If I wouldn't boycott the music mafia...

... I would buy everything from Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground and Suzanne Vega.

Parallels

I have to start this post with a disclaimer: I don't want to say that the terror regime of the Nazis and the democratic goverment of the US are comparable, but there are some paralles that can not be simply dismissed.

As I have started to learn more about German's fascist history I have learned many things about the terror regime they have established.

Some points:

• Creating a climate "Us against Them" and "If you aren't on our side, you are a enemy".
  It was enough to say something against the goverment to get into trouble with the security forces.
  
• Creating the image of a difuse enemy
• Invading a country based on fabricated evidence
• Imprisoning people without indictment and trial
• The torture of imprisoned people
• Using the language for their purposes (Propaganda)
• Massive usage of national symbols
• Corporatism: Certain unelected bodies take a critical role in the decision-making process

Again, the USA are a democratic country and the scale is not compareable. But Germany was a democratic country before they Nazis rose to power.

I lived in Munich for four years, and visited the Dachau memorial as well. I think the most disturbing section is the one describing the transformation of the Weimarer Republik into a ruthless dictatorship. The many "first times".

The first time SA stormtroopers marched through the streets, destroying jewish storefronts, with the police standing by and doing nothing.
The first time a judge officially dropped a charge against a member of the Nazi party because it would hurt national reputation.
The first time German jews weren't granted the same rights in court as regular German citizens.
The first time the national press was "gleichgeschaltet" (~equalized), and any dissenting views were prohibited.
And so on and so on.

The Weimarer Republik was a normal state with laws and regulations. Germany didn't become a dictatorship overnight. It was little step-by-step-by-step.

"Wehret den Anfängen!"
http://man-eegee.dailykos.com/comments/2005/4/15/232243/606/72
?mode=alone;showrate=1#72

Upcoming

So I started to use Upcoming.org. It is interesting, it is kind of flickr for event dates. There are some things that aren't right yet, but they some interesting features. As it is in beta, they are still moving forward.

The user interface is made for events that are like concerts: One date, one location. The user interface supports adding events like exhibitions, but its not nice...

http://upcoming.org/metro/de/hh/hh/