brought to trial, and thus taken off the nation's neck. All the implements of military power should have been ruthlessly used for the extermination of this pestilence. The parties should have been dissolved, the Reichstag brought to its senses, with bayonets if necessary, but, best of all, dissolved at once." <Mein Kampf, chapter 5>[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]This is only chapter 5. Mein Kampf has 27 chapters. Almost every one of them drips with venom against Marxist socialism and communism. Hitler repeats his call for the extermination of Marxists several times. Just briefly skimming Mein Kampf will let you see that Nazism is rooted in a very deep hatred of communism. Hitler’s hatred of communism goes even deeper than his hatred of the Jews.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Here we come to another one of Glenn Beck’s falsehoods. Glenn Beck said that Hitler hated communists because he believed them to be part of a Jewish conspiracy. In fact, it was the other way around. Hitler started by opposing communism first, and then went on to hate the Jews because he believed them to be the secret force behind the communist movement. Hitler's most fundamental political belief was anti-communism, and Nazi anti-Semitism grew out of anti-communism. Hitler explains this process himself:[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]"I took all the socialist pamphlets I could lay hands on and sought the names of their authors: Jews. I noted the names of the leaders; by far the greatest part were likewise members of the 'chosen people'... It was always the same gruesome picture. One thing had grown dear to me: the party with whose petty representatives I had been carrying on the most violent struggle for months was, as to leadership, almost exclusively in the hands of a foreign people; for, to my deep and joyful satisfaction, I had at last come to the conclusion that the Jew was no German." <Mein Kampf, chapter 2>[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]So Hitler had been “carrying out the most violent struggle” against Marxist socialism for months before he began thinking of Marxism as a Jewish conspiracy. Hatred of Marxism led to hatred of Jews.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]But why did Hitler hate communism so much? Why did the Nazis oppose Marxism with such fervor? After all, we are told that both Nazism and communism were so-called “totalitarian” movements, so they must have been similar, right? Wrong. Nazism and communism were opposites – politically, economically, and morally. In the fourth chapter of part 2 of Mein Kampf, Hitler explains how his racism, taken to its logical conclusion, is the opposite of communism:[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]"It would be absurd to appraise a man's worth by the race to which he belongs and at the same time to make war against the Marxist principle, that all men are equal, without being determined to pursue our own principle to its ultimate consequences. If we admit the significance of blood, that is to say, if we recognize the race as the fundamental element on which all life is based, we shall have to apply to the individual the logical consequences of this principle. In general I must estimate the worth of nations differently, on the basis of the different races from which they spring, and I must also differentiate in estimating the worth of the individual within his own race. The principle, that one people is not the same as another, applies also to the individual members of a national community. No one brain, for instance, is equal to another; because the constituent elements belonging to the same blood vary in a thousand subtle details, though they are fundamentally of the same quality." <Mein Kampf, part II, chapter 4>[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri][make sure that the quote text remains on-screen for a long time – ideally until the next quote][/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]There you have it. One of the best explanations of the difference between Nazism and communism ever written – and right from the horse’s mouth. The basic principle of Marxism is the equality of all human beings. The basic principle of Nazism is the inequality of all human beings. Communists say that all people are equal, regardless of race or individual differences. Nazis say that no one is equal – they think that some races are better than others, and that some individuals are superior to others within the same race.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]This also puts to rest the myth that Hitler wanted "socialism for one race", or "equality for Germans only", or anything like that. Hitler clearly says that he is the enemy of equality - any equality, any socialism. Hitler clearly says that he believes not only in the superiority of Germans over other races, but also in the superiority of some Germans over others. Nazism is the opposite of communism, because communism believes in radical equality, while Nazism believes in radical inequality and hierarchy - between races and between individuals.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]And how do the Nazis propose to find those superior individuals that they admire so much? Hitler explains:[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]"It is difficult to select from among a whole multitude of people all those who actually possess the highest intellectual and spiritual characteristics... This selection according to capacity and efficiency cannot be effected in a mechanical way. It is a work which can be accomplished only through the permanent struggle of everyday life itself." <Mein Kampf, part II, chapter 4>[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]The permanent struggle for everyday life itself. Competition. Survival of the most efficient. These are the same ideas that lie behind capitalism and the free market.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]The Nazis wanted to take the free market principles of competition, efficiency and inequality to their logical conclusion. And in doing this, they had to reject democracy. We've seen earlier that Hitler hated democracy because he considered it a forerunner of communism. In the same chapter as before, he explains that his rejection of democracy is aimed at giving the world to "the best people" - the superior individuals:[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]"A philosophy of life which repudiates the democratic principle of the rule of the masses and aims at giving this world to the best people – that is, to the highest quality of mankind – must also apply that same aristocratic postulate to the individuals within the race-community. It must take care that the positions of leadership and highest influence are given to the best men. Hence it is not based on the idea of the majority, but on that of personality." <Mein Kampf, part II, chapter 4>[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]The Nazis opposed democracy for the same reason they opposed socialism and communism – because they believed that people are not equal, and that the world should be ruled by superior individuals who prove their worth in ruthless competition. In other words, the Nazis believed that the state should be organized like a capitalist corporation.[/FONT]

Looks bloody great Kwisatz. School's in so I won't have as much time, but I hope to have most of my work ready by Sunday.

Sorry for the extremely late reply. i think this is great. this could probably be the first part in a series since it does not cover all of beck's program. This goes to great lengths though to show how beck is not credible.

Great Job

I think comparing people to nazi's is dumb and we shouldnt do it.

We should show how conservatives are closely related to the Nazis without making stupid reductio ad Hitlerum arguments and such.

A big part of the argument is that Hitler was not a right-winger, in which Beck uses this then to attack Communists, Socialists, & any other leftist belief. So I think we should express more evidence that Hitler was far from being a leftist, in which I think this site can help us a lot: http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitler.htm

It might help to define what is right wing and left wing. In the US it has an entirely different meaning than it used to.

I think I made an attempt to do that, but I have to look into this further.

Any news from Kwisatz?

Not much progress has been made...I'm wondering whether anyone else is still committed.

It's a problem we faced with from the very beginning: We got too many people that wanted to see this happen, but had no real talents. The people with talents (if any) didn't take this project to its next level.

Asking for stuff to happen doesn't work. If you want stuff to happen, do it.

i wanna help im good in cad and thats bout it