News Miner 25

Notes on the Nazis as socialists, furries (yes, again), a rational life, McKean, policing, and more.

More on the Nazis as Socialists

In an article for Complete Colorado and a follow-up here, I made the case that the Nazis were a distinctive sort of socialists. Interestingly, to date no one has tried seriously to refute my case.

Various people have made additional comments on the matter.

State representative Steven Woodrow suggests that the MAGA crown tries to tie the Nazis to socialism because they are “lying to make themselves feel better about being fascists.” That’s probably true in some cases, but the point doesn’t have anything to do with my case.

One person commented:

You're reducing all political philosophies to one dimension: whether they support free markets or not. That’s silly and intellectually weak. Just to score cheap political points? Any serious analysis is multiple dimensions (a simple example: the political compass).

I answered:

I don't think I'm reducing politics to free markets. E.g. a constitutional republican/democratic government is important, as are certain cultural norms. But there is no liberal system without a substantial element of economic liberty. A complete lack of it means totalitarianism.

Terrance Carroll disagreed quite pleasantly. In his column for the Denver Post, he argues it’s a mistake to try to tie Nazism specifically to “left” wing socialism. I agree it’s important to emphasize the distinctive elements of Nazism, including genocidal racism, intense nationalism, and military aggression.

Chase Woodruff argues:

Ari why were so many people confused about this at the time? Why did people on the right support and sympathize with fascist and Nazi regimes while people on the left opposed them? Where can I read about this mass delusion where people didn't really believe what they believed?

Why did Andrew Mellon, Charles Lindbergh and other leading figures of the Harding/Coolidge GOP forge such close ties with fascists? Why did elements of the French right attempt a fascist coup in 1934? Why did conservatives in the US try to ape them with the Business Plot?

Why were the Silver Shirts and other well-established elements of the American Christian nationalist right supporters of the Nazis? By what coincidence did leading figures on the socialist left bitterly oppose all this?

I replied:

You’re just preemptively defining “socialism” as strictly “left” wing, so I’m wrong by definition. Maybe it would help for you to more fully describe what “socialism” is and explain why it must be left-wing. The whole argument is you understand “socialism” too narrowly.

Furries: The Story that Will Never Die

Heidi Ganahl calls Shaun Boyd’s take on “furries” in schools “honest and thorough coverage” of the story. I replied, in part: “Others (including me) have covered the story much better, and Boyd’s report is sensationalist garbage. Boyd ignores the full context of Ganahl’s initial remarks. [Boyd’s] entire story is based on hearsay claims by young children (who never exaggerate or fib!) plus emails by parents worried about ‘furries’ in schools.”

At most, the weak evidence Boyd presents (which I’ve also discussed) shows that a few kids have worn cat ears and the like to schools and that this a few such kids bothered at least one other student. I’ve reviewed other, more convincing lines of evidence to the effect that a few kids wearing cat ears and the like generally has not been a problem. Follow my links back for the full story.

Ganahl’s supporters keep claiming that the furry fearmongering has nothing to do with an anti-LGBTQ movement. And then The Federalist helpfully came out with an article explicitly making the link. Colorado Pols has more (with the link, which I don’t wish to emphasize).

Meanwhile . . . “At an event on Thursday, NH Republican Senate candidate Don Bolduc spread the Internet hoax kids identify as cats and use litter boxes in schools. He claimed kids were hissing at each other in school and licking each other,” reports CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski (hat tip Ian Silverii). See the video with commentary. What a stupid moral panic.

The Rational Life

Jeff Hunt commented:

Live a conservative life. Reject the me-first, my truth, my happiness matters most culture. Don't hook up, don’t view pornography, don’t gamble, don't use illicit drugs. Get married young, have lots of children, live near your parents, attend church Sundays, build your community.

This prompted Alan Franklin to respond:

Live a progressive life. Reject the throwback hypocrisy of religious intolerance. Understand the reason behind your values and uphold them always. Get married whenever you want or not, have kids if you want, worship who you please, and yes—build your community.

I thought I’d offer my own take (understanding that a single Tweet can cover only a bit):

Live a rational life. Live by reason, not faith. Understand that your happiness is bound up with the happiness of your family, friends, and broader community. Avoid addictions of all varieties. Get married and have kids when you’re ready if you want to.

Quick Takes

McKean: Hugh McKean, the leader of the Republicans in the Colorado House, died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 55. The only silver lining was an outpouring of respectful and sympathetic remarks from people of disparate political views.

Anti-LGBTQ: 9News reports, “Spanish-speaking voters are being targeted with ugly and false misinformation. Anti-transgender messages printed in Spanish are being mailed to voters by a group led by Stephen Miller, the architect of former President Trump’s most hardline immigration and border policies.” Miller is a despicable human being. This story does illustrate, however, that various “minorities” tend to be relatively socially conservative.

Oltmann: Mario Nicolais comments on the dangers of conspiracy fantasists staking out voting drop boxes.

Vaccines: Jared Polis opposes mandated Covid vaccines as a condition of public school attendance. For background see my previous remarks. See also Ganahl’s mostly-vacuous Twitter thread. I do have some open questions about how a new vaccine gets on the mandate list, however.

Free Speech: “The man who livestreamed the police response to the Boulder King Soopers mass shooting last year was found not guilty of obstructing police officers. . . . A jury acquitted Dean Schiller, 44, of a misdemeanor count,” the Denver Post reports. David Lane was the defense attorney. I can’t figure out why the prosecutor brought this case.

Peotter: The Colorado branch of the Communist Party USA endorsed the “Libertarian” candidate for U.S. Senate, Brian Peotter, partly on grounds that he opposes U.S. support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. I’m not sure what to make of Peotter’s response (check the link) but I’m pretty sure it was not meant kindly.

Armed Teachers: Axios offers details about the Colorado program to train teachers to use guns. My take: Let teachers who want to train and carry a concealed handgun to school do so. John Castillo agrees.

Malkin: Apparently Michelle Malkin has retired from politics. It would be nice if that stuck.

Abortion: State legislator Kerry Donovan recounts how her pregnancy went badly and she had to get an abortion.

Libertarian: Laura Chapin made an interesting comment: “National reporters are always shocked when they find out Colorado has no gestational restrictions on abortion care and we like it that way. It’s that western libertarian streak: keep politicians out of our private business.” I just wish more people had a more-expansive view of what counts as “private business”!

Pines: Jared Polis relates, “Did you know that some of Colorado’s Bristlecone Pines are over 2,400 years old? To put that in perspective, that means they were already more than a century old when Julius Caesar was born!”

Policing: A grand jury will investigate the police killing of Christian Glass, “a 22-year-old Boulder man experiencing a mental health crisis,” the Denver Post reports.

More Policing: The officer who parked a squad car on train tracks—a train hit the car but the woman inside survived—got poor reviews at a prior job, 9News reports. An internal affairs report called the officer “incompetent” and said he “operates with a lack of care for his own safety and the safety of his officers.” How in hell did this guy get another police job?

Even More Policing: A story from the Douglas County sheriff illustrates the inherent dangers of police work—suspects “opened fire” on deputies from inside a stolen vehicle.

Prisons: This is straight-up torture, as reported by the Denver Post, perpetrated by Colorado prison guards: Guards “confined [Tyler] Himelstieb to an empty room and a mattress maybe an inch thick. Using metal cuffs, prison staff locked his wrists and ankles to the bed, his arms kept by his side and his legs shoulder-width apart. A strap across his chest held him flat on his back. . . . A nurse would later come and wrap his wrists and ankles — by that time blistered and bruised—in gauze before re-securing the metal cuffs.”

Drug War: A recent article former Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen goes full drug-warrior. He ignores the facts that a) most “overdose” deaths are a result of impurities and fraud caused by Prohibition, b) most crime associated with illegal drugs also are a result of Prohibition, and c) insofar as dealing drugs should be illegal, prosecutors should have to prove that someone dealt drugs rather than merely possessed them.

Less Drug War: Jacob Sullum reviews the Colorado effort to decriminalize psychedelics.

Women: Lauren Boebert said of men and women, “We are created equal, we’re not the same. Women are the lesser vessel and we need masculinity in our lives to balance that, that so-called weakness. Just us being more frail and needing that strength in our lives.” My wife commented, “Fuck off. I mean, seriously, who thinks of this shit?”

Fossil: Congratulations to Anthony Maltese and his team for discovering a T-rex fossil in South Dakota.

Halloween: I got a moderate number of trick-or-treaters for Halloween. My kid was quite serious about it.