Posted on 10/04/2011 2:08:22 PM PDT by Dick Bachert
Those of you older than dirt will perhaps recall a phrase from the old hit TV show, “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In:” “Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls.” It came into popular usage at the time probably because it WAS a funny sounding name and “Funk” was as close to that other “F” word they could never get away with in the late 60s and remain on the air.
For those of you NOT older than dirt, from 1910 until they went under in the 70s or so, Funk and Wagnalls published little green encyclopedia books. Some time after 1939, my parents bought a set for us kids to use and use them we did. The set we owned may have been used as it bore a copyright date of 1931.
When my folks passed, I wound up with the set and the little green books reposed on a shelf in our basement recreation room where my eldest son – who has a keen interest in history -- had been referring to them from time to time.
Recently, he brought me Volume XVIII (Mafia-Neat) and opened it to page 511. At the top of the page was “Nazi.” Here’s how, in 1931, “Nazi” was defined:
“A term coined from the name of the National Socialist Labor Party of Germany. The party leader is Adolf Hitler, who organized the movement in November, 1920. Its aims are similar to those of the Fascist organization in Italy. In the1931 referendum, the electorate of Prussia voted against the dissolution of the Prussian government which was considered a defeat for the Hitler forces. Repudiation of the reparations (imposed on Germany at Versailles at the end of WWI) is one of the aims of the Hitler party. In spite of the fact that the farmers of Germany were supposed to support the Nazis, the election of the Reich revealed that the farmhands and forestry workers opposed the movement.”
By now you may be asking where this is going. Here’s where.
If you have any thoughts of easing off in your resistance to any of the anti-traditional or radical groups considered to be fringe, harmless or inconsequential by recent encyclopedia compilers, writers and so-called opinion molders in the mainstream media, please rethink that.
If you are one of those who, with every new revelation of corruption or outright criminal behavior in high places, mutters “THAT could never happen here,” you have apparently forgotten what went down in Germany a scant 8 years later when this defeated little “fringe” party, led by a failed Austrian painter turned Germany, Europe and the world upside down for decades.
It begs a serious question: Given OUR current situation, is there a message in that for us?
If you don’t think so, go on-line and read what has RECENTLY been written about terms like “progressive,” “social justice,” “ACORN,” “Black Panthers,” “Islam,” etc.
Then think ahead 8 years – although, if we don’t get busy, it won’t take that long.
Excellent thoughts....being older than dirt...I took the liberty and copied this, sent it to my list, asking them to pass it on. Your name and state are on it. *~*
Great vanity, Dick!
Read and heed, FReepers.
Obongo Bozo is the 21st Century Hitler, and the LIEberal/Socialist/Marxist/Communist/Fascist Bastards he surrounds himself with are the 21st Century NAZI wanna-bes!
Want a bite of my Walnetto??
Nice Segue.
Speaking of Laugh-In.
Goldie Hawn was on Hannity a night or two back.
For almost 66 years old she looked mah-velous.
Better than she did back in her Laugh-In days!
Great post.
You’re apparently not ‘old enough’ to know WHY Funk n Wagnalls was so favored as the butt of jokes in those days.
The reason has to do with the abysmal level of editorial supervision applied by F n W to the contents of their so-called Encyclopedia.
This tended to produce the infamous ‘Funk n Wagnalls Loop’. Look up AAA, you get ‘See BBB’. Look up BBB, you get ‘See CCC’. Look up CCC, you get ‘See DDD’. Look up DDD, you get ‘See AAA’. All with no intervening commentary to distract you as you wend your merry way back to where you started. It is rumored that one edition contained hundreds of such ‘loops’ ...
This was such a cosmic joke, it became the fodder for many comics back to the Eisenhower era.
BTW: Does anyone recall when F n W was given away, one volume at a time, as a ‘premium’ in supermarkets when you spent at least $nn in a given week ? My mother religiously focused on shopping at particular stores until she finally acquired a complete set. We spent years trying to convince her how worthless it truly was as a reference or study aid. She NEVER accepted our verdict ...
21stCenturion
I’m older than dirt and I do remember when they were given as premium inducements to shop in certain stores.
That said, it causes me to wonder if F&W was operated by the progressives of the period — when few were aware of their agenda — and were acting as the change agents of today who have penetrated the government schools, obviating the need to control the editorial content of third tier reference books.
That said, the message of my post remains: We MUST be aware of these so-called fringe groups and the very real danger they pose to the system — albeit IMPERFECT — that has provided more wealth and liberty to more people than any other on earth.
Very astute!
Hey there, ‘old as dirt’ Dude ! You just gotta lighten up some.
Besides the simple fact you’re preachin’ to the choir, here ‘bouts, you seem WAY too intense for the sermon of the day.
It is remarkably obtuse to opine that an article written in 1931 is somehow symptomatic of a systematic program of revisionism concerning events which seem to have actually occurred somewhat later in time.
Whether a similar speculation is helpful in monitoring current events and the reportage thereto appertaining seems to be, self-evidently, ALSO something of a ‘stretch’.
Maybe you want to wind down the intensity of your speculations and focus on one or more ‘pertinent’ CURRENT topics and how they are being covered.
That might also tend to discourage those who are inclined to speculate on the density of tin or aluminum in your headgear ...
One man’s Opinion
21stCenturion
What are you smokin’?
Pall Mall 100s, if it’s anything to ya ...
Can you recognize a bit of irony or sarcasm when it’s presented to you ?
21stCenturion
Fail.
I’ll dial it back some, for you ...
In 1931, NO ONE recognized the full potential for mischief-making, mayhem and outright ‘horror’ which emanated from the NAZI party as it existed then. Articles such as Dick B quoted were common as dirt throughout the world. They told of things as they were seen AT THAT TIME and to the extent they were understood AT THAT TIME.
To extrapolate some notion that this somehow shows a willingness or intent to exercise some kind of ‘revisionism’ to further what the NAZI’s BECAME, later in time, seems to ME to be a logical and factual error.
I said so — facetiously, sarcastically and, perhaps, with an intention to be ironic.
I did NOT ‘attack’ or flame anyone nor was I acting to hijack his thread.
It really IS just that simple.
21stCenturion
I don’t see where Dick is implying revisionism on the part of F n G. Only that they didn’t have the foresight (lack of due diligence like everyone else) and thus a fringe group grew and razed havoc. So Dick says we shouldn’t take fringe groups lightly.
( I don’t really ‘grok’ HTML, so I have to do this in the ASCII way. )
Let’s start here, in his initial reply to me —
“That said, it causes me to wonder if F&W was operated by the progressives of the period — when few were aware of their agenda — and were acting as the change agents of today who have penetrated the government schools, obviating the need to control the editorial content of third tier reference books.”
I read this just as I recited earlier. “ ... it causes me to wonder if F&W was operated by the progressives of the period ... acting as [ Like ? ] the change agents of today ... “
In his original post, we see —
“If you have any thoughts of easing off in your resistance to any of the anti-traditional or radical groups considered to be fringe, harmless or inconsequential by recent encyclopedia compilers, writers and so-called opinion molders in the mainstream media, please rethink that. “
” ... go on-line and read what has RECENTLY been written about terms like “progressive,” “social justice,” “ACORN,” “Black Panthers,” “Islam,” etc. Then think ahead 8 years “.
I BELIEVED I drew the inference Dick B ‘intended’ — look around you and ‘speculate’ just how bad something you see ‘now’ can ‘become’ and then — Somehow ! — ‘act’ appropriately on that speculation.
I didn’t and still DON’T see that as a ‘useful’ program, as given.
It’s like — “Hey, look at that insignificant Illinois State Senator speaking tonight at the DNC. Now, imagine 7 years later. Can you see ObamaCare ? Gun Walker ? The Stimuli ? Bailing out the Banks ? GM ? The Euro ? How about Solyndra ? Kagan and Sotomayor ? OMG ! We gotta put a stop to all this NOW, before it’s too late !”
So, just WHO do we ‘act on’ for failing to make all those connections — 7 years ago ? Or even just 3 years ago ? And just imagine all the articles and such you could amass demonstrating just how blatantly we ‘failed’ to foresee all this, or to ‘act’ on it.
THAT was MY point.
One Man’s Opinion
21stCenturion
I had a set of Funk and Wagnall as a boy because Brittanica was too expensive. I lost confidence in it very quickly when I looked up my home state of South Carolina. Under climate it clearly stated that snow falls ONLY in the mountains. It’s true that we don’t have a lot of snow but where we lived in the North central part far from any mountains we probably had measurable snow an average of twice a winter. I figured that if they were so careless on something like that I probably shouldn’t depend on it too much.
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