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Risen Demon

(199 posts)
Sat May 26, 2012, 02:33 PM May 2012

Quotes from Henry Ford(posted on FB by my father)

"Those who walk with God, always reach their destination."---Henry Ford

All Christians should ponder on this one. Especially the lunatic religious right who always preach about God's word, but never follow through.

?"There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible, at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible."---Henry Ford

And if the modern day "businessman" still thought like this, we'd still be a booming economy. But it seems that only the second part is taken into consideration.

?"A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business."---Henry Ford

How prophetic! Today we live in an economy of mega-banks, hedge funds & their ilk. Businesses that make money without adding any value to the economy are destroying the hopes & dreams of the "masses". (This quoted directly from him - and i agree whole-heartedly).

Your thoughts DUers?
39 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Quotes from Henry Ford(posted on FB by my father) (Original Post) Risen Demon May 2012 OP
Thought it would be about the Jews Confusious May 2012 #1
oh please. he was a despicable bigot who used slave labor. cali May 2012 #4
Yea, he wa a bigot Confusious May 2012 #6
What are you trying to say about "the Jews" ??? ellisonz May 2012 #8
Ford wrote a book called "The International Jew, The World's Foremost Problem" n/t arcane1 May 2012 #9
Never knew that... ellisonz May 2012 #10
How about a Mercedes? sulphurdunn May 2012 #12
Pretty much every company Confusious May 2012 #16
The US used POW labor, they did not use slave labor obamanut2012 May 2012 #28
I wasn't refering to that Confusious May 2012 #31
I actually doubt he wrote it himself, having looked into the issue. AverageJoe90 May 2012 #20
Lol. DUzy. Union Scribe May 2012 #25
He didn't just write the book, he was liberalhistorian May 2012 #13
The world's biggest useful idiot for the Establishment, he certainly was. AverageJoe90 May 2012 #23
The "Evil Banking Jews" were the opposite of Communists obamanut2012 May 2012 #29
In a way, that is very true. nt AverageJoe90 May 2012 #32
Henry Ford was a big propagandist for antisemitism LeftishBrit May 2012 #14
Henry ford was delusional by that time Confusious May 2012 #18
Henry Ford said some wise things. MineralMan May 2012 #2
and he did worse things. cali May 2012 #5
Yup. He's not someone MineralMan May 2012 #7
So the above quotes are wrong? The Doctor. May 2012 #24
No they're not wrong. It's just that MineralMan May 2012 #26
That's true, people often consider the messenger. The Doctor. May 2012 #34
I can find good quotes from Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Stalin obamanut2012 May 2012 #30
Okay, go find those good quotes. The Doctor. May 2012 #33
lol. bullshite, dear. cali May 2012 #35
So if Hitler said it was a good idea to brush your teeth, The Doctor. May 2012 #36
yeah, I have some thoughts. He was a horrible anti-semite cali May 2012 #3
A horrendous human being and today PCIntern May 2012 #11
Wow. Thanks for posting that. Gregorian May 2012 #15
I suspect Liebold may have been the one who wrote the International Jew as well. AverageJoe90 May 2012 #21
an anti union scab who received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle datasuspect May 2012 #17
After reading all this, my opinion has changed Risen Demon May 2012 #19
Throughout history - many influential people couldn't think beyond their prejudices RainDog May 2012 #22
A violent union buster and anti semitic is not someone I listen to obamanut2012 May 2012 #27
Post removed Post removed Mar 2013 #37
We Do Not Get Too Many Of Your Type Here, Fella.... The Magistrate Mar 2013 #38
And not for long either. uppityperson Mar 2013 #39

Confusious

(8,317 posts)
1. Thought it would be about the Jews
Sat May 26, 2012, 02:38 PM
May 2012

But it only goes to prove people are more complicated then a cardboard cutout caricature.

Confusious

(8,317 posts)
6. Yea, he wa a bigot
Sat May 26, 2012, 02:50 PM
May 2012

He was also totally bonkers by the late 30's due to a series of strokes, and wasn't really in charge of the company. His son Edsel was.

Confusious

(8,317 posts)
16. Pretty much every company
Sat May 26, 2012, 06:05 PM
May 2012

that was around during the war profited from some sort of slave labor.

American, Japanese, German

Not sure about the British or the french.

obamanut2012

(25,911 posts)
28. The US used POW labor, they did not use slave labor
Sun May 27, 2012, 10:00 AM
May 2012

The POWs volunteered for the work and were paid and treated well.

It is disingenuous to compare that to Mittelwek-Dora or how the Chinese were treated. The US was far from perfect (internment of Japanese-Americans, treatment of some Nazi POWs in Germany), but this is apples and oranges.

And, the Brits used tons of POWs. I know a lot of Italian POWs worked on farms, and a surprising amount stayed in Britain after the war.

Confusious

(8,317 posts)
31. I wasn't refering to that
Sun May 27, 2012, 12:43 PM
May 2012

I was refering to Ford and IBM, who made money from slave labor in NAZI Germany.

Oh, and how could I forget Ws grandfather and wall street?

 

AverageJoe90

(10,745 posts)
20. I actually doubt he wrote it himself, having looked into the issue.
Sat May 26, 2012, 09:57 PM
May 2012

He did approve of it, though, and allowed his name to be stamped on it and sold in some dealerships. (In fact, I have long suspected that this may have been an old trick to get people to be more support extremist anti-communism and corporatism. After all, doesn't any philosophy get more publicity when a celebrity starts hawking it, even if they didn't write anything? If anything at all, Ford was the world's most prominent useful idiot and he was too damn stupid to realize how much of a fool he'd been.)

It's kinda like the exact opposite of the Ron Paul newsletters. RP supporters claim that he didn't write them, yet all the proof says he did; most believe that Ford wrote T.I.J. himself but there's never been any legitimate and undeniable proof that he did anything more than sign his name on it.

liberalhistorian

(20,809 posts)
13. He didn't just write the book, he was
Sat May 26, 2012, 05:44 PM
May 2012

an openly virulent, unapologetic, hate-filled anti-semite who actively promoted hatred and discrimination against all Jews everwhere, who believed that stories of pogroms and persecution were made up in order to drum up sympathy for Jews and distract the world from their real agenda, and who delighted in real stories of persecution against them, believing that that's what needed to be done to rid the world of its "problem."

The ONLY good thing about that is that, when he saw the news videos just after WWII of the liberated camps and saw what his "activism" helped bring about, the horror caused him to have another stroke and it just about killed him. He could barely function for days after that. Too little, too late.

 

AverageJoe90

(10,745 posts)
23. The world's biggest useful idiot for the Establishment, he certainly was.
Sat May 26, 2012, 10:13 PM
May 2012

Though ironically enough, he seemed to have had Jewish associates from time to time.

And my research on him seems to have indicated that most of his virulence was directed towards the 'financiers' and the Communists....in fact, it was his extreme and irrational fear of Communism that started his road to anti-Semitic thinking from what I understand now.

obamanut2012

(25,911 posts)
29. The "Evil Banking Jews" were the opposite of Communists
Sun May 27, 2012, 10:02 AM
May 2012

And, that is who he really hated, the so-called financiers.

LeftishBrit

(41,190 posts)
14. Henry Ford was a big propagandist for antisemitism
Sat May 26, 2012, 05:55 PM
May 2012

He wrote a vile book called 'The International Jew'; and later on did business with the Nazis (which included, for example, conniving at the use of French POWs as slave labour).

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
26. No they're not wrong. It's just that
Sun May 27, 2012, 09:38 AM
May 2012

there are many fine quotes along the same lines that weren't made by someone with Ford's horrendous record. Look for those. Anytime you quote Henry Ford, people remember the other things he said.

 

The Doctor.

(17,266 posts)
34. That's true, people often consider the messenger.
Mon May 28, 2012, 10:58 PM
May 2012

That doesn't make their good ideas or thoughts bad though.

obamanut2012

(25,911 posts)
30. I can find good quotes from Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Stalin
Sun May 27, 2012, 10:04 AM
May 2012

Should I do that, too, and post them on here?

Henry Ford was no different, you know. He even committed war crimes.

 

The Doctor.

(17,266 posts)
33. Okay, go find those good quotes.
Mon May 28, 2012, 10:57 PM
May 2012

And explain why they are wrong.

I'm amazed at the ignorance and childishness of people who will throw out good insights and ideas just because they were uttered by bastards.

It's a very wingnut thing to dismiss the idea because of the source.

 

cali

(114,904 posts)
35. lol. bullshite, dear.
Mon May 28, 2012, 11:09 PM
May 2012

and no, it's not a wingnut thing, but that surely is a childish and lame little insult.

Of course one throws out purportedly good insights that come from bigots and bastards. The world is full of good insights that didn't come from vile pieces of shit, my friend. Why scrape the bottom of the barrel for them?

Good insights are tainted if they come from a poisoned well. this ain't rocket science.

 

The Doctor.

(17,266 posts)
36. So if Hitler said it was a good idea to brush your teeth,
Wed May 30, 2012, 04:24 PM
May 2012

you'd let them rot out of your mouth?

Yes, that's childish.

 

cali

(114,904 posts)
3. yeah, I have some thoughts. He was a horrible anti-semite
Sat May 26, 2012, 02:40 PM
May 2012

Ford had opposed America's entry into World War II [36][45] and continued to believe that international business could generate the prosperity that would head off wars. Ford "insisted that war was the product of greedy financiers who sought profit in human destruction"; in 1939 he went so far as to claim that the torpedoing of U.S. merchant ships by German submarines was the result of conspiratorial activities undertaken by financier war-makers.[46] The financiers to whom he was referring was Ford's code for Jews; he had also accused Jews of fomenting the First World War (see the section on his anti-Semitism below).[47][36] In the run-up to World War II and when the war erupted in 1939, he reported that he did not want to trade with belligerents. Like many other businessmen of the Great Depression era, he never liked or entirely trusted the Franklin Roosevelt Administration, and thought Roosevelt was inching the U.S. closer to war. However, Ford continued to do business with Nazi Germany, including the manufacture of war materiel.[36] Beginning in 1940, with the requisitioning of between 100 and 200 French POWs to work as slave laborers, Ford-Werke contravened Article 31 of the 1929 Geneva Convention.[36] At that time, which was before the U.S. entered the War and still had full diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany, Ford-Werke was under the control of the Ford Motor Company. The number of slave laborers grew as the war expanded although Wallace made it clear that companies in Germany were not required by the Nazi authorities to use slave laborers.

<snip>

In 1918, Ford's closest aide and private secretary, Ernest G. Liebold, purchased an obscure weekly newspaper for Ford, The Dearborn Independent. The Independent ran for eight years, from 1920 until 1927, during which Liebold was editor. Every Ford franchise nation-wide had to carry the paper and distribute it to its customers.

The newspaper published The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was discredited by The Times of London as a forgery during the Independent's publishing run. The American Jewish Historical Society described the ideas presented in the magazine as "anti-immigrant, anti-labor, anti-liquor, and anti-Semitic." In February 1921, the New York World published an interview with Ford, in which he said: "The only statement I care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on." During this period, Ford emerged as "a respected spokesman for right-wing extremism and religious prejudice," reaching around 700,000 readers through his newspaper.[55] The 2010 documentary film Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story (written by Pulitzer Prize winner Ira Berkow) noted that Ford wrote on May 22, 1920: “If fans wish to know the trouble with American baseball they have it in three words—too much Jew.”[56][57][58][59][60][61]

In Germany, Ford's anti-Semitic articles from The Dearborn Independent were issued in four volumes, cumulatively titled The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem published by Theodor Fritsch, founder of several anti-Semitic parties and a member of the Reichstag. In a letter written in 1924, Heinrich Himmler described Ford as "one of our most valuable, important, and witty fighters."[62] Ford is the only American mentioned in Mein Kampf.[63][64] Adolf Hitler wrote, "only a single great man, Ford, [who], to [the Jews'] fury, still maintains full independence...[from] the controlling masters of the producers in a nation of one hundred and twenty millions." Speaking in 1931 to a Detroit News reporter, Hitler said he regarded Ford as his "inspiration," explaining his reason for keeping Ford's life-size portrait next to his desk.[65] Steven Watts wrote that Hitler "revered" Ford, proclaiming that "I shall do my best to put his theories into practice in Germany," and modeling the Volkswagen, the people's car, on the Model T.[66]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford#The_coming_of_World_War_II_and_Ford.27s_mental_collapse

 

AverageJoe90

(10,745 posts)
21. I suspect Liebold may have been the one who wrote the International Jew as well.
Sat May 26, 2012, 10:00 PM
May 2012

Sure, Ford published it, but given that Liebold had been the brains behind the 'Dearborn Independent' ......well, you do the math on that.

Risen Demon

(199 posts)
19. After reading all this, my opinion has changed
Sat May 26, 2012, 07:44 PM
May 2012

Though good quotes, I guess that the man didn't live up to the cutout reputation.

Never meant for it to be anti-semetic or trolling.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
22. Throughout history - many influential people couldn't think beyond their prejudices
Sat May 26, 2012, 10:11 PM
May 2012

Ford was an anti-semite - and so were many others. He, like just about everyone, had good and bad ideas. He was far ahead of the rest of the world in the area of alternative energy - but far behind in issues related to human rights.

Milton is considered one of the greatest writers in the English language. Yet his works are full of misogyny and hatred toward other groups. It's impossible to read a history of literature without reading a history of misogyny - so you have to read those works knowing those people were bound by the prejudices of their time. He was also a fierce proponent of freedom of speech in regard to criticism of power held by religious institutions - so he had his good ideas, too.

The best thing to learn, imo, is that people who lived in past times do not have the answers to present questions and we have to engage in mental distortions to pretend they do - but, sometimes, they do have answers that have been suppressed by the powerful. In Ford's time - anti-semitism was the realm of the powerful and ignorant alike.

obamanut2012

(25,911 posts)
27. A violent union buster and anti semitic is not someone I listen to
Sun May 27, 2012, 09:55 AM
May 2012

He also continued to supply the Nazis with war materiel long after he wasn't supposed to, probably because he was an effing Nazi. I personally think he committed treason, and should have been, at the very least, put under house arrest, and had profits made from trading with the Third Reich seized by the US Government.

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