LaBarbera Award: Brad Dacus

Jim Burroway

October 30th, 2008

According to Godwin’s Law their argument officially lost. It’s the last act of desperation when someone who can no longer make a cogent argument invokes the Hitler analogy — and twelve million deaths to go with it — to fight a political proposition. But that’s what Brad Dacus did.

In this video, you can hear Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, invoke the specter of Adolph Hitler in rallying for the passage of Proposition 8:

It’s about the time. The time is now.

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 Niemoller 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!

Is there a greater desecration to the memory of twelve million dead souls than to equate their senseless deaths with loving couples in California who wish to marry?

Disgusting. Which is why Brad Dacus is our latest LaBarbera Award winner.

AJD

October 30th, 2008

As I recall, “argumentum ad Hitlerum” is among the commonest logical fallacies…

Someone should picket this guy with a sign that reads “You know the Nazis had pieces of flair that they made the Jews wear!” (“Office Space” reference)

zortnac

October 30th, 2008

I had a feeling this nut was about to become the next lucky recipient of this oft-coveted award.

sam

October 30th, 2008

The holocaust analogy is especially disturbing in this instance when one considers that gay people were also part of those millions slaughtered by Hitler’s regime. The pink triangle that often is used as a sign of gay pride is taken from that period as gay men were forced to wear a pink triangle badge to denote why they were being incarcerated by the nazis.

Emily K

October 31st, 2008

Hey Brad, don’t forget that the European “Christian” treatment of Jews is what made it so acceptable for people to turn their backs when the cattle cars rumbled through their towns. So much of history is so easily forgettable to many people.

Lynn David

October 31st, 2008

Besides what has been mentioned above, what struck me was that Dorcus, er…. Dacus evoked Niemoeller. Niemoeller is sort of a lightning-rod for inclusion. He is oft-cited as either the inspiration for or the source of the poem, “First they came….:”

First they came… …for the Communists… …for the trade-unionists… …for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew (trade-unionist, Communist). And then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up.

Of course, Niemoeller didn’t mention homosexuals/gays in any of his speeches from which the more famous poem may have been taken. But then I saw that video for “The CALL” in San Diego [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoresV7LcbE ] after that of Dacus. And I could not help but come under the impression that this video was somewhat Hitlerian in scope. I just got the to wondering whose nightmare is being forged here, certainly not that of Dacus, and more assuredly ours! And with the use of their “circled-arrow” symbolology throughout the video and on the website for The Call…. well, I just got this really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I just wonder if the “circled arrow” will come to symbolize we should despise?

Louie

October 31st, 2008

Wow! That video that Lynn David linked was downright disturbing!

At the begining, I thought I was watching an AD for some sort of World Wrestling Championship match coming up at Qualcomm Stadium. And then I see what they’re really talking about!

YIKES!!!

All I can say is that I’m glad that I still have my 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms (I’ve been a marksman since age 6!). Because that’s what it’s going to take to protect my husband and I from harm when these wackos come busting down the door to our house and try to lynch us or something!

Let us just hope that cooler heads prevail and that our system of justice does not get taken over by these rabble rousers!


California – Vote “NO” on Prop. 8!
Arizona – Vote “NO” on Prop. 102! AGAIN!
Florida – Vote “NO” on Amendment 2!
Connecticut – Vote “NO” on Question 1!

Ben in Oakland

October 31st, 2008

Do you think no on 8 would put this up in a commercial?

AJD

October 31st, 2008

No On 8 should be getting Jewish groups like the ADF behind them on this. I can’t even begin to describe how messed up it is for him to be comparing their fight to the fight against Hitler.

Emily K

October 31st, 2008

Already there, AJD.

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/5383_52.htm

Duncan

November 1st, 2008

Two corrections: “spector” should be “spectre”, and this is not Godwin’s law being “invoking”, but rather coming true. Invoking it would probably mean accusing your opponent of making comparisons to Hitler. Which can happen equally spuriously.

Jim Burroway

November 1st, 2008

Duncan, I revised the first sentence. Although according to my dictionary, “Specter” is the American spelling. Don’t know why my spell-check missed “spector”

Larry S

November 1st, 2008

This pretty much sums up Brad Dacus…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU_CTEuwfcc

devlin bach

November 1st, 2008

It’s obvious ‘the church’ is Hitler in this cultural war.

It’s interesting how this guy is portraying the church as some silent longing lamb in the woods about to be slaughtered, when it’s the Hitlarian mentality of the church that put the ballot on the measure in the first place, and is responsible for many facist neo nazi murders of gay people in general.
It would seem the church in this case is the one dropping bombs on ones who are simply establishing their national right to be counted. As we all know, Hitler didn’t like individuality very much.
As the church as with Hitler, it would seem, ‘it’s my rules we’ll play by, anything else and you can all just f*** off and die’. Literally.
Can’t wait till Tuesday, cause prop 8 is going down.

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