Daily Gut: Kids and Competition
by Greg GutfeldSo in Australia, which is a country, a swimming school operator plans to stage a symbolic protest against what she calls the “sanitization” of kids’ sports, by holding a “swimming carnival.”
I have no idea how she’s getting the Ferris Wheel into the pool, but screw the details: Julie Stevens says that while competition often puts pressure on children, the kids actually crave the stress. The 300 or so tykes that have signed up so far apparently like being part of a team, and having the opportunity to shine before their peers and parents. You can’t do that without competition, the potential for winning (and losing) and stylish swim trunks.
Trophies for Everyone!
Of course, Stevens admits this is unpopular with folks concerned with children’s self-esteem. But most of those folks are idiots. We’ve learned that removing objective measures for achievement does nothing but create what I call “success socialism,” where it becomes pointless to build character when there’s nowhere to express it.
More important, competitive sports help you shape the kind of adult you’re going to become. Me? I sucked at most sports – but I played nearly every one because it taught me a valuable lesson: that I sucked at most sports. True, because of this, my teammates despised me: I couldn’t make a free throw, hit a fastball, or spike a volleyball. But I made up for it by playing nude.
But most importantly, my feelings were not spared because of my failures. No one attempted to comfort me just because potatoes were more coordinated than me. Fact is, my failures in sport steered me into areas where I could excel, and did. Of course I am talking about modern dance and taxidermy. Inevitably I combined the two, and if you would like to see my “Alvin the Chipmunk does Alvin Ailey,” stop by my trailer after work. Ignore the flies.
the great author Andrew Klavan
Andrea Tantaros
Jonathan Hoenig
and…John Bolton!
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119 Comments
If you're not allowed to lose, you're also not allowed to win.
Every no-loser zone is a no-winner zone.
The only thing that I would suggest, though, is that there be enough participants that losers out-number the winners by a rather large margin.
And I'm all for "participation" ribbons.
I sucked at sports too, but played them all the time, to the torturous laughter of my so-called friends. Since that didn't work out I turned to academics, got a college degree, and now I have a house, cars, big huge flat panel TV, a German Shepherd big enough to keep a-holes out of my life, and I watch every one who laughed at me drive trucks and file for welfare.
You can learn an awful lot about life through failure. Like stop doing what you suck and start doing what you're good at!
I'm with ya. Very few people are bad at everything and without competition we end up steering people towards things they can't do well and away from things they could do.
True, we don't need a lot of taxidermic dancers, but every decent society should have one or two.
I also have no problem with participation ribbons. It don't hurt to give the kids encouragement to try again. It also doesn't hurt to break them up into skill levels so they compete against their peers. No sense making the geeks play football against the varsity squad. Although that is kinda entertaining for the fans. How high can a varsity player make a geek bounce after a spike anyway?
Participation ribbons don't sound excessive to me. Each kid, I think, deserves some kind of approbation for having the guts to come out and compete.
You never learn what your strengths and weaknesses are until they are tested.
Participation ribbons and such are fine to me, but the rewards for 1st place still have to give everyone involved the incentive to compete. Otherwise, what's the point of even trying to do anything well if nothing's going to get noticed above the rest?
And really, you know if you're better at something than someone else…don't you want to stand out for that? Do you want to be considered at the same level as the guy next to you who's clearly worse? That'd be like me standing next to Nolan Ryan after a pitching contest and both of us getting the same reward…I mean, that's just retarded. And not funny retarded…like, barney frank retarded.
I'm all about participation ribbons as well. What kills me are the baseball leagues that "don't keep score" because we all know the kids still keep track. Part of competing is learning how to win and lose well (something that many in politics seemed never to grasp).
everyone who has been to a bogus game where they don't keep score, knows who won and who lost. hell the kids know the ending score better than anyone there. life = competition. doesn't matter if the socialists aren't keeping track, we all know what the score is.
This is the kind of thinking being pushed by the Left. There is no real winners or losers there's just…. Is. Well I've got news for the Great Sensitive Lollipop Utopians. Life is a very tough proposition even if you were lucky enough to be born in any Free Country much-less the US of A. Finding that out early in life through sports is a healthy and normal way to be enlightened about that fact of life. It develops strength in self and character something the Far -Left elitist are devoid of.
It is important to note that Fascism was created for one reason, to do away with competition. Many of FDR's plans were ruled unconstitutional because they violated monopoly and anti-trust laws.
Fascism is also known as corporatism because corporations (East India Co.) were originally formed to create monopolies. Today, in South America, it is known as industrialism. It is the same Leftist Utopian ideology.
FUN FACT: Fascism, or the ideology that opposes competition, is the enemy in the book Atlas Shrugged.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
Dang I was a three sporter in H.S. and, der, I forgot to be a dumbass!
(actually I have a math deficiency that stems fro walking into various math classes in H.S. and being asked "don't you have a game tonight?" GET TO THE GYM/FIELD/TRACK DAMMIT!,…. 70's Texas, it was crazy)
FUNNY, FUNNY, FUNNY HA HA HA!!
Is there really a need for a "participation ribbon?"
In my day, not too long ago, we kept our jerseys and had a team photo as well as the snapshots that parents took during every game. Much better than a generic ribbon in my opinion.
looking around, I think sports for kids is a good thing, but not for anything to do with their mental state.
we got an epidemic of fatties coming up. that's the real problem.
if Facism is in opposition to competition, then how do you figure in something like the Hitler Youth (aka Nazi Boy Scouts)?
they had a culture of competition and physical fitness, among other things.
Also: competition for kids doesn't need to be just in athletics. Why not competition for art and computers? Writing? What's wrong with any of that?
I think they're a little insulting to the kids, because the kids know they're BS. I remember getting one for some elementary school Field Day and hiding it. I didn't want the same stupid participation ribbon that everyone got – we got them for nothing! They didn't mean anything! I wanted one of those First Place ribbons, or even a Third Place.
Actually, I don't think it was for a Field Day; I was pretty good at running with an egg in a spoon. But whatever. Kids aren't dumb. Participation ribbons suck.
I've read this before. This ethic should be taught to every American child in this Country age 5 up and it doesn't hurt for those of us who have more behind us than ahead of us to be reminded of it. TR Knew his Stuff. Thanks for posting it Brother.
It’s an important part of the American experience and the Free Market system, there are winners and losers, you remove that and we’re just another crappy country.
I'm a firm proponent of chess-boxing. Maybe we should do more stuff like that.
Go-runs: Each player takes a turn, then they both do a 400 meter dash.
Spelling B-iathalons: Shooting, skiing, and spelling.
I'm not saying people who are good at sports are dumb asses. I'm saying the dumb asses who used to laugh at me when I caught a softball in the mouth were dumb asses. I'm all for decent people excelling at what ever they choose!
All winter long I live for football. And that ain't easy being a Jets fan.
Posting a picture of an American Taekwondo Association event to underscore this point is not accurate. While all kids receive a "victory" trophy for participation, there are still 1st, 2nd and 3rd places given as well as fierce competition for State and World Championships. Receiving an award for participation is a good thing. They stepped up to the plate, competed and gave their best. They should be rewarded for that above the thousands of kids who stayed home on a Saturday morning watching cartoons. After all, often life is 90% showing up. Additionally, training in a martial arts program, specifically in an ATA martial arts program provides children with countless rewards, both tangible, physical, psychological and mental. The life skills they learn are transferable to many other parts of their upbringing as future leaders of America.
Because the Nazi's weren't Fascists. They were CALLED Fascists by the Communists after the Hitler-Stalin Pact dissolved. Hitler assassinated the Fascist leader of Austria and he justified invading Poland because he was overthrowing Fascism. Hitler was his own animal.
Also, the Communists called Franco a Fascist in Spain when in reality he had no political ideology. His side made up everyone who wasn't a Communist. Everyone who opposed the Communists were called Fascists. (by the Communists) From that point, the word started to mean, "our enemy" or "anyone we don't agree with."
Fascism comes from the Italian word "Fascio" which means bundle, as in forming a monopoly. FDR and his admin. constantly praised the ideology and tried to implement, going as far as trying to rewrite the Constitution. The war stopped his efforts and policies and allowed our economy to function. And thus, we came out of the depression.
This perversion of the term may be the reason why Ayn Rand never uses the word Fascism in Atlas Shrugged. She merely used the ideology without giving it a name.
Greg, make sure next time PAB returns to the panel, that she wears that same dress.
Thank you.
PS. Make sure Bill is off that night.
I don't think the problem is competition, I think the problem is parents. Go back a generation or two and kids played ball on a dirt lot. No uniforms, no sponsors and no parents. School teams are great too but parents should be try parenting and not obsessively following their childrens "activities".
GUTFIELD FOR PRESIDENTIAL SPORTS CZAR!
"be try parenting"? Obviously I graduated from the Tonto school of grammar. I need an editor.
In other words, the Nazis weren't Fascists, they were Nazis.
If your kid grows up without ever experiencing losing, you, as a parent have failed to prepare that child for the real world.
I sorry, I understood what you meant… I hated people ragging other kids because they wern't good at whatever sport. I was a terrible baseball player, but I could play other stuff and I was just taller and bigger than most of the other kids. We don't have *winter* sports in Texas, everytime I'd go to visit my cousins in Illinois the thought it was funny I didn't ice skate. I live in Texas dammit! Nobody skated in Texas in those days…hang in there vis a vis the Jets. Sanchez has a strong arm and a great pedigree…
I sorry, I understood what you meant… I hated people ragging other kids because they wern't good at whatever sport. I was a terrible baseball player, but I could play other stuff and I was just taller and bigger than most of the other kids. We don't have *winter* sports in Texas, everytime I'd go to visit my cousins in Illinois they thought it was funny I didn't ice skate. I live in Texas dammit! Nobody skated in Texas in those days…hang in there vis a vis the Jets. Sanchez has a strong arm and a great pedigree…
oh right. I'm here discussing things with the "everything up is down" people. got it.
Shooting, skiing, and spelling. That might be fun, unless you have a tendancy to switch letters around in words, then it's a whole new game.
(I say this because I mentally switched the vowels as I read it and went whoa! before I reread it)
I think participation ribbons suck. While I was in the Army, the trend to give away service medals like candy continued unabated. As a junior officer, I frequently told my bosses I would rather have a case of beer than another service medal. Nobody gives a rat's hairy patootie how many Army Commendation Medals you have. Promotion Boards generally will only take notice of decorations if you were awarded a Silver Star. Buy the kids pizza and ice cream and most will be happier than clams about it. My kids all have boxes of ribbons, and only care about the teams that were winners.
No losers means no winners = Socialism, where everyone is just a loser.
No, you're pretending to understand history when you can't find your azz with both hands and a compass. Go away troll.
my 3rd grade teacher had weekly "drawing contests". I would copy drawings of spaceships out of the back of Odyssey magazines and win 2/3s of them. it was GREAT for my ego.
You clearly should stick with that and leave the discussions to the grown ups. Troll.
I'm just flat out uncoordinated. Man, I walk into walls, I trip over empty space. My older siblings were smart enough to take the ice skates away from me and hide them.
So I just decided a long time ago, who cares? Stop worrying and complaining about what I can't do, and enjoy life doing the things I can, that I enjoy.
For example, I can make a shrimp stuffed Cornish game hem that is to die for, just ask Gut's pool boy. And I can last seven days out in the woods, two mile hike from the cars, and that's 20 miles from civilization.
Its amazing what you can do when you try, and there are a lot of things out there to try.
Whoa, outdoors! Not me…I've tried, I'm a natuarly rotten camper/hunter/fisherman…even for a Texan. Hike? Sure, if it's in a city with bars and hotels and stuff. My absolute bottom form of refuge from the elements is like a Motel 6…as for cooking…uh, nope. I used to eat the same thing everyday until it ran out and my current stove would rot if the G.F. didn't use it…I tip my hat to you sir! You truly have "skills"!
I remember getting participation trophies in baseball – I loved those things. Epecially when I would tape a handfull of m-80's to them and blow them to pieces.
Anyone who would actually take pride in a participation ribbon or trophy is just accepting defeat, which is what losing is really all about.
And what's this about baseball leagues that don't keep score? I've never heard of this. If the league my kid is in doesn't keep score, you better believe that I will be. Wins should be celebrated, and losses and wins should be seen as opportunities for improvement.
Fascists, Communists, Socialists…they're all just Statists.
What did Bernie Goldberg call this "The Wussification of America". Now I am all for alternative activities in Gym class and not everything has to be competitive. I saw his report on what some schools were doing and some are just messed up like tag without touching and jumping rope without rope.
But one school had set up a rock climbing wall and other things beside competitive games which I think is a great idea and would have liked that when I was in school. But I had wondered when hearing this teacher explain how he taught without competition, that when it came time to demonstrate the rock climbing wall. Did he call the fat kid in class to demo it or did he pick the thin kid first? Because I highly doubt that this teacher was going with the fat kid to show how to do it. So instead of competiton where the fat kid might beat out the thin kid the teacher teacher has taught elitism where the fat kid never even got a chance.
So instead of teaching fair play and competitiveness he teaches a far crueler lesson one in which some people lose long before they even knew they had a chance.
It depends on the kid. I remember baseball season ending every August and being absolutely depressed until football started. But yeah, the kids turning into fatties are a problem too. Maybe it's because they aren't allowed to win at real sports so they find other ways to compete, like Guitar Hero and Madden 2000-whatever year it is.
Bill doesn't bug me as much as when Greg has SE Cupp sitting by him and not on the end for those gratuitous leg shots. C'mon Greg!!!
The Wussification of America is in full throttle. Is it a bad thing? could be. It could also make real world success that much easier to attain for kids that are raised to win, like mine.
what's wrong with art contests? in the vein of spelling bees, etc?
or are you just trying to win the jerk contest?
right. you are saying I don't understand history because I said that the Nazis were Facists.
You are part of the revisionist effort of those on the right to twist around all these concepts. And to boot, you want to shout down anyone who disagrees with your efforts by hurling insults.
whatever. The Nazis were facists and they were on the ultra right. Dispute that all you like but the FACT is that is the historical conventional usage and anything else is some revisionistic campaigning propoganda from the right. You don't like what I'm saying too bad, sometimes the truth hurts.
Just like everyone here that hates the illegals, the Nazi's were nativists. Today, the Neo-Nazi's of Germany and Australia, they hate immigrants. This is the way of the ultra right. This is the way of anyone who equates their nationality with a particular ethnic group.
Just like everyone here that hates the illegals, the Nazi's were nativists. Today, the Neo-Nazi's of Germany and Australia, they hate immigrants. This is the way of the ultra right. This is the way of anyone who equates their nationality with a particular ethnic group.
And its got nothing to do with socialism or capitalism.
My thoughts exactly. The sooner someone figures out what they can't do, the more time they have to figure out what they can.
All at the same time!
FORENSICS:
F
*BLAM!*
O
*BLAM!*
{slalom!}
*BLAM!*
<*sigh*> The Nazis' economic policies were 100% USDA certified socialist.. But it's been convenient for the Left ever since 1945 to slap the 'fascist' or 'Nazi' label on conservatives.
I agree. Honest. Drawing contests are a good thing.
"And when everyone is special…..no one will be."
–Syndrome, "The Incredibles"
Heck, make sure that both you and Andy take that night off too.
Just have PAB on air for a hour. It will be the highest rated program at 3am in the history of Television.
My ulta-liberal town is very much the land of 'every kid gets a medal'. Here's what's fascinating – we have a very, very competitive jump rope team. National champions, touring the world, on tv kind of good. The coach is old-school (I'm sure he's former military) – loads of discipline and very intense. To make the team is HUGE – about 300 kids attend his program but only about 100 make the cut to actually be on the team. And guess what? These libs are desperate to have their kid make the team. All I can conclude is that competition is only good when their kid makes the cut.
History tells us that the Nazi's were Right Wing. So . . . are they for a limited role of government?
Well put. Thank you.
As the kid who was always picked last, I'm glad I experienced my tears of being laughed at & picked on. It made me stronger for all the other problems that happen in life. I had a job that was union. I worked so hard & was so excited when I got a raise. Then I found out that raises were given out everytime you worked so many hours. That made me cry. I wanted to be recognized for doing well, but it turned out people who would just show up & do an awful job were getting raise after raise. I left that job. I don't like socialism.
dan is right. the problem is that parents don't want little johnny to feel bad. fast forward…little johnny is now occupying the basement of their home, unemployed and lacking basic hygeine. the best life's lessons are often taught by our peers. sometimes johnny needs to be picked last for kickball.
ass, cash or grass…no one rides for free
Here is a quick video with Ron Paul discussing Fascism and it's similarity to Obama's economic policies.
http://www.popmodal.com/video/2507/Obama-Fascism
There certainly is revisionist history and this is why. It scares people away from discussing the actual ideas.
Mussolini specifically spoke out against how illogical racism is. And how are the Nazi's Ultra Right? are they for a limited role of government?
The Neo Nazi movement was born out of class warfare. That facilitated hate for immigrants, similar to the labor movement of the early 20th century here in the US.
Hugo Chavez, La Raza, Black Panthers are all staunch Nativists and extreme Socialists. Your logic is flawed.
Only in an upside down world could the National Socialist Party not be Socialist.
Greg, Success Socialism. What a concept. I've often wondered what actually motivated youngsters to become taxidermists.
When I was in school I participated in computer competitions as well as speech and drama (drama might not have a competition at the *end* but you did compete for parts at the beginning!) band, choir and solo voice. The choir and solo competitions were a variety of pass/fail. If you passed at a lower level competition you got to go to the higher one. 25 years later I am still hurt and angry that one year (probably my senior) I made it to the region/state level in the solo competition and got a "star" at that level…. oops… Jr. year, because I remember, even now, the name of the one other person in our whole school who did so and he was a year ahead of me. The two of us got NO additional recognition. There was no explanation for it. Everyone who made it *to* the State level competition got their picture in the local paper and everything but not one mention, not even one that of them all only Julie and Jason got the higher award at that competition. I had a song perfect for my range and a great day… real underdog thing… while all the usual stars must have had a bad day. Is that an excuse for the slap in *my* face?
And then my choir teacher had the unmitigated gall to tell my parents at a parent-teacher conference that I'd do much better but that I lacked confidence. Oh, really? And I wonder why I lacked confidence?
Bah. Spit.
*sigh* Whatever.
I still remember the computer programming competition and the question that I never got to work because I put the wrong number of days in one of the months (I had team input and no one else caught it either but it was my program). One more program that spit out the right answer and our team would have been in the top schools… not the very top team, but enough to brag.
Stuff sticks with you.
Schools still have computer and science competitions, drama, speech and debate, choir and band. It's not all hopeless.
This is why Nancy Pelosi erroneously claimed that health care protestors were carrying swastikas. Fear.
"Just like everyone here that hates the illegals, the Nazi's were nativists. Today, the Neo-Nazi's of Germany and Australia, they hate immigrants. This is the way of the ultra right. This is the way of anyone who equates their nationality with a particular ethnic group." You mean like African Americans? They are a group that "equates their nationality with a particular ethnic group". It's even in their politcally correct way of describing themselves. Are you saying they are Ultra right and Fascists then?
You don't make much sense. If you show pride or identify yourself with a ethnic group your a facists? Or does that apply to only certain people? How about Italians? Peurto Ricans? You say everyone here hates illegals. Really? You are here. Does that include you?
Losing is just a part of life. If someone can't handle losing as a child, how are they going to deal with it as an adult?
I'd heard fascia, or something related to architecture, essentially implying a united face or presentation… not monopoly so much as unity.
In any case, that actually fits very well with modern understanding of fascism being something that takes away freedom. Fascism is hardly typified as everyone doing their own thing, after all. It's everyone complying and working together.
And besides… the Nazis can be socialist and fascist both, easily enough. I don't think that fascism defines the means of production in the context of that united and uniform effort.
Which, hey, doesn't *have* to take away freedom. Maybe everyone will just voluntarily cooperate, you think?
The reason, as I understand it, behind describing a great deal of modern liberalism as fascism isn't (or isn't *just*) to call names because fascism is Bad, but to point out that liberal policies won't work if there are any significant number of people who fail to cooperate. The logical and necessary end, in order to make the policies function, is to force cooperation.
Freedom requires policies robust and flexible enough to allow a society to retain spaces where the uncooperative, even nutcase individuals can exist without unbalancing the whole.
Dance Dance Revolution.
Actually… if you ever get to watch kids doing DDR or ITG, ones who are really good at it, besides them being dripping disgusting sweat and funk… it's almost scary the extent that reaction is circumvented to immediate accurate action on beats that are almost faster than you could tap out with your hand on a single button much less four or eight. Think of the last time you tried to play that game with the mallet and the gophers popping up.
Anyway… the fat kid thing isn't just that the kids aren't in sports… lots and lots of kids in previous generations were never in organized sports. A great deal of it is because kids are not allowed to roam outdoors because it is now considered dangerous. We *keep* them inside and then fuss that it's the video games. Is it?
(It wasn't safe to roam about outdoors *then* either… but our tolerance for risk has shrunk as drastically as our family size.)
I don't know that it made me stronger to lose all the time, but I did get really good at it!
And I learned not to let it destroy me when it happened.
As others have said, I did learn what I was good at and learned to really *enjoy* being good at those things and enjoy challenging myself to see improvement.
And yes… when you care about doing well and you find out that it gets you nothing at all… that is soul-killing.
You reminded me of an incident playing basketball with my brother…I'm several years older than he so we never competed as kids…when he was in his teens and I was in my mid to later 20's and we were out shooting some ball at the local playground. Well a pickup game developes and I just assumed he had SOME game…er, No. Zip. Nada. It was a real freak out to me, I just figured same parents, some game. None. We don't speak of that terrible day even now…
This topic again? I say that we let all these people raise their kids this way. That way when they enter the real world, they will all be working for my kid.
Klavan's on the show tonight…hell yeah!
right. you are saying I don't understand history because I said that the Nazis were fascists.
You are part of the revisionist effort of those on the right to twist around all these concepts. And to boot, you want to shout down anyone who disagrees with your efforts by hurling insults.
whatever. The Nazis were fascists and they were on the ultra right. Dispute that all you like but the FACT is that is the historical conventional usage and anything else is some revisionistic campaigning propoganda from the right. You don't like what I'm saying too bad, sometimes the truth hurts.
"In order to be on the honor roll, all you really need to do is maintain a body temperature roughly in the 90s…" – George Carlin
I'm not a Carlin fan, but I love this bit and it ties into this topic:
<a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqWDaYYfB_s&fe…” target=”_blank”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqWDaYYfB_s&fe…
Up until two years ago, Park Forest, Illinois (about 35 miles south of Chicago) used to host a 10-mile/5-kilometer run on Labor Day (both races started at the same time but followed different courses to finish at the same location). While the winners (of the overall races and of the different age/sex categories) received special medals (and cash prizes), every finisher got a participation medal. I have mine from all the races that I participated in. One year, I followed the progress of one young woman who finished dead last in the 10-mile race. She was dead tired but I bet she still treasures her participation medal that she got when she crossed the finish line.
you guys should take this budding bromance offline!
Now who is the revisionist? I don't like illegals, but hate is a strong word, I would not say I hate them. I do hate what they are doing to our country in the form of economic burden and stolen opportunities.
Now, immigrants!?! I love immigrants. Bring me your poor, you downtrodden! If they want to assimilate into the great experiment, come on down.
See as much as you would like to not believe it, immigrants and illegals are not the same thing.
well I agree with you there. I grew up in suburban midwest (e.g. think of "John Hughes" movies actually). We'd roam around on bmx bikes and our parents wouldn't be able to locate us until after dusk.
Today, as my wife and I plan for our future kids… I can't see that sort of thing for our kids here in California, which is really sad.
Yet the trend here in America is to illegalize the "auslander". This wasn't always the case.
I'm not saying they weren't socialists. All I'm saying is that this is relatively insignificant. What 20th century European political party was not socialist? Yet the Nazi's stand out in that group? They are on the far right of that spectrum. Why? Because they were arch nativists. And because they were supremely pro-military.
I'm not saying they weren't socialists. All I'm saying is that this is relatively insignificant. What 20th century European political party was not socialist? Yet the Nazi's stand out in that group! They are on the far right of that spectrum. Why? Because they were arch nativists. And because they were supremely pro-military.
Well, if you believe in the formation of a "State". Then aren't you a "Statist"?
Thoughtful post. Much more so than the flames I expected after the screed I left. "Forced co-operation" This is the main thing to criticizing Communism, to my mind. I haven't equated that to Fascism, as you put it. But I suppose that's true too.
In any case, as an Obama supporter, my expectation of him is that he lead- that he act to make his policies effective through ENTICEMENT, and through his popularity as a politician, and his ability to broker compromise to secure mutually agreeable deals for involved parties.
This is what I expect from any leader here in a democracy (or "representative republic" if you will).
SO- my dear peanut gallery- what acts of COERCISION do you accuse our dear leader of?
"Bring me your poor, you downtrodden! "
well whatever happened to that? When did legal immigration become so difficult?
That's YOUR economic-oriented BRANDING of "Right Wing".
My definition (and I would suggestion that many feel this way!) … of "Right Wing" is: Militaristic, extreme-Patriotism taken to the point of Conformism, Nativism. Anti-Internationalism.
The Nazi's were all of these things. But so are other groups I know of.
That's YOUR economic-oriented BRANDING of "Right Wing".
My definition (and I would suggest that many feel this way!) … of "Right Wing" is: Militaristic, extreme-Patriotism taken to the point of Conformism, Nativism. Anti-Internationalism.
The Nazi's were all of these things. But so are other groups I know of.
I'm not illegal. why do you suggest that I am?
African American's can be nationalistic, obviously. There are many cases of that. Are they left or right? Well you can make an argument there either way. I've always held that you go to far in one direction you wind up looking the same as if you went to far in the other direction. Another example is "La Raza".
I white in our country banded together in the spirit of groups like La Raza or NAACP, then what would the reaction be?
Well, of course there is a NAAWP. And guess what? They are racist neo-Nazis.
Is there a double standard? One standard for minorities and another for the majority ethnic group? Seems like there is! SO?
I'm not illegal. why do you suggest that I am?
African American's can be nationalistic, obviously. There are many cases of that. Are they left or right? Well you can make an argument there either way. I've always held that you go to far in one direction you wind up looking the same as if you went to far in the other direction. Another example is "La Raza".
If whites in our country banded together in the spirit of groups like La Raza or NAACP, then what would the reaction be?
Well, of course there is a NAAWP. And guess what? They are racist neo-Nazis.
Is there a double standard? One standard for minorities and another for the majority ethnic group? Seems like there is! SO?
not sure if I get your post. But anyway I think Forensics for teenage students is outstanding.
"The Nazis' economic policies were 100% USDA certified socialist"
So tell me one of these policies that is SO BAD?
I will tell you one: The Nazi's – socialistically (and militaristically) had Germany build the Autobahn for itself. Ostensibly so that tanks and forces go move around the homeland efficiently.
In a similar (same?) token, in the 1950s, the US Federal Government spent millions (billions?) establishing our Interstate System. This was in fact inspired by and modeled after the Nazi's Autobahn.
Further, this SOCIALISTIC enterprise contributed to one of the biggest economic BOOMS in America's history!
So, now, what is so bad again, about this particular example of "national" and, ahem, "socialism" again?
It sure worked out well for the good ol' US of A!
"The Nazis' economic policies were 100% USDA certified socialist"
So tell me one of these policies that is SO BAD?
I will tell you one: The Nazis – socialistically (and militaristically) had Germany build the Autobahn for itself. Ostensibly so that tanks and forces go move around the homeland efficiently.
In a similar (same?) token, in the 1950s, the US Federal Government spent millions (billions?) establishing our Interstate System. This was in fact inspired by and modeled after the Nazi's Autobahn.
Further, this SOCIALISTIC enterprise contributed to one of the biggest economic BOOMS in America's history!
So, now, what is so bad again, about this particular example of "national" and, ahem, "socialism" again?
It sure worked out well for the good ol' US of A!
It was supposed to be a joke about spelling while skeeing and shooting, but I guess it didn't translate well.
oh okay- got it.
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