NY Times (1924): Hitler "tamed" and "no longer to be feared"

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I’ve used the phrase “reactionary extremists” for years to refer to so-called “conservatives” in the U.S. these days…who are also busy trying to overthrow our government so that the wrong sorts of people don’t get any power. Hmm. What’s the opposite of a Godwin?

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No Judith Miller crack is wasted.

Yes, it’s sadly amusing in retrospect, but I’m not sure what the lesson to be learned is. Isn’t kind of the problem with today’s society is that we overestimate the significance and threat of extremists and launch unnecessary wars to deal with them?

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It’s so nice to know that the NYT’s meaningful, prescient, and cogent analysis stretches back decades.

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Just reminds me of Tom Lehrer’s “MLF Lullaby”…
(The Multi-Lateral Force was basically the U.S. and western Europe, against the Soviet Bloc countries)
“… Once all the Germans were warlike and mean
But that couldn’t happen again
We taught them a lesson in 1918
And they’ve hardly bothered us since then …”

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I’ve always been a bit surprised that Hitler wasn’t sentenced to death for this. Why the leniency? One year in prison for conspiring to overthrow the government? Presumably he wasn’t holding when arrested …,

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According to nytimes.com, this article appeared on December 21, 1924

A Niwdog???

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It is not really treason when a patriot does it. Seriously.

He received the minimum sentence of five years and most of that was suspended later. He was granted “fortress confinement”, a form of gentlemanly Prison Lite that didn’t count as real prison time later. And of course he wasn’t a citizen at the time and should have been deported once released, but again he was such a nice patriot and veteran.

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I guess I now know the answer to the question, “How wrong can you get?”

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Plus ca change…

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