Below the Fold - blanket use of socialism

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Happy Friday, Below the Fold! Our norms, whether it relates to how we justify food choices or insult our opponents, seems to have deviated greatly over recent years. This week, we’ve been reminded of the importance of perspective in history and how much semantics matters. Our choice of words evoke, revise, or even erase truths. And yet, pursuit of the right semantics can distract just as much. To put it plainly, maybe we need to practice zooming out, zooming in, not missing the forest for the trees, and so on.

Republican Tries To Link Socialism With Genocide In School Lessons
Wed Oct 12

Is a Nazi a Nazi if you don’t call them one? Despite outcry from historians and educators, Colorado has been working on updates to their social studies standards to link socialism with genocides. Over the past couple of years they’ve …

Tried to replace instances of Nazi with the party's full name instead: National Socialist German Workers’ Party
Included more education on genocides committed under socialist and communist regimes while also reducing or removing references to those committed under other types of regimes

Why is this dangerous? These adjustments strongly imply that socialism is what makes genocides possible, and that is simply not true. Experts worry that the exclusive, inaccurate link between socialism and genocide will lead to thinking that democracies are somehow immune to the forces that lead to genocide. Democracies are not immune and in fact have committed genocide.

So then why is Colorado doing this? It has mostly been the effort of Republican Steve Durham, who believes in a link between genocide and socialism. Throwing “socialism” around in attack is also a decades-old tactic to scare voters away from Democrats (since “socialist” has been a dirty word since the Cold War, but less so lately). More recently in 2019, Republicans piled on the accusations when one of their own essentially equated Hitler and the Nazis to Democrats by calling them all socialists. But that’s entirely wrong because:

Nazis and Hitler were actually fascists, which is the complete opposite of a socialist (even if the full name for Nazis is the National Socialist German Workers’ Party).
Unlike a socialist government would, the Nazis had private firms that submitted the lowest bid build their concentration camps.
Democrats, even the socialist-leaning ones, are still in favor of capitalism but with expanded social services (akin to the Scandinavian systems).
Lastly, “the Nazis rose to power as a racist right-wing party virulently opposed to socialism and communism.”

Worryingly, Americans already have little understanding of socialism; roughly 25% of Americans are entirely unable to define socialism. Others are more worried about what these events are saying about the ability of the State Board to referee conflicts. Ultimately, the push-back against Durham’s proposals have resulted in a less problematic update to the standards. But, the legislator who co-sponsored the bill requiring Holocaust education statewide, says it still misses the point of Holocaust education: how hatred and intolerance turns into genocide.

BELOW THE FOLD BYTES

Fried Butter is Unpatriotic!

Dude food, or the fare of Guy Fieri, is familiar to the world as typically American. The nation’s propensity towards BBQ gluttony has largely been a joke but capitalism is spreading it further. However, celebration of this type of consumption is somewhat based on a lie. It’s not all-American and it’s not patriotic. In fact, the founding fathers would consider it grotesque and even uncivilized. They had hoped Americans would excel beyond other nations (including the indulgent Brits) in temperance and Washington himself pushed for his armies’ health through boiled meats, soups, and vegetables — whatever the expense! What a departure from the gluttony of today.

>> Read More

But CHIPS Are Patriotic!

Semiconductor kind of chips, that is. The July passing of the bipartisan Chips and Science Act will funnel $53B in subsidies to build or expand semiconductor fabrication plants. This is important work not only to reduce U.S. reliance on non-domestic production and therefore become less sensitive to what happens overseas, but also in boosting innovation. But is this sustainable given the mega-drought, climate crisis, and minimal conditions attached to the subsidies? Some are worried about the toxic waste produced in chip manufacturing. The CHIPS Act does include support for climate change research and solutions, however.

>> Read More

🎬 Action of the Week

Learn more about how to identify and prevent genocide with the United Nations, especially in fighting against hate speech which “incites violence and undermines social cohesion and tolerance.”

THIS WEEK'S SOURCES

Chalkbeat:
Colorado's New Holocaust Education
2 days old | 12 minutes long

Politico:

Odd Debate Over Nazis & Socialism
3 years old | 3 minutes long

Gallup:
Americans’ Many Definitions of Socialism
4 years old | 6 minutes long

NPR:

Republicans Scare With Socialism
2 years old | 3 minutes long

ASCII-ING ABOUT THE NEWS

  ,—-~~~--~.
  |        |
 ~-  CHIP  -~
  |  ***   |
 ~-  ===   -~
  |        |
 ~-        -~
  `--------’
        btf

New startup idea: Ruffled chips!
Art Credit: Below the Fold News

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Below the Fold - blanket use of socialism

Fried Butter is Unpatriotic!

But CHIPS Are Patriotic!

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