Reply #86: Yes well...

[felix19]

I live in California, and I am aligned with many others in California who are concerned that an unqualified and politically unknown movie star might be elected governor on the basis of image rather than fact.

It's interesting to me that some on this thread are more interested in ignoring facts about A. Schwarzenegger -- or in mischaracterizing them -- than in learning more or questioning the candidate, or his background or his fitness for office. And it is fascinating that some of the terminology used by some posters is right out of the GOP playbook. It's doubly ironic given the routine accusation against those who are concerned about Schwarzenegger's background that they are using "GOP/freeper tactics." Talk about projection!

First, what is this thread about? It seems to have started with a news item that A. Schwarzenegger's father was a Nazi SA officer. That was followed immediately by a controversy over whether one should concern themselves with Schwarzenegger's father or not. My point from my first post on this thread to now is simple: the issue of A. Schwarzenegger's Nazi father should not be dismissed out of hand; it may have bearing on his fitness for office (along with many other issues) specifically with regard to his father's influence on Schwarzenegger's personal philosophy and political point of view. Questions should be asked, answers should be insisted upon.

You misconstrue my points, I assume deliberately. As far as I know no one on this thread has called Schwarzenegger a Nazi. I certainly haven't. And calling him a Nazi is not at all what the thread is about -- but maybe you would like to make it be about that so you have a strawman to demolish. Is that it?

What does any father have to do with his son? For example, what does G.H.W. Bush have to do with his son? Anything? Nothing? If you see no connection between fathers and sons, then I want to know what universe you live in, because it ain't the one I live in. We don't know what influence Gustav Schwarzenegger had on his son, and I want some answers about it.

Again, no one that I know of is accusing A. Schwarzenegger of being a Nazi, but so what if they were? It would be a valid issue to raise. But nobody IS raising it here except those who want desperately to fight that strawman. Some people, myself included, want to know about Schwarzenegger's personal philosophy and political point of view, and I'll make my own decisions, thank you, about whether those factors about him are strongly influenced by Nazi-ism.

Hatred of socialism in the context of A. Schwarzenegger's hatred of Austrian socialism is not something shared by "everyone in the fucking free world." Not by a long shot. But people who know nothing about the world except what they hear on hate radio might think otherwise. The odd thing is that forms of socialism are doing surprisingly well in much of the rest of the world. And quite a few are happier about it than not. You learn something new every day.

It seems to me that only those who want to do battle with strawmen instead of addressing issues are bringing up the "Arnold=Nazi" meme.

Flail away.