Hitler’s big lie compared to global warming

[Guest Guest]

Wow!!! Just found this in the internet.

"Hitler's Big Lie" His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.

I can see where Paul got his straregies from.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Isn't this Bush's gameplan?

[Guest Guest]

It's not a question of needing or not needing advice. You don't negotiate with a party, then adopt policies that affect those negotiations without telling them. That's bad faith, horrid lawyering, or both.

Matthew will most likely address the school board at the Feb. 20 meeting, detailing what Mr. Paszkiewicz said about Hitler and global warming. If students who were in the class would like to come and give their accounts, I am sure they will be heard.

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"bad faith" you sure know exactly what this is, don't you?

[Guest Guest]

That's not true, Bryan. This is the only teacher we've formally complained about.

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At what point did you eliminate your personal bias, Paul?

Is that "formally" in there a bit of Clintonian/lawyerly parsing?

How many have you informally complained about?

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Matthew had problems in school before. This is not the first time.

[Guest Guest]

Wow!!! Just found this in the internet.

"Hitler's Big Lie" His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.

I can see where Paul got his straregies from.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Perfect!

[Guest Guest]

It's not a question of needing or not needing advice. You don't negotiate with a party, then adopt policies that affect those negotiations without telling them. That's bad faith, horrid lawyering, or both.

Matthew will most likely address the school board at the Feb. 20 meeting, detailing what Mr. Paszkiewicz said about Hitler and global warming. If students who were in the class would like to come and give their accounts, I am sure they will be heard.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are you begging people to come support you again?

Don't you have any shame?

Grow up Paul. Stop using your son.

By the way, if you are going to that meeting, make sure your TRAIN him well for that meeting.

Make sure he practice his lines well. Make believe his at a Broadway Play.

[Calybos]

You're pathetic! You definetely have no life! I would be embarrased if I were you!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't let that stop you. You've got plenty to be embarrassed about all by yourself.

[Guest Guest]

It wasn't any one statement. It was and is a principle. Hitler understood that if something is reapeated often enough, people will often believe it.

Hitler also understood that the bigger the lie, the more likely it is to be believed, because people will not believe that someone will lie that boldly about something so important. He described this in Mein Kampf.

How ironic that the principle is employed by Mr. Paszkiewicz's political hero today. WMD's in Iraq, for example. There are plenty of other examples from the modern political right in America. Of course, Mr. Paszkiewicz neglected to mention any of them, using instead an inconvenient truth that he prefers not to believe.

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Is it against the law for Mr. P to like Bush too? It doesn't look like he is the only one since Bush is the president of America! I belive that you as a "great" lawyer knows very well how he got elected, don't you? People voted for him!

[Guest K]

Once again, Mr. LaClair, you seem to be taking Mr. P.’s lectures out of context; picking and choosing words and placing them in an alternative pattern in order to malign his character. Are you now attending his classes or do you have access to additional recordings? You’ve made further accusations, yet have not shared the source or the full details of your current angst – what exactly did Mr. P. say and when? I’d like to see or hear the quote where he “compared dedicated scientists all over the world to Hitler”. What is outrageous is that you would make unsubstantiated and contrived accusations in order to promote your own agenda. It seems to me that you have a personal, one-sided vendetta with Mr. P. and have rationalized that you are defending the U.S. Constitution, students, and of course, your son Matt.

In your posting, you said “If he (Mr.P.) cannot control himself in front of my son, with whom he has a history, the reasonable conclusion is that he cannot and will not control himself in other classes if this episode is allowed to pass.” I have known Mr. P. for many years and have to say that I have always admired his self-control in situations that would rouse the ire of most. In all the mud-slinging and slander aimed at him over the past several months, there has been no evidence of him treating your son inappropriately, in or out of the classroom. Neither has he done anything to assault your character.

I hope that those who have taken up your war cries in this forum as well as many others will be present as “Matthew will most likely address the school board at the Feb. 20 meeting, detailing what Mr. Paszkiewicz said about Hitler and global warming. If students who were in the class would like to come and give their accounts, I am sure they will be heard.” I also hope that other students who were and are in class with them will step up and make the truth known.

As a parent of a KHS freshman, as a concerned citizen, as a Christian, and as a friend, I will be there.

[Guest Lazarus]

I think I'm gonna leave this place soon. The people here make me sick (the fundamentalist fanatics, I mean.) to my stomach.

[Guest Guest]

I have been absent from KOTW for a few weeks because our attorneys were attempting to negotiate an amicable resolution with the school district to avoid litigation. However, and after consultation with our attorneys, it does not appear that the district is interested in resolving the matter amicably. I do wish to state publicly, however, that they have taken some affirmative steps, which we applaud and wish to encourage, but also other steps that are very unfortunate and ill-advised, especially because they occurred during negotiations without advising our attorneys. Therefore, and after consultation with our attorneys, I return here.

On January 24, 2007 --- ironically, a day on which Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” was being shown to another class at KHS --- in open class, Mr. Paszkiewicz compared reports on global warming to Hitler’s propaganda technique, commonly called the big lie. Mr. Paszkiewicz correctly observed that Hitler was a master propagandist who understood that if a lie is repeated often enough people will often believe it. Hitler wrote about this technique in “Mein Kampf” and used it throughout his time in power. Part of what Mr. Paszkiewicz said is true.

However, in comparing the world’s media and scientists to Hitler’s propaganda machine, Mr. Paszkiewicz acted irresponsibly, yet again, to promote his personal political agenda. He has every right to his political beliefs, radical as they may be. He has no right to misuse his position as a public school teacher to dismiss developing science that is being discussed by qualified teachers in the science department, especially when it is obvious that he knows very little about science.

For example, the mere fact that scientists were also concerned about another Ice Age does not mean that they don’t know what they’re doing. They saw data that led them to conclude that human technology was affecting the environment. In the early stages of data collection and analysis, the precise nature of the effects may not be clear. Comparing this to a crime investigation, the investigator initially knows something is up; as he continues to investigate, the picture becomes clear. That is how science works. Mr. Paszkiewicz’s failure to understand that would not be troubling, but his expression of that in class is very troubling. Not to mention that scientists believe global warming could lead to an Ice Age. We’ve never been down this road, so scientists are trying to understand the data as best they can.

That hardly merits an irresponsible and inflammatory comparison to Hitler. This comparison implies far more than merely an opinion that global warming may not be true. (Ironically, the story in the Star-Ledger and Jersey Journal appears on the day the UN is releasing a comprehensive study confirming the fact of global warming.) A history teacher presuming to dismiss the entire scientific community from his ignorance is bad enough. Comparing dedicated scientists all over the world to Hitler is outrageous.

That this does not violate any law is not the point. This comment is irresponsible and inflammatory. It undermines legitimate teaching in the science department. It is based on nothing except the teacher’s biases. What is worst, perhaps, is that Mr. Paszkiewicz seems not to have learned anything from this episode. If he cannot control himself in front of my son, with whom he has a history, the reasonable conclusion is that he cannot and will not control himself in other classes if this episode is allowed to pass.

Personally, I would like to see Mr. Paszkiewicz take remedial education classes so that he might better appreciate his role and his limits as a history teacher. As one of many taxpayers paying his salary, I do not appreciate his using my money to fill students’ heads with his prejudices.

Finally, The Star-Ledger, and I presume the Jersey Journal, misquote me today to say that we wrote four letters to the Board of Education after Matthew revealed his recordings of Mr. Paszkiewicz’s class. I have contacted the reporter and advised him that our four letters to the administration (including one or two to the Board) were written after Matthew revealed his recordings, not before. Whether they will issue a correction I do not know, so I wanted to be sure to issue one here.

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I really think that your son has problems understanding things...Or he is lying!

[Guest Guest]

There is no single "Big Lie". It's a technique.

Read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie

And as you read it, see if you can notice similarities between it and the techiniques of a certain current US administration and its enablers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey Mario,next time you talk about something, don't get you informations from wikipedia. As we all know, wikipedia can be edited by anyone! If you are here with the purpose of making Mr. LaClair happy, at least do not embarrass him! By the way, have you contacted Mr. LaCLair yet? If not, please do it as soon as possible! PATHETIC!

[Bryan]

At what point did you eliminate your personal bias, Paul?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

At the same point you eliminated yours, Bryan.

Bryan:

If you applied your standard without your personal bias, Mr. LaClair, we'd have precious few schoolteachers left.

(bold emphasis added)

Paul:

That's not true, Bryan. This is the only teacher we've formally complained about.

http://forums.kearnyontheweb.com/index.php...=ST&f=2&t=4425#

If that's not an implication by you that you freed yourself from personal bias, then I don't know what is.

Perhaps the lawyer did not read carefully enough.

You're not a stupid person. You'd do yourself and everyone you touch a great service by looking at the forest instead of only the molecules inside every leaf on every tree.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You keep saying there's a forest, but you won't show us a tree on this one.

Where's the transcript of the remarks alleged to have been made by Mr. Paszkiewicz?

Or am I supposed to believe that there is a tree in this case because of a forest in some other case? This is not a nitpick. I'm asking for the evidence behind your accusation of Paszkiewicz.

I think there's reason to believe that you misrepresent Paszkiewicz's words. Certainly you're vulnerable to bias in taking your son's word over the word of others--and is that not the foundation for this thread you're using to attack Paszkiewicz?

[Guest bewildered]

At what point did you eliminate your personal bias, Paul?

Is that "formally" in there a bit of Clintonian/lawyerly parsing?

How many have you informally complained about?

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Matthew had problems in school before. This is not the first time.

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What problems? Please be specific.

[Guest bewildered]

Hey Mario,next time you talk about something, don't get you informations from wikipedia. As we all know, wikipedia can be edited by anyone! If you are here with the purpose of making Mr. LaClair happy, at least do not embarrass him!  By the way, have you contacted Mr. LaCLair yet? If not, please do it as soon as possible!    PATHETIC!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What in this article do you disagree with? I think most of the people here know that what wikipedia says is gospel.

[Guest DingoDave]

Hey Mario,next time you talk about something, don't get you informations from wikipedia. As we all know, wikipedia can be edited by anyone! If you are here with the purpose of making Mr. LaClair happy, at least do not embarrass him!  By the way, have you contacted Mr. LaCLair yet? If not, please do it as soon as possible!    PATHETIC!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dear 'Guest',

What the blazes are you raving on about about? There is absolutely nothing wrong with the article Mario referred you to.

It explained the concept of 'the big lie' quite concisely and satisfactorily. Why are you complaining?

Have you forgotten that it was David Paszkiewicz’s comment about Hitler's 'big lie' that started this whole discussion in the first place?

Some of you Paszkiewicz supporters are such monumental fools, that it boggles my imagination how you ever survived childhood without constantly being kept on a choker chain and a short leash.

Perhaps you had Mr.P. as your history teacher while you were at high school. That might explain your antipathy towards basic logic and common sense.

Why is it that the lamest, the most innane, and the most vaccuous posts, seem to be almost invariably made by this mysterious person known as 'Guest'?

Are you all the same person, or are you 'guests' all just members of the same 'Clueless Club'?

[Guest Guest]

Dear 'Guest',

What the blazes are you raving on about about? There is absolutely nothing wrong with the article Mario referred you to.

It explained the concept of 'the big lie' quite concisely and satisfactorily. Why are you complaining?

Have you forgotten that it was David Paszkiewicz’s comment about Hitler's 'big lie' that started this whole discussion in the first place?

Some of you Paszkiewicz supporters are such monumental fools, that it boggles my imagination how you ever survived childhood without constantly being kept on a choker chain and a short leash.

Perhaps you had Mr.P. as your history teacher while you were at high school. That might explain your antipathy towards basic logic and common sense.

Why is it that the lamest, the most innane, and the most vaccuous posts, seem to be almost invariably made by this mysterious person known as 'Guest'?

Are you all the same person, or are you 'guests' all just members of the same 'Clueless Club'?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey DingoDave, whatever that means...were you in the classroom when Mr. P talked about Hiltler? No? then you should shut up. Stop accussing people of doing something that they did not do it and ask Mr. LaClair to prove what he said! Thanks!

[Strife767]

Hey DingoDave, whatever that means...

Can't _any_ of you morons reply to this guy without whining about his online alias? Sheesh!

[Guest Dingo Dave]

Hey DingoDave, whatever that means...were you in the classroom when Mr. P talked about Hiltler? No? then you should shut up. Stop accussing people of doing something that they did not do it and ask Mr. LaClair to prove what he said! Thanks!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It wouldn't surprise me if you've never heard of a dingo before. After all, you probably don't see many of them hanging about down at American suburban shopping malls do you?

If you've never heard of a dingo before, I recommend that you crack open an encyclopedia and look it up. Or if that's too hard for you, look it up on the internet. I know that you can spell the word 'dingo', because I have seen you do it.

Now, do you know how to access the google search page, or do you need me to explain how to do that for you as well?

On second thoughts, I don't trust you to do even a simple a thing like a Google search, so here is the explaination that I gave to someone else who seemed as ignorant about the world around him as you are.

"The dingo is the Australian wild dog, which is thought to be descended from the Asian white-footed wolf. They are a very ancient breed, and for thousands of years have accompanied the Australian Aborigines on their hunting trips and travels throughout the Australian bushland.

Unfortunately, they are now facing extinction as a seperate subspecies due to wild populations interbreeding with domestic dogs.

I hope this clears things up for you."

Oh, and by the way, it will be difficult for anyone to prove some of the stupid comments that Mr. Paszkiewicz makes in classes from now on, since Kearny High School has banned recording devices in their classrooms. Or hadn't you heard that news?

P.S. Read Strife's last post and act upon it please. This nonsense about my screen name is getting very tedious.

[Guest WilliamK]

I also hope that other students who were and are in class with them will step up and make the truth known. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Or, perhaps more realistically, that they will lie without conscience on Paszkiewicz' behalf. I'm sure that will prove much more to your taste than the truth. The truth has, after all, not been at all kind to Mr. Paszkiewicz or his supporters.

It will be much, much more pleasant to just tell lies and label them "Truth". To say and believe what is desired rather than what is real. If anyone calls the lie and reveals the truth, just accuse them of being mean spirited, or evil, or unpatriotic. You can label that "Truth" as well. Then sit back smug and happy, secure in the faith induced certainty that they are wrong and you are right. That they are cruel and you are kind. Revile them, and be happy and content in the proclaimed light and goodness of your fabricated Truth. Believe.

I expect that the righteous friends of Mr. P. will have no difficulty with this task. It is the way of those who value Truth over truth. It is the way of the faithful. They are well practiced and very adept at these things.

As a parent of a KHS freshman, as a concerned citizen, as a Christian, and as a friend, I will be there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm sure your side will be well represented. Kearny has earned a reputation for being a haven for such. So, be of good cheer! You are in the majority. And the "Truth" is on your side. As, of course, it must always be. Why, you might even win by numbers alone. You don't even have to be right. Enjoy your good fortune. And rejoice as those infidel values of intellectual honesty, honor of science and honest inquiry, freedom to think and express for one's self, and the ideal of a government that represents all and privileges none, are all diminished in your wake.

[Guest Guest]

Can't _any_ of you morons reply to this guy without whining about his online alias? Sheesh!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No problem! How about Strife 767? weird....

[Guest Guest]

It's not a question of needing or not needing advice. You don't negotiate with a party, then adopt policies that affect those negotiations without telling them. That's bad faith, horrid lawyering, or both.

Matthew will most likely address the school board at the Feb. 20 meeting, detailing what Mr. Paszkiewicz said about Hitler and global warming. If students who were in the class would like to come and give their accounts, I am sure they will be heard.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And you ignored the rest of the post! So, do agree that you lied when you said that you have been away from KOTW?

[Guest bewildered]

What in this article do you disagree with?  I think most of the people here know that what wikipedia says is gospel.

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I meant to say I think most of the people here think that what wikipedia says is gospel .

[Guest Guest]

Can't _any_ of you morons reply to this guy without whining about his online alias? Sheesh!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Can't you stop replying to every post?

[Strife767]

Can't you stop replying to every post?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You tell me--there are far more posts by "Guest" in this thread than by me.

[Guest Guest]

Can't you stop replying to every post?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If there weren't so many brainless imbeciles saying and posting such utter rubbish, there would not be the need for any of us to reply to anything. Indeed these posts would not even exist.

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate".