Long time readers know that, from time to time, for my own amusement I dissect propaganda email that comes to me (and isn’t diverted to Spam), but this one is actually easier than most.
A quick look at Snopes.com indicates they could find no indication that Thomas ever said that, and WikiQuote notes it as a possible misattribution.
If that’s where it ends, I’d not bother. The “scare” stuff at the end is childish. But in my minute of research, I did notice whoever sent this mail around in an attempt to scare the conservative base into line chose to strip out one interesting fact.
Thomas was a Presbyterian minister.
The religious angle on socialism has always been a troublesome aspect of the entire “free enterprise Christianity” embraced by many conservatives, extremist or not. As an agnostic, my impression is that Jesus Christ was against any economic or governmental system which resulted in injustice, and it’s not hard to make the case that free enterprise, pursued with single-minded zest and the misunderstanding that it’s all about the money, would be given unfavorable consideration by JC.
Your mileage may vary.
But the fact that Thomas’ status as a minister has been stripped out of this mail certainly is part of the entire “conservative” (aka right-wing extremists currently in charge of the GOP) narrative control which seeks to manipulate the thought processes, and thus opinions, of the conservative base, rather than serving up all the facts and letting them come to their own conclusions.
It’s dishonest, and it doesn’t matter if liberals or conservatives or right-wing extremists do it.
