[Christopher Snow]

Periscope Depth:

Thank you. I realize I sound like I've gone half off the deep end, and I'm trying really hard not to send my own little tugboat under, so if I only sound "half crazy," maybe I can stilll rescue the situation after all (I'm still terrified, but I'm battling with it).

To anyone I offended last night, I apologize. I was certainly not in complete control of my emotions (I'm doing only marginally better tonight), and I'm sure I was out of line more than a few times.

Hopefully no one took it too personally.

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I do value the chance to talk to people who are more educated (than most) on military matters, and world history, which is part of why I came in here last night to rage at the walls instead of going somewhere else.

It's pretty hard to explain to average Americans today (particularly those under thirty) that awful things CAN happen in this world, that strong and sustainable forces of terror can be unleashed, and that it can potentially happen even here in this country. Few really understand, for example, that Hitler was actually a "National Socialist," and that he was actually ELECTED into office (admittadly, not by a majority) before he began to consolidate power and kill off dissent.

Yes, some do know he was a "Nazi," but far too few over here realize that the word IS the short form of "National Socialist," and that his politics and economic ideology lay to the far left (or what would be described as far left in US terms).

These days skinheads--"neo-nazis" (and therefore all Nazis in general it seems in the eyes of far too large a portion of the general public) are typically thought of as coming from the far right-wing...from the Republican end of the political spectrum, and not the left at all. A much greater proportion of those in this forum will know that this is completely backwards, but it's difficult to explain to the average "man on the street" in this country (our educators have let us down in a big way on this, IMO).

It might be correct to label those small far-fringe groups as "right-wing" only because their ecomomic ideology is the complete opposite from Hitler's, to the extent they even have one at all--they are really just racists, and not at all the same economic and political "Nazis of old."

I THINK many more of you in here will see the distinction, and will realize that if the "Old Nazism" that swept Europe in the 1930's were to rear its ugly head again (this time in the US), that it would, indeed, come from the political far-left once again (and not from the far right at all), but I'm sure there are some, even in here, who do not understand this truth.

AND THAT POSSIBILITY is what really scares the hell out of me. I think we are closer now, after this election, than at any time since the Great Depression to seeing this happen here in the US.

Thanks for listening.


CS