This video came out 60 YEARS AGO warning us about TODAY!

[Selatius]

Run time: 09:56 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfrQalpmdqk   Posted on YouTube: February 18, 2006 By YouTube Member: gccg Views on YouTube: 32294   Posted on DU: November 03, 2006 By DU Member: Selatius Views on DU: 4002

 
This was published by Encyclopedia Britannica Films in 1946, barely a year after we defeated fascism in Europe, and it warned us about corporate consolidation of the markets. It warned us about media consolidation, and it warned us about not respecting others' freedoms.

Did anybody listen? To answer that question, look at the state of the US today. People thought fascism and proto-fascism were relics of history, and they thought, "It can't happen here."

[demwing]

1. I LOVE the pledge of allegiance scene

"One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"

WAIT!

What the heck happened to "Under God"?

It ain't there in 1946, brothers and sisters, and it shouldn't be there today.

[Glorfindel]

2. I was around nine years old when "under God" was added to the pledge

It STILL sounds strange to me; blasphemous, even.

[hunter]

13. It strikes me as blasphemous too.

Same as on money.

[Straight Shooter]

24. Thanks to the Knights of Columbus.

http://www.st-raymond-dublin.org/kc/undergod.shtml

"The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States originated on Columbus Day, 1892. It contained no reference to Almighty God, until in New York City on April 22,1951, the Directors of the Knights of Columbus adopted a resolution to amend the Pledge of Allegiance as recited at the opening of each of the meetings of the 800 Fourth Degree Assemblies of the Knights of Columbus by the addition of the words "under God" after the words "one nation". The adoption of this resolution by the Supreme Board of Directors caused the immediate initiation of this practice at all Fourth Degree Assembly meetings.

At their annual State Meetings, held in April and May of 1952, the State Councils of Florida, South Dakota, New York and Michigan adopted resolutions recommending that the Pledge of Allegiance be so amended and that the United States Congress be petitioned to have such amendment made effective.

On August 21, 1952, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus at its annual meeting adopted a resolution urging that the change made general and copies of this resolution were sent to the President, the Vice President (as Presiding Officer of the Senate) and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The National Fraternal Congress meeting in Boston on September 24, 1952, adopted a similar resolution upon the recommendation of its President, Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart. Several State Fraternal Congresses acted likewise almost immediately thereafter.

At its annual meeting the following year, on August 20, 1953, of the Knights of Columbus repeated its resolution to make this amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance general and to send copies of this resolve to the President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, and to each member of both Houses of Congress. From this latter action, many favorable replies were received, and a total of seventeen resolutions were introduced in the House of Representatives to so amend the Pledge of Allegiance as set forth in the Public Law relating to the use of the Flag. The resolution introduced by Congressman Louis C. Rabaut of Michigan was adopted by both Houses of Congress, and it was signed by President Eisenhower on Flag Day, June 14, 1954, thereby making official the amendment conceived, sponsored, and put into practice by the Knights of Columbus more than three years before."

However you may feel about the Knights of Columbus, AFAIC, the Pledge of Allegiance should include no reference to God, nor Allah, nor Buddah, et cetera.

[BlueEyedSon]

9. agreed

[Selatius]

16. I found it rather powerful, especially with the hanging man in the foreground

It was only a few years later that McCarthy went on his rampage and started the 2nd Red Scare, and during those days, to help America distinguish itself from the godless communists, somebody thought it was appropriate to put "God" into the pledge.

[izzie]

3. I can not get these to run right. They cut in and out. I do not even

know how or where to go to see what us wrong. All those things that say steaming vetoes do it yet they used to come in good when I was on a cable. I guess I will have to call and see what this phone line place tells me.

[Selatius]

5. Usually, you may have to wait a while for the file to buffer through.

At the beginning of the file, I guess just press pause and wait a time until enough of the file filters through so that there aren't breaks. This way, you give your connection the time it needs to catch up to the speed of the file.

[izzie]

14. I will try.

--

[mopinko]

12. i'm having trouble with it, too.

i cut out half way through. i tried refreshing it, but now it is stuck completely.

i concur that it is a great piece of the history that is no longer taught in our schools.
k/r

[izzie]

15. My son tells me it is the phone line. I have not called my

server yet and I always feel like such a fool as I know so little of these things.

[mopinko]

19. i have dsl.

but i could have a kid downloading some gigabites of music or something. had a few other things go slow lately.

[izzie]

41. Give me an xyz and you have gone over my educational level.

I think I will have to call my server then have son to come over if that does not do it. My niece gave me a PC and said start it here and your on your own. It has really been fun. The only thing that will make my madness come out faster is getting all the numbers to hit when I call on the phone. When one grew up and picked up the phone and your got a real persons to get your number this new stuff can be very hard.

[Chulanowa]

20. Click on the video to go to youtube.

For some reason, playing the embedded video on DU makes it stutter and freeze for me, too. It runs fine on the YouTube site, though

[IWantAChange]

4. K&R ......History is the only true relevant factor we can refer to....

when attempting to determine the curent state of 'things' - despite the cries of 'everything is different this time' it isn't - since time began History has repeated itself again and again.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

6. K and R and

Bookmarked! Great find!

[Poll_Blind]

7. I really wish I could recommend this more than once, it's very powerful.

I'd not been introduced to the various scale approaches in evaluating despotism (or lack thereof) and appreciate the simple, empirical approach.

Really, I wish I could vote for this one more than once. So hopefully my reply will cause others to do the same.

Thank you very much. I'll be showing this, especially to some of the younger people I know. I think it's as important for them to see as an adult.

PB

[StrictlyRockers]

8. Great stuff! Study your History!

[L0oniX]

31. Yea they always said we would appreciate history later on in life

and now I do.

[liberal N proud]

10. Excellent find - So true, it forewarned us all.

Thanks for the post

[Double T]

11. Great video, very powerful!!! This video was made in 1946.......

within the same year fascism was defeated in Europe and George W. Bush, the wannabe dictator, was born in America; July 6, 1946. It is as if SOMEONE had a crystal ball.

[flying_wahini]

17. excellent !

I'm going to spread this around.

[Ediacara]

18. I like that the distribution of economic wealth and taxation was mentioned

It's practically blasphemous to imply that the uber-rich and sales taxes are bad for the economy. Linking those practices to Fascism is sure to make some freeper heads explode.

[Selatius]

22. It was the New Deal, and it worked.

Now, we have Neo-Liberalism, and the only ones who are winning are the wealthy shareholders or owners of the major companies that outsource thousands of jobs to sweatshops in Africa to forced labor camps in China. Today, a person who would go on the campaign trail with an economic policy resembling the New Deal would be called a socialist in the pejorative sense. Such is the complete control of information the corporate news networks now have.

[PreacherCasey]

27. My thoughts exactly! Our tax code blows my mind.

This is one issue where I'm certain, if enough people got informed, we could really make a change. These tax cuts for the super rich (even before Bush's), their fleecing of the system with regard it income tax, our social security mess, the alternative minimum tax, and their attempt to permanently repeal the estate tax affect us all!

While it seems most Americans are apathetic towards our government (at least in terms of getting up and doing something about it), I'm sure people would get energized by the fact that these issues hit the where it counts, in the pocketbook. These tax laws are GROSSLY UNJUST. We need to get people informed and do something about this!

This is the way to take on Corporate America HEAD ON! It's the rich, corporate, donor class that has the access and the cash to keep pushing these laws through. They will fight like hell, but we outnumber them. 95% of the people in this country are getting screwed so the guys at the top can get rich beyond measure.

[jdadd]

21. K&R......

I think I was about second grade level when Under god was added to the pledge....I remember the teacher reciting it extra loud so we would remember to use it.

[StrictlyRockers]

23. Fight for what is right within your community!! Fight the small battles! Every time!

"As communities go, so goes the nation."

TRUTH!

[SIU_Blue]

25. wow....

That is powerful stuff.

I know a certain administration that could use a viewing.

[intheflow]

26. Wow! That's prophetic!

Whoever found this and put it up on YouTube is a hero. And you are a hero for sharing it here. This ought to be required viewing for every American.

[eppur_se_muova]

28. Awesome! "Those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it."

The RW noise machine has been trying to separate us from our -- and ALL -- history. Sadly, they've been very successful at it.

[Elidor]

29. Wow. That really lays it out there.

I can't rate it highly enough. Dated, simplistic, but right on the money.

Viewed through these criteria, it seems that a society such as ours, not only encourages despotism, but actually begins to demand it at some point, simply because nature abhors a vacuum.

It also has some very good points to make about respect. Makes me think that at some point, we all have to make peace with those whose ideologies we detest for the sake of our society.

Thanks for the great link, Selatius.

[mom cat]

30. By all the scales, we are in grave danger of despotism. Without

the internets, we would be there already. Scary vid and a great find. Thanks.

[Jack Rabbit]

32. K/R

[Imalittleteapot]

33. K&R Every freeper should see this film.

Every American should see it.

[Ferret Annica]

35. We are in trouble

K&R Every freeper should see this film.

The only trouble is that thongs have gotten so bad they wold just use it for training purposes to learn how to be worse.

[Longhorn]

34. "I'm the law around here" sounds like, "I'm the decider!"

Very chilling. Thanks for sharing!

[SaneInSC]

36. Aren't we lucky

Our very own despot, just like in the movies.

[civildisoBDence]

37. Made by Professor Harold Lasswell, from Yale

I can just hear Hannity and DUHbya scoffing at this "college professor," as if lefty pinko college professors know anything.

Reminds me of the warning about a military industrial complex given by that raving liberal, Dwight Eisenhower. (And what the hell do GENERALS know, huh?)

Newsprism

[robertpaulsen]

38. WOW! Watch this, then watch Stephanopoulus interview Cheney.

The message should be unmistakable. In a despostism, where power is concentrated in the hands of the few, the people "don't matter".

On a different subject, anyone see the documentary "The End of Suburbia"? There was a snippet from this Encyclopedia Brittanica film that was included in it. It was the scene where the editor says, "I thought I told you to kill that story".

Anyway, it was good to see this film in its entirety. Very prophetic.

[The Doctor.]

39. I'd swear this was devised more recently.

Especially with the overt message of pollution in some of the graphics... among other things.

Who was responsible for a production of such foresight?

[rman]

42. It is not foresight. The despotism we see today is nothing new

It has been around for as long as greedy wealthy individuals have been around.

History is shaped by the forces that make the pendulum of despotism swing back and forth: fascism rises, The People oppose it, fascism declines, people forget, and the whole process starts over again.

(where fascism is simply another name for despotism)

[C_U_L8R]

40. This should be required viewing for Freepers

they've lost their way and forgotten what it means to be American.

In fact everyone needs a good reminder.

[Selatius]

46. They're beyond saving. It's the middle that should be saved.

The middle third of the population that is neither on the left nor on the right.

[annabanana]

43. America was fresh from the War when this was made.

The film reinforced the lessons that America "learned" in WWII. As the Vets of that generation leave us, the memory fades. These old informational movies look funny to us, and many of them are amusingly outdated in the lessons they teach, but THIS one should be sent to every middle school and high school in the Country.

We need remakes to saturate social studies classes nationwide.

[snappyturtle]

44. I'm dying to see this video after reading the remarks.....

however, there isn't ANY link for me to click on your post this morning. HELP!

[snappyturtle]

45. FOUND IT! via video forum......sorry. n/t

[lady lib]

47. K&R

and damn depressing

[ooglymoogly]

48. k&r by this well thought out scale we have reached despotism

some time ago

[Cobalt Violet]

49. K & R.

:kick:

[ArbustoBuster]

50. K&R

I would love to have everyone in Congress watch this. Preferably with a quiz afterwards.

[Quixote1818]

51. kick

[Quixote1818]

52. Listen to how they say the pledge of allegance. They don't mention God