Ben Carson dismissed as “foolishness” a statement from the head of the Anti-Defamation League that disputes the notion that the Holocaust could have been hindered if Jews in Nazi Germany had been allowed to have guns.
Carson, a Republican presidential candidate, refused in an interview Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to back down from his assertion in another interview that “the likelihood of Hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed.”
Jonathan A. Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, responded in a statement that Carson “has a right to his views on gun control, but the notion that Hitler’s gun-control policy contributed to the Holocaust is historically inaccurate.” He added that “gun control did not cause the Holocaust; Nazism and anti-Semitism did.”
“That’s total foolishness,” Carson said when ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos asked for his reaction. “It is well known that in many places where tyranny has taken over, they first disarm the people.”
Carson’s assertion about the Holocaust and gun control is a long-held belief among gun rights advocates and is often used to push back against calls for gun control after events like last week’s mass shooting at a community college in Oregon. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, revives the argument in his new book, “A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties.” During an interview Thursday on CNN, Wolf Blitzer read this excerpt:
“German citizens were disarmed by their government in the late 1930s and by the late 1940s Hitler’s regime had mercilessly slaughtered 6 million Jews and numerous others whom they considered inferior. Through a combination of removing guns and disseminating deceitful propaganda, the Nazis were able to carry out their evil intentions with relatively little resistance.”
Carson defended his argument, even as Blitzer noted that the Nazis had “a powerful military machine.”
“I understand that,” Carson said in the interview. “I’m telling you that there is a reason that these dictatorial people take the guns first.”
His assertion has been drawn harsh rebukes by some opinion writers and commenters on social media. They note that Carson broadly states that “German citizens were disarmed,” but the Nazis’ 1938 law specifically prohibited Jews from having guns and other weapons. They also note that he ignored the fact that many Jews did resist the Nazis.
Lots of Black people had guns back in the day. My family had guns back in Mississippi. That does not mean shit when the KKK come to your house, propped up, supported and populated by members of the highest government offices. Because even if you take a shot and you run off the whole group of them (which didn't happen), they are the law and will win anyways always and forever.
How a Black man from America can grow up to say that Jewish people in Nazi Germany just needed guns is making my head hurt.
How can someone so brilliant when it comes to medicine be so fucking stupid when it comes to politcs?
Not just politics...history.
It's really a shame.
how/why/when did he turn into a politician and decide he wants to run? Now, I get ass clowns like Fiorina & Trump suddenly thinking they can run for POTUS without knowing anything about politics/history/governing/international affairs, but WTF made Carson think he was ready to tackle the most grueling & demanding campaign in the US?
how/why/when did he turn into a politician and decide he wants to run? Now, I get ass clowns like Fiorina & Trump suddenly thinking they can run for POTUS without knowing anything about politics/history/governing/international affairs, but WTF made Carson think he was ready to tackle the most grueling & demanding campaign in the US?
I'd love to know this story!
I stand by that he probably has an extreme personality disorder like narcissism or sociopathy.
how/why/when did he turn into a politician and decide he wants to run? Now, I get ass clowns like Fiorina & Trump suddenly thinking they can run for POTUS without knowing anything about politics/history/governing/international affairs, but WTF made Carson think he was ready to tackle the most grueling & demanding campaign in the US?
Did you hear/read his interview with NPR? He didn't even understand that there's a difference between the deficit and the debt ceiling. He also insists he'd begin his presidency by insisting every federal agency and department cut costs by 3-4%. When he laid out his plan for his presidency, the interviewer's voice was incredulous as he asked, "And just so I'm clear, you're going to do this while balancing the budget, not raising the debt and cutting the size of the government?"
how/why/when did he turn into a politician and decide he wants to run? Now, I get ass clowns like Fiorina & Trump suddenly thinking they can run for POTUS without knowing anything about politics/history/governing/international affairs, but WTF made Carson think he was ready to tackle the most grueling & demanding campaign in the US?
Did you hear/read his interview with NPR? He didn't even understand that there's a difference between the deficit and the debt ceiling. He also insists he'd begin his presidency by insisting every federal agency and department cut costs by 3-4%. When he laid out his plan for his presidency, the interviewer's voice was incredulous as he asked, "And just so I'm clear, you're going to do this while balancing the budget, not raising the debt and cutting the size of the government?"
Post by orriskitten on Oct 10, 2015 13:55:03 GMT -5
I don't understand where this guy is coming from and why he even thinks he could hold a position like POTUS. I mean, Trump is a public figure and runs his own businesses so that's kinda leadership (albeit really really bad leadership given his bankruptcy), but a neurosurgeon?
Then he spouts crap like this and I just want to give up on people who would vote for a clown like this.
Post by orriskitten on Oct 10, 2015 13:59:14 GMT -5
Also I heard about his response to how he would handle a shooter last night and I can't help but think about rushing a gunman in relation to this.
I recently had it out with someone who said that they would resist and fight for what is theirs and cited the Warsaw uprising. My jaw hit the floor. It's like people just don't know how major historical events ended. Or why they got where they did.
I feel like there should be a requirement to know history before being allowed to participate, or try to participate, in any government role.
Man, Carson has said some dumb stuff over the last few days. I'm coming to believe that Carson a very intelligent, even gifted, man who has achieved great things though hard work. But there is this doctor stereotype that surgeons are arrogant and controlling and have god-complexes.
So I think you have this retired guy with a lot of free time who wants to swoop in and save Americans. He looks at the other politicians and thinks, "I can do that." But he makes rookie mistakes like talking about the Holocaust. And the cameras are watching him 24 hours a day for material. It's too bad for the Republican party that they have such a shallow bench that they can't afford to let Carson be in politics for 5-10 years first.
Man, Carson has said some dumb stuff over the last few days. I'm coming to believe that Carson a very intelligent, even gifted, man who has achieved great things though hard work. But there is this doctor stereotype that surgeons are arrogant and controlling and have god-complexes.
So I think you have this retired guy with a lot of free time who wants to swoop in and save Americans. He looks at the other politicians and thinks, "I can do that." But he makes rookie mistakes like talking about the Holocaust. And the cameras are watching him 24 hours a day for material. It's too bad for the Republican party that they have such a shallow bench that they can't afford to let Carson be in politics for 5-10 years first.
I find it very disturbing that someone with zero political experience or education can look at the complexities of a huge country that is a major influence in the international field and say, "Yeah, I can do that." It either speaks of immeasurable arrogance or immeasurable ignorance--or both.
Man, Carson has said some dumb stuff over the last few days. I'm coming to believe that Carson a very intelligent, even gifted, man who has achieved great things though hard work. But there is this doctor stereotype that surgeons are arrogant and controlling and have god-complexes.
So I think you have this retired guy with a lot of free time who wants to swoop in and save Americans. He looks at the other politicians and thinks, "I can do that." But he makes rookie mistakes like talking about the Holocaust. And the cameras are watching him 24 hours a day for material. It's too bad for the Republican party that they have such a shallow bench that they can't afford to let Carson be in politics for 5-10 years first.
I find it very disturbing that someone with zero political experience or education can look at the complexities of a huge country that is a major influence in the international field and say, "Yeah, I can do that." It either speaks of immeasurable arrogance or immeasurable ignorance--or both.
Yup.
It's kinda cute in a way..."oh, I ran a national foundation and was on some boards so, yeah, I can be prezzie."
Didn't this happen with the R's last time...cycled through all the candidates before Romney won the nom. Trump is going to exit soon, then Carson will surge then nose-dive. They'll all cycle before settling on Bush or Rubio or Christie.
This is what happens when your party hates government. You hate anyone with government experience ... and then think that NO government experience is an asset to becoming head of the government.