Was Hitler Good At Public Speaking?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/11024182/Ukip-MEP-Hitlers-powers-of-public-speaking-are-an-inspiration.html

Strange that this hasn't been entered up for ridicule, by the anti-UKIP brigade?

[jno]

oh well, at least nobody lynched the flytippers.

[anotheoldgit]

mikey4444

/// If the Labour party was doing it, there would be an outrage, ///

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1347822.html

Notice that I supported her.

[sp1814]

Can you imagine if any of these young UKIP members decided to take on Hitler's style of delivery whilst debating the proposed ring road near the A428 in Gloucestershire?

I am not confident that it would fly.

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

At least unlike some he does wear his cap the correct way round.

[mikey4444]

But wouldn't it be fun though SP !

[jno]

it wouldn't, sp1814; but Ukip seldom do get down to mundane specifics of policy like that. Their purpose is to convince the public that their party is needed to save the nation; and that was an aim of Hitler too.

[mikey4444]

We forget that UKIP only has one policy, and that is to get Britain out of the EU. Farage has repeated it often enough but to listen to some commentators, you would think that the prominence of UKIP is akin to the birth of the Labour Party. If and when we come out of the EU, UKIP will melt away, as they will be redundant.

[Hypognosis]

@AOG,

//Strange that this hasn't been entered up for ridicule, by the anti-UKIP brigade? //

Not strange at all, imho. UKIP's ability to lampoon itself cannot be surpassed. They are like a self-basting turkey.

Of all the people they could have chosen, you'd think Union Jack-wrapped types would picked Churchill as their example?

[sp1814]

Hypognosis

You wrote:

"UKIP's ability to lampoon itself cannot be surpassed. They are like a self-basting turkey."

Would you mind if I stole that line and passed it off as my own in future conversations at the pub with my mates.

Actually...I'm gonna do it any way because you can't stop me.

Ha!

[Hypognosis]

@mikey4444

//Apart from SP, isn't there anybody else on here today, that thinks it was an error of judgement for UKIP to hold Hitler up as a good example of anything at all ? As SP has said, there are plenty of other good speakers that Ethridge could have used as examples, but instead he chose to invoke Hitler !//

By "anyone else on here" did you mean anyone else reading the thread or anyone else on the whole of Answerbank?

If the latter, then it's slightly unfair on those who are repelled by the thread title, alone, never mind the content. (I nearly didn't).

For the record, yes, I agree it was an error of judgement for the UKIP person.

I also think that Hitler was an overly theatrical orator: Apoplectic, manic, far too shouty for my liking. His audience could see he was an angry man, even in the 1930's. I can't imagine any of them _not_ guessing that he'd be sending them and their fathers, sons, brothers to war before long. (From the women, he only asked for more babies. Putin made a similar appeal to young couples, a year or two ago…).

[Hypognosis]

@sp1814

Please do! :)
If I think for long enough, I might work out where I got it from (the turkey bit is very Paul Mertonish and possibly not, originally, in the context of UKIP).

[Svejk]

some turkey, some neck.

[Kromovaracun]

Mikey:

Yes, I think it was a mistake.

The reason isn't because I think Hitler is a bad example of oratory, but I don't think the separation between the skill and what it was used for is quite as sharp as people think.

The reason Hitler's oratory was effective was essentially because he made extensive use of scapegoating and scare tactics, which tapped into peoples fears and bypassed their rationality. Yeah, of course, he used plenty of dramatic pauses. He would start out quiet and get louder, to increase the impact of what he was saying. A kid telling you a spooky story will do the same thing. It's not what he means and we should all know it.

If Mr Etheridge takes inspiration from Hitler's oratorical style, then he's saying he thinks belligerent scaremongering is a perfectly good thing for the party to be doing. This vindicates the charges that some of us have long been making againt UKIP - and we already know they do it frequently. The most notable example, of course, when they quite happily implied without any reservation that half the population of Romania and Bulgaria would come to the UK.

But I do not expect anyone will listen.

[Hypognosis]

@svejk,

I thought that quote was familiar but turns out I'd misremembered it…

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/some-chicken-some-neck-mr-churchill-at-ottawa/query/CHURCHILL+ROOSEVELT

[Zacs-Master]

A further reason Hitler was successful via his oratory was that he caught the mood of a nation at the time. A nation that was in the doldrums and looking for someone to blame. Hitler gave them that scapegoat and the rest is(unfortunately a very bleak period of) history.

[mikey4444]

Thanks Hypognosis and Kromo...I thought I was going mad !

[naomi24]

Mikey, If you can’t see the difference between a teacher using Hitler’s speeches as an example of how to hold an audience spellbound and that teacher supporting Hitler’s agenda, you should certainly question your ability to rationalise.

[jno]

naomi, while I agree with you, I think it's also important to realise the political context here. You or I may say Hitler was a good orator, but we are out of the public eye. However, for a politician to say anything at all in praise of Hitler is always going to attract undue attention. Right or wrong, that's the way it is.

[mikey4444]

jno...the voice of common sense ! UKIP has shot itself in the foot, yet again.

[naomi24]

jno, I realise that, but that attitude is a sad reflection on the petty mentality of society as a whole.