The Fear Factor

The producer of a CBS mini-series has been fired after comparing the climate of fear in the United States to the political environment that enabled Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Ed Gernon, the producer of "Hitler: The Rise of Evil" told TV Guide that the story "basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear, who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the whole world into war. I can't think of a better time to examine this history than now." Associates say the remarks were exaggerated by a New York Post item that cited Gernon's comment as a sign of Hollywood's anti-Americanism and paraphrased his remarks as saying that Bush should be looked at "through the prism of Germany's psychopath." (They said it, he didn't.)