Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

youtube.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 213 posts

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#131

Post by JuniperMesos »

beloch wrote: post #110
potato3732842 wrote: post #90

The real disservice of this sort of this sort of stuff is how flagrantly obvious they make the bad guy. Yeah, everyone can identify the idiot spouting off about skin color and engaging in an un-obfuscated textbook exercise in divide and conquer as probably not worth listening to. Patting yourself on the back becase you can identify it when it's flagrantly obvious is counterproductive. The guy in the internet comment…

The problem is that people are still falling for exactly the same sort of comic-book evil even though it's every bit as obvious. e.g. Haitian's eating dogs, illegal immigrants scamming medical services, stealing high-paying jobs, etc.. A high percentage of people completely lack what Carl Sagan would call a "Baloney detection kit", and the current purveyors of baloney like it that way. That's why they're anti-science…

> I suspect we're seeing WWII anti-Nazi propaganda being promoted all over social media in an attempt to shock people into a moment of introspection. Someone watching this propaganda piece today doesn't even have to make substitutions. The man on a street-corner ranting about immigrants could be a talking head on certain current "news" programs. However, the shock relies on the viewer's perception of Nazi's as irredeemably evil.

Anti-Nazi propaganda from WWII has been a staple of American and broader Anglosphere culture for the entirety of my life; and so has the counter-phenomenon of people deliberately using Nazi symbols to be shocking or provocative.

Anyway, at the time this film was produced by the US government, legal immigration from foreign countries to the US had been heavily curtailed for a generation by the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924, and immigration would not be liberalized until another generation later in the 1960s.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#132

Post by bmn__ »

gen220 wrote: post #112
zahlman wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you show that they have arrested US citizens without reasonable suspicion? Can you otherwise show that law is not being followed? From what I can tell, they are legally allowed to wear masks for this. ICE's webpage also is adamant that they legally do not always require a warrant ( https://www.ice.gov/immigration-enforcement-frequently-asked... ), and Snopes agrees ( https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/06/21/ice-arr…

Have you considered that it doesn’t matter that what they’re doing is legal? You don’t need to know if it’s legal or illegal to know that it is wrong. It is against the spirit of this nation (or, perversely, you could say it’s the intrinsic spirit of this nation coming out…). There are plenty of things legal which are wrong. That anyone is defending these actions by claiming to do them “legally” is a means of saving…

Common sense retort (on the level of Asmongold): If you do not agree with a law (on moral grounds or whatever other reason), you do not get to selectively ignore it. Your options in this society are to either put up with it, or lobby to change it.

If you want for society to better align with your values, then lobby to fix the problems that made the introduction of the existing laws a necessity.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#133

Post by bmn__ »

otterley wrote: post #41
behnamoh wrote: post #24

[flagged]

Jesus H. Christ. Are we now trying to make our racism sound acceptable by sprinkling it with scientific concepts like Bayesian thinking?

If Iryna Zarutska were more Bayesian, the correct prejudice and acceptable amount of racism would have saved her life. Unfortunately for her, her priors were from .ua, not .us.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#134

Post by vintermann »

cardanome wrote: post #87
113 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it still true that Americans find it hard to see how this is very clearly propaganda? Yes, it's anti-Nazi but it's still has very obvious problems.

It is literally propaganda. Very good propaganda with a very good and truthful message. (Except maybe a bit of too much idealizing the US and also the role of the catholic church but the main point is fine.) I guess the confusion is because in Western societies people are used to the doublespeak of only calling something propaganda when it is done by the "other side". The other side is "spreading the narrative" you a…

Also, something I keep repeating: even the most loathsome propagandists prefer to use the truth, when the truth is on their side. Bad people make good points all the time. Bad people can't succeed without good points, or at the very least technically true points.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#136

Post by vintermann »

cortesoft wrote: post #95
cardanome wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is literally propaganda. Very good propaganda with a very good and truthful message. (Except maybe a bit of too much idealizing the US and also the role of the catholic church but the main point is fine.) I guess the confusion is because in Western societies people are used to the doublespeak of only calling something propaganda when it is done by the "other side". The other side is "spreading the narrative" you a…

Well, the standard definition of propaganda is that it is false and misleading : > information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a particular cause, doctrine, or point of view. Which I think most people consider bad. If the information is true and not misleading, it would be considered educational or informational.

As long as you pick one definition and stick with it, you can define propaganda how you want. But this is not what people do. They juggle two definitions of propaganda: one broad where anything used to convince you of something is propaganda, and one narrow where it by definition is deceptive.

It's the original "no true Scotsman": there the broad definition (Scotsman=person from Scotland) is used to argue for the narrow definition ("real" Scotsman=good and upstanding person from Scotland)

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#137

Post by mlrtime »

neilv wrote: post #66
113 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it still true that Americans find it hard to see how this is very clearly propaganda? Yes, it's anti-Nazi but it's still has very obvious problems.

My wild guess is that most people who are aware of this film recognize that it's a kind of propaganda. Of course you're going to get nationalism-tinged anti-fascist propaganda from the US Dept. of the Army in 1945. There are large voting blocs who need to hear and comprehend the message of this film that happens to be propaganda, right now.

> There are large voting blocs who need to hear and comprehend the message of this film that happens to be propaganda, right now.

Can you explain, who are the large (how big is large?) voting blocks that need to comprehend the message in the film?

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#138

Post by mlrtime »

beloch wrote: post #110
potato3732842 wrote: post #90

The real disservice of this sort of this sort of stuff is how flagrantly obvious they make the bad guy. Yeah, everyone can identify the idiot spouting off about skin color and engaging in an un-obfuscated textbook exercise in divide and conquer as probably not worth listening to. Patting yourself on the back becase you can identify it when it's flagrantly obvious is counterproductive. The guy in the internet comment…

The problem is that people are still falling for exactly the same sort of comic-book evil even though it's every bit as obvious. e.g. Haitian's eating dogs, illegal immigrants scamming medical services, stealing high-paying jobs, etc.. A high percentage of people completely lack what Carl Sagan would call a "Baloney detection kit", and the current purveyors of baloney like it that way. That's why they're anti-science…

> same sort of comic-book evil even though it's every bit as obvious.

The same as the video? Where is this happening and how is it so obvious?

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#139

Post by mlrtime »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #99
_ink_ wrote: post #81

Unfortunately we are more divided then ever. The algorithms place each of use in its own little echo chamber. And micro targeting makes it easy for people with money to control what each of us is fed in their bubble. Stay united. Don't give up over their perceived power. Don't be a sucker. Easier said, then done.

Algorithms don’t cause people to be racist and sexist. Their own insecurities cause them to be resort to tribalism.

Is that all you think this is about, being racist and sexist?

I agree with OP, this video shows how easy it can be a sucker. There are two parts to it, one is being the sucker, the other is the specific content and time.

OP is pointing out that the sucker is in every echo chamber because these chambers get filtered to only allow extreme viewpoints thrive.

Re: Don't Be a Sucker (1943) [video]

#140

Post by mlrtime »

gen220 wrote: post #112
zahlman wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you show that they have arrested US citizens without reasonable suspicion? Can you otherwise show that law is not being followed? From what I can tell, they are legally allowed to wear masks for this. ICE's webpage also is adamant that they legally do not always require a warrant ( https://www.ice.gov/immigration-enforcement-frequently-asked... ), and Snopes agrees ( https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/06/21/ice-arr…

Have you considered that it doesn’t matter that what they’re doing is legal? You don’t need to know if it’s legal or illegal to know that it is wrong. It is against the spirit of this nation (or, perversely, you could say it’s the intrinsic spirit of this nation coming out…). There are plenty of things legal which are wrong. That anyone is defending these actions by claiming to do them “legally” is a means of saving…

This is not a humanity issue, this is a legal one. The president ran on removing people from this country who entered the country illegally. He is executing what he ran on and what the people voted for.

I don't personally approve of all the tactics that are being used, however it is clear that some cities are not in favor of these Federal laws at all no mater which tactic is used. I also realize how quickly these conversations turn.

Post reply on HN