Become a Gentleman thread

[Baron Kurtz]

Why is it that so many American men think British men are sissies..?
...inferiority complex..?

Don't forget the ancestors...

B
T

Two words: John Major.

bk

 

[Wild Root]

My Gentleman inspiration is James Stewart. He?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s a sharp dresser, kind, humble and entertaining.

 

[jamespowers]

...he does it because they don't talk back...

Prince Phillip is the true Royal idiot... always putting his racist/generally ignorant hoof in his mouth whenever commenting publicly.

B
T

Don't forget Charles' jackass son who loves to go to Halloween parties dressed like Romell. Methinks he is an idiot as well.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Don't forget Charles' jackass son who loves to go to Halloween parties dressed like Romell. Methinks he is an idiot as well.

Regards to all,

J

If anyone else had done it (and, having been to many halloween parties in the UK i can assure you there would have been many, many Rommels and Hitlers), noone would bat an eyelid. But his family has a certain ... erm, let's be kind ... "history" with the Nazi party and fascism in general.

bk

 

[jamespowers]

If anyone else had done it (and, having been to many halloween parties in the UK i can assure you there would have been many, many Rommels and Hitlers), noone would bat an eyelid. But his family has a certain ... erm, let's be kind ... "history" with the Nazi party and fascism in general.

Hmmm.... Socialists and a Monarchy. How would we ever figure that they have anything in common?

Regards to all,

J

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Socialists?

bk

 

[BellyTank]

Don't forget Charles' jackass son who loves to go to Halloween parties dressed like Romell. Methinks he is an idiot as well.

Regards to all,

J

Yes James,
that was a little odd- Rommell would never have worn a Swastika armband.
Our wedding cake had Swastikas on it..!:cheers1:

B
T

 

[jamespowers]

Yes James,
that was a little odd- Rommell would never have worn a Swastika armband.
Our wedding cake had Swastikas on it..!:cheers1:

Yes, I know you are being facetious about the swastika. It was actually an old religious symbol that you can find in Native American pottery and Indian culture in India. They do not look completely the same though. The curve of the arms is just different enough.
Yeah, Rommell would not likely have worn an armband on his uniform.

Regards to all,

J

 

[jamespowers]

Socialists?

bk

Let me guess, you don't know what the acronym NAZI stands for? Yeah, most people don't. Here you go: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP, the party headed by Hitler and the only political party legally permitted in Germany from 1934 to 1945. Translated loosely it means National Socialist Party of Germany. Hitler was a Socialist not a Fascist. The only true Fascist in that war was Benito Mussolini.
As I have never heard of any connection betweent he royal family and Mussolini my supposition is that they were on the side of the Socialists---Hitler and Rommel.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I did know that. That post was a set-up for this one. This has puzzled me for a while. I cannot imagine how Hitler could be considered a Socialist. He was big business all the way. No wealth redistribution. He killed sections of the populace because they were not economically productive. He killed other sections of the populace because he thought they were the cause of all his ills. He gave people jobs, i guess - in the army!

Just because he called himself a socialist doesn't mean he was one. He had some pretty excellent minds in his propaganda department. All those things i listed sound pretty much anathema to a socialist. He used the Socialist tag-line to get the people behind him. Then took absolute power. Fascist fits him pretty well (certainly better than socialist!).

Perhaps the confusion between National Socialism and Socialism is part of the reason Socialists are still feared to the degree they are in the USA?

bk

back on topic - Neville Chamberlain, of course considered Hitler to be "a gentleman. A man who's word we can trust"

 

[jamespowers]

I did know that. That post was a set-up for this one. This has puzzled me for a while. I cannot imagine how Hitler could be considered a Socialist. He was big business all the way. No wealth redistribution. He killed sections of the populace because they were not economically productive. He killed other sections of the populace because he thought they were the cause of all his ills. He gave people jobs, i guess - in the army!

Just because he called himself a socialist doesn't mean he was one. He had some pretty excellent minds in his propaganda department. All those things i listed sound pretty much anathema to a socialist. He used the Socialist tag-line to get the people behind him. Then took absolute power. Fascist fits him pretty well (certainly better than socialist!).

Perhaps the confusion between National Socialism and Socialism is part of the reason Socialists are still feared to the degree they are in the USA?

bk

Oh, where to start here. Hitler was an ideal socilist when you consider what Marx was REALLY talking about. His idea was just about anything that would supplant capitalism. This later further developed into Communism, as the need for socialist structure would wither away. Marxism and Communism are both branches of Socialism. That discontented social layers garbage is not really what socialism is about. I always found it interesting that Hitler and Stalin got along for a while until Hitler got over on Stalin and went back on his word. They were two of a kind. All of those things you mentioned Hitler doing were done by Stalin ten fold and over a longer period of time. They had the same basic ideology and Marx (and Friedrich Engels if you want to include the mop faced weasel ) was its nexus.
As for no wealth redistribution, have you forgoten the greatest attrocity committed by his regime? He took the land, money and assets of Jews to fund his government spending. Then he threw them into camps and subsequently ovens. These people were not the "not economically productive" part of the population. Mussolini did none of this.
Killing enemies is something that all governments do no matter what form so we can discount that.
I have no idea what you mean about him being big business all the way. He fleeced them for money and favors whereever he could. He also made them make whatever he wanted for FREE. Sounds like Socialism/Communism to me.
As for jobs in the Army, yes, he gave them jobs in the Army and paid them with money he stold from the Jews! W@e could also say that FDR got us out of the Depression by giving people jobs in the Army during WWII. Oh wait, he was a Socialist too.
When we look at Hitler in reference to modern Socialist we see how he fits into their lexicon easily as well. Let's see. He was a vegetarian. He loved animals and had more compassion for them than people. Many of his henchmen were of the Pink Triangle sort. He had absolute control over all means of production and he hated Jews. That sounds much like the Socialist governments of Europe today. Even in Germany today---Gerhard Schroeder anyone?

Regards to all,

J

P>S> Socialists are feared in the US because we know they are just Communist Lights.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

That has to be the most ludicrous summation of Karl Marx's philosophy i've ever heard.

A socialist goverment has never existed, is my point. Only bastardisations.

The industrial magnates made plenty of money under Hitler. See all those Swiss bank accounts.

He attacked Stalin before Stalin attacked him. It was always going to happen.

Mussolini threw the Italian jews into camps.

Hitler ate German sausage. He didn't consider it to be meat.

This isn't about gentlemen and could get out of hand - staunch socialist vs. capitalist? Truce?

bk

 

[jamespowers]

A socialist goverment has never existed, is my point. Only bastardisations.

He ate German sausage. He didn't consider it to be meat.

Ok, I know I am going to regret asking this but what would a socialist government look like in your opinion? Considering that every attempt at "socialism" as a form of government has been a complete failure. From Jamestown to the present. :kick:
German Sausage? Did you see him eat it? Was it a German meat sausage or some other type--meatless? He, himself, bragged about being a vegetarian. I am not sure about the date but I can find that out later.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Yeah, it's an old one. Hitler bragged about his vegetarianism (must take everything the man said, of course, with a pinch of salt). There's a claim by his chef that he prepared sausage "for Hitler".

Socialist government? Well, there'd be eternal peace, everyone would be happy, etc. Bit of a hippy commune, really. No money. Barter society. no profit or loss . There's no reason why it couldn't work (except for the essential evil that is the human mind). Something like Guevara's/Sartre's "new man" would have to appear, and when he does maybe it'll happen.

bk - off to live in a cave until "new man" arrives :cry:

 

[jamespowers]

bk - off to live in a cave until "new man" arrives :cry:

Or you could live on old episodes of Star Trek. Idealism like that can only exist in movies and on TV.
The disincentive that not for profit economies create is legion. You have to ask yourself a few easy questions. Why would I work hard if the result is the same? I get paid the same no matter what I do. Why do I want to build a house if I build it and everyone shares it with me? Why would I create a better or more efficient production system when it will employ less workers and I will get nothing for it in the form of increased profit as an incentive for increasing my country's competitive advantage?
Jamestown is a perfect example of all of this. Collectivism created a disincentive to work in the production of the food supply and other needed items. They felt their labor was not worth it if everyone partook of the bounty regardless of how much they contributed---so they all contributed as little as they could and nearly all starved to death. A very bad outcome for a no money/barter system.
It never works because there is no incentive. I could make it work but you would not like the "incentives" I use. These incentives are what cause the degeneration into communism, authoritarianism and totalitarianism because that is what you have to resort to to make people do what you want without letting self interest become part of the equation.
A gentleman would not make another man work for free would he? Or worse yet, under the threat of force.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Billingsgate]

[QUOTEA gentleman would not make another man work for free would he? Or worse yet, under the threat of force][/QUOTE]

Egad man - that's what the feudal system was all about - exploiting the peasantry.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

The beauty of the new man is that he chooses to exist without incentives. This is also the massive fallacy inherent in the idea. It assumes altruistic impulses which are all too rare in our (and most - if not all - other) species.

I'll drift back to my cave any day. Anything so i can interact minimally with the world. One can exist off the grid, but the question is whether the powers that be will leave you alone to do so. They force you to interact (taxes etc.).

A gentleman would let seomone live how they want ewithout demanding taxes.

bk

 

[BellyTank]

Yes, I know you are being facetious about the swastika. It was actually an old religious symbol that you can find in Native American pottery and Indian culture in India. They do not look completely the same though. The curve of the arms is just different enough.
Yeah, Rommell would not likely have worn an armband on his uniform.

Regards to all,

J

Facetious... Moi..?

Well- it's true about the cake-

The Indian (from India)Swastikas are the same as the Nazi ones, straight-armed sometimes reversed though. I don't know anything about Native American art though.

B
T

 

[Billingsgate]

A gentleman would let seomone live how they want ewithout demanding taxes.

Actually, it would do well to remember "Gentleman Johnny" Borgoynne, the British general who surrendured at Saratoga.

He essentially had been fighting to impose the Stamp Tax and such upon the colonists.

 

[jamespowers]

I'll drift back to my cave any day. Anything so i can interact minimally with the world. One can exist off the grid, but the question is whether the powers that be will leave you alone to do so. They force you to interact (taxes etc.).

A gentleman would let seomone live how they want ewithout demanding taxes.bk

It seems you and Emerson have something in common there. I have a feeling the result would be the same though.

Regards to all,

J