Prop 8 flak compares defeating gays to Hitler

I seriously wish I could live in California right now so I could vote against Prop 8, conceived by the scum of the Earth, all in the name of hate religion.

Yesterday at a rally in Sacramento, Brad Dacus, an official Prop 8 spokesperson (in the video above) went there, reasoning that defeating gays is like defeating Hitler. He is the President of the Pacific Justice Institute, a religious-right lawyers 501c3 organization.

Here is the transcript, courtesy of Crooks & Liars:

There was another time in history when people, when the bell tolled. And the question was whether or not they were going to hear it. The time was during Nazi Germany with Adolf Hitler. You see he brought crowds of clergy together to assure them that he was going to look after the church.

And one of the members, bold and courageous, Reverend Martin Niemöller, made his way to the front and (inaudible) said, "Hitler, we are not concerned about the church. Jesus Christ will take care of the church. We are concerned about the soul of Germany."

Embarrassed and chagrined, his peers quickly shuffled him to the back.

And as they did Adolf Hitler said, "The soul of Germany, you can leave that to me." And they did, and because they did bombs did not only fall upon the nation of Germany, but also upon the church and their testimony to this very day.

Let us not make that mistake folks. Let us hear the bell! Vote on Proposition 8!

What a despicable human being. Care to tell Brad just that yourself? Drop him an e-mail at: pji@pacificjustice.org, or call the organization at (916) 857-6900. Please, be courteous, but that aside, let the wonderful, warm-hearted folks at the Pacific Justice Institute just how you feel about their brand of hate.

Incidentally, there ought to be some sort of law that you cannot invoke Hitler and the Nazis during any political discussion. I'm sure there are instances where doing so is perfectly valid, but seriously, Hitler and the Nazis are quickly joining the
Titanic and We can send a man to the moon, but we can't _______ clichés.

By the way, Niemöller was the author of the famous First They Came... poem.

An Absolut-ly stupid ad campaign, Updated

[Click on both images in this post for a larger view]

When I recently saw the above ad on a blog, I just shook my head in amazement. Evidently, this is the Swedish vodka company Absolut's attempt to boost its sales in Mexico, and to instill a sense of pride in the Mexican people. The ad above is meant to signify the lands that were stolen - namely California, Texas and parts of what is now the southwestern US.

Terrific - we can debate the merits of whether the lands were stolen by the US, or won fair and square as a result of the Mexican-American war in the 1840s. My point here is not even to discuss that, but to express amazement that a company with brilliant ad campaigns in the past would have to go down this road to sell a few more bottles of its vodka to Mexican citizens. Perhaps the Mexican market is important on for Absolut, and I'm certainly not trying to put down Mexico, but what about the American market? The last time I checked, we drank our fair share of vodka every year.

From the LA Times:

The campaign taps into the national pride of Mexicans, according to Favio Ucedo, creative director of leading Latino advertising agency Grupo Gallegos in the U.S., which was not involved in the Absolut campaign.

Ucedo, who is from Argentina, said: "Mexicans talk about how the Americans stole their land, so this is their way of reclaiming it. It's very relevant and the Mexicans will love the idea."

But he said that were the campaign to run in the United States, it might fall flat. [Ya think?!?]

"Many people aren't going to understand it here. Americans in the East and the North or in the center of the county -- I don't know if they know much about the history.

"Probably Americans in Texas and California understand perfectly and I don't know how they’d take it."

Meanwhile, the campaign has been circulating on the blogs and generating strong responses from people north of the border.

Outrageous. Could this guy Favio Ucedo have insulted Americans any more than he did in the short passage above? He must think all Americans went to Yale and proudly got a C average. Think again, amigo - some of us paid attention in history class. I know the history and I'm under no illusion that America has a clean past with conquered lands and subjugated peoples, but I don't need to be reminded of it when I'm selecting a vodka at the liquor store.

So, the million dollar question - will I keep on buying Absolut's products? It's not going to happen. I'll cop to the fact that Stoli is my brand anyway, but I did buy Absolut on occasion, but those days are over.

And of course, this ad campaign, conceived to boost the national pride of Mexicans, could no doubt be transferred elsewhere. I wonder if the morons at Absolut would green light the ad campaign below? Take a look...

I know, I know, trotting out the old Nazi metaphor is always trite, but I couldn't resist with this one. However, I'll stop with all the Nazi references - Christ, soon I'll sound like Bill O'Lielly, drug addict Limbaugh or Michael Wiener.

And I know the US war with Mexico is not exactly applicable to World War II, but hopefully you get the point. If some moron(s) could approve the top ad to try to build up Mexican pride in their country, maybe some strutz would think the bottom ad would instill a sense of pride in German achievements and conquests in World War II. Pretty stupid, right? Of course - a multi-million dollar company like Absolut should certainly know better.

I'm done buying it - you can bet on that. Stoli blueberry is delicious, by the way, and so is the orange dropped in sugar free Red Bull.

Update
The company has apologized:

We apologize

Posted Sunday, April 06, 2008, 7:38:29 PM

During the weekend we have received several comments on the ad published in Mexico. We acknowledge the reactions and debate and want to apologize for the concerns this ad caused. We are truly sorry and understand that the ad has offended several [sic] persons. This was not our intention. The ad has been withdrawn as of Friday April 4th and will not be used in the future.

In no way was the ad meant to offend or disparage, or advocate an altering of borders, lend support to any anti-American sentiment, or to reflect immigration issues.

To ensure that we avoid future similar mistakes, we are adjusting our internal advertising approval process for ads that are developed in local markets.

This is a genuine and sincere apology,

By Paula Eriksson, VP Corporate Communications, V&S Absolut Spirits

Fair enough, but that doesn't excuse the stupidity of running the ad in the first place. Incidentally, the comments on the Absolut blog are a hoot - you should read all of the anti-American claptrap. I can tell you one thing, though - if the tables were reversed, there would be a lot of angry Mexicans today, that's for sure.

Stormtroopers in the Rose Parade?

Check out this photo I found on Yahoo! yesterday - I got a kick out of it. It's not every day you see Star Wars stormtroopers marching down a street in a parade. These stormtroopers are a fan-based group known as the "501st Legion" from 22 different countries and 26 U.S. states, marching down Colorado Boulevard in the 118th Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., on New Year's Day.

Call me a history dork, but I can never hear stormtroopers and not think of Nazi Germany. Wikipedia had a good comparison when I went to the Website this morning looking up Star Wars stuff.

A scene from Star Wars, Episode IV...

...and a scene from Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda film, Triumph of the Will.

I wonder in these PC times, if the original Star Wars were released today, if there would be an outcry about George Lucas' Nazi Germany overtones, and his use of the moniker stormtroopers. I'm betting there would be a laughable PC outcry, and that's ridiculous.

Anyway, I digress, I just thought it was funny to see Star Wars stormtroopers marching down the street in the Rose Parade.

Two apropos political quotes

One thing about working in academia - you run across many quotes hanging in, around or outside offices that people consider witty. I must confess, it's one of the things I like about my new job.

Anyway, I ran across two today that I feel are worth sharing.

The first one, I hesitate to write at all though, because it's attributed to a Nazi. Not that a quote from a Nazi is automatically off-limits; we can always learn, even from abhorrant monsters. The reason I hesitate is because "Nazi" is so trite in the U.S. these days. I'm sick to death of politicos slapping the "Nazi" label on enemies and people who disagree with them.

Anyway, the quote is by Hermann Göring, the Nazi commander of the German Luftwaffe and second in command of the Third Reich:

Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

Parts of that certainly apply to our political landscape today, do they not? Specifically when discussing the War in Iraq and the War on Terrorism with some people. The minute you disagree, you are "siding with the terrorists." Am I calling Republicans Nazis? No, but certain elements of their fearmongering does have shades of Nazism.

The second quote is from Richard Perle, who served on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee from 1987 to 2004 (and as Chairman of the Board from 2001 to 2003 under the Bush Administration.) It reads:

If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely, and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy, but just wage a total war, our children will sing great songs about us years from now.

Wow, that was pretty accurate - about as accurate as Vice President Cheney saying on Meet the Press in March 2003 that we'd be greeted as liberators if (when) we invaded Iraq.

One other interesting tidbit about Perle that I found on Wikipedia today regards a feud he has with noted author Tom Clancy. It reads:

When discussing his new book "Battle Ready" co-authored with retired general Anthony Zinni, author Tom Clancy stated that he almost came to blows with Perle. According to Clancy:

"He was saying how (Secretary of State) Colin Powell was being a wuss because he was overly concerned with the lives of the troops," Clancy said. "And I said, 'Look ..., he's supposed to think that way!' And Perle didn't agree with me on that. People like that worry me."

###

I found the the Perle quote on Wikipedia, and I'm wary about that site, as much as I love it, because lots of inaccurate information can be posted there. But, it raises interesting quesitons.

If the Perle quotes/stories are true, it wouldn't be the first instance of an unscrupulous character working in the Bush administration.

Can we sink these sayings like the Titanic?

Okay, quick rant... I do a great deal of reading and writing - it's simply what I do and what my degrees are in. As a result, I have certain peeves about our language. Do us all a favor, readers, and ditch these sayings/metaphors/phrases, if you want to remain de rigeur.

Not so much

Throw _______ under the bus

Any reference to the Titanic

It's not the heat, it's the humidity

That's hot (It's not, and I cannot stand Paris Hilton)

Having said that...

At the end of the day...

If I had a dime/dollar for every time...

When discussing flying, stop it already with the "you're more likely to die in a car than in an airplane" stats. No shit, Sherlock. But I'M driving the car, and in theory, I'd have a little more control over a car than I will in a plane I'm riding in. Plus, if you get in just about any sort of accident with a plane, you're dicked. I've been in a number of car accidents, and here I am, still ranting.

We can put a man on the moon, but we can't _____________. The first moon landing happened 37 years and one day ago. Let's leave the moon references where they belong - on the moon, with our abandoned equipment up there.

Okay, I'm outta gas, but the above abuses of our language are really starting to annoy me. And I'll save all of you wise asses the trouble of typing me e-mail using any of the above, now that you know it annoys me. It'll just give me delete key a good workout.

Oh, one more - I almost forgot, but I guess I was just saving the best for last. Can we stop it with the Nazis and Nazi Germany references, already? There's few personality traits worse than being unoriginal. A cliche becomes trite for a reason - overuse! Sterling Burnett needs to learn this - I'll cover that in the next post.