It's a little unfair to be using the image of Hitler. But it's easy to understand Germany's acceptance of this man, given the humiliation that Germany endured after World War One. With riots in the streets, the German people could be easily seduced by any demagogue promising peace, order, and good government - none of which were delivered to the people of the Reich.
Today, we know more about how people choose authoritarians, and why people choose them. An article in Vox describes how the Trump phenomenon came about, and why he is attracting support. Sadly, all the signs of another authoritarian government coming to power are there - people who value order above freedom, people who sacrifice liberty for security, in short - people who are afraid of the future, and want to restore the glory days of the past. It is no accident that Trump's motto is "Make America Great Again." But when did it stop being great?
Trump is known for making deals that benefit only himself. Is there any evidence that his MO has changed? A Trump administration is likely to be one of the most corrupt administrations America will have ever endured, as he has used questionable business practices to build his empire. He is a con man, someone only interested in making his deal, and has no interest in seeing that the I's are dotted and T's are crossed.
Recently, on Vice TV, they documented about the squalid working conditions that "guest workers" (read, defacto slaves) live in while building the Trump International Golf Club in Dubai. Trump ignores laws that require we try to hire domestically first, and has staffed his exclusive resort, Mar-a-Lago mostly with imported labor. The man is a hypocrite and a total liar. Yet, none of his supporters give a damn.
What frightens me is that this man is so fickle. He has no consistency in pattern. He threatens to blow up any nation that doesn't bow to the power of a Trump America. Can we trust him with "the Button?" I doubt it. I'm afraid that America will make the same mistake in the 2010's that Germany made in the 1930's - with the same disastrous results.
How will we know this is happening? Let's look at what happened in Germany. In the 1930's they first rounded up the Homosexuals and Political Dissidents. Of course, we can not forget how many Jews were persecuted. Within 2 years of Hitler taking power, these people were persecuted. If we change the nation to America, go after Homosexuals, Transgenders, Socialists, and Muslims, we'd have the same situation as Germany had roughly 80 years before. We have already herded Indians onto reservations, and put Japanese Americans into internment camps, and lynched Blacks. It's not such a big step, given the size of our prison system (which incarcerates over 1.25% of our population, the highest percentage in the world) to expand it further to hold "undesirables". And it would not be inconceivable to make the new prisoners engage in hard labor. Does "Arbeit Macht Frei?" I doubt it.
If you think that going to Canada will make you any safer, please remember that Canadians are also under attack from their own authoritarian politicians. Could you imagine an "Anschluss" between the two countries? Heck, we were once both part of a larger British North America. I could see this happening.
Do I fear too much? Maybe. But stranger things have happened, and I am not comfortable (nor should you be) that Trump is running neck and neck with Hillary. I once said that I want America to be scared shitless with Trump. Sadly, I think that wish may just come true - and that Hillary may win a victory even closer than that won by Bush in November, 2000.
Although this is not the mosque in the article, "As Houston Islamic Center burns, firefighter posts "Let it burn - Block the fire hydrant" , it illustrates what is on much of conservative America's mind - blind hatred to others who are not like them. It's not just Islam - Sikhs are being caught up in the hatred of the ignorant, as noted in this article. Even my father lumps Sikhs in with Muslims, calling them all "Towel Heads", without the slightest understanding that Sikhs are often at odds with Muslims because of their religion and practice of it.
This is the kind of event that disgusts me. There is nothing wrong with fearing the unknown. I fear the potential of having an unassimilated ethnic group demanding rights they have in other countries that no ethnic group should have in ours. But giving into that fear is something else. The quickest way to radicalize the Muslims in the United States is to treat them as third class citizens.
There are legitimate fears - Americans do not want to see the United States become like Europe. We successfully absorbed millions of people from around the world in simpler times - and virtually every major group has been successfully brought into the mainstream. People coming here wanted to become Americans and leave the old world behind. Current European immigrants want to bring the old country (and culture) with them - and this poses a dilemma for today's Americans: Will newcomers (in any large number) from truly foreign cultures assimilate successfully?
I'm concerned with the growth of Islam in the United States. It's because I see Saudi Arabia funding many of the prison chaplains, spreading the most conservative practice of Islam in the world. I'm afraid that their barbaric culture (vs. the barbaric culture we're already familiar with) will cause us problems if its members grow too large in our society.
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However, I also fear radical Christianity. We've identified the San Bernardino shootings as terrorist activity. But what about the bombing of Abortion Clinics, as well as the assassination of doctors who have practiced there. Many of the same people who say abortion is wrong often try to impose their moral values on the rest of us by also getting in the way of women having a full range of safe and legal contraception options. (The "Hobby Lobby" case comes to mind here.) So I am concerned for the women who do not have convenient access to safe and legal medical procedures to keep a baby healthy while it's in the womb, as well as access to safe and legal medical procedures for those women (for whatever reasons) need to abort the fetuses inside them.
Once a woman's right to control her own body is taken away by social conservatives, what is next? We've already seen legislators pander to the religious right by saying that church attendance should be made mandatory. How would Atheists fare? Then, I'd bet that religious purity zealots would go after "social undesirables" such as Homosexuals, Bisexuals, and Transgender people. And then, who would be next to suffer in the potential religious purges?
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If you don't think anything like this could happen here, you haven't been paying attention to history. Politicians will lie to the people. But sometimes, they get caught up in their lies, and have to act in disgusting ways. For example, we've seen Japanese Americans herded up into prison camps - only because of their ancestry. Was this done to people of either German or Italian ancestry? No. But we feared the Japanese, and "needed" to control the "Japanese" in our midst in the most brutal and inhumane way possible. (And Donald Trump) is using this as a model of what we should do to Muslims living in America.
After seeing pictures of Jews wearing Yellow Stars in Germany, it sickens me to see this crap being proposed here. And I feel very sorry that the most "conservative" of Christians are making the same mistake Germany made in the 1930's. Instead, I'd like to see America address the problems brought up in this video clip from the HBO series, The Newsroom. Only then, can America be great again (no help from Trump.)
What is it that many devout Muslims find offensive about any visual depiction of their prophet? I can understand why they might find the pictures in Charlie Hebdo offensive, but can't they do what Christians do when Christ is depicted in an offensive way - look elsewhere?
These radical Islamists (like radical Christianists and radical Zionists) are a dangerous cancer eating away at our society. The use of terrorism to cause fear must be pushed back. But most of the mainstream media refuses to publish any of the pictures that catalyzed the deaths that just happened in France. Why? They are afraid! This is why we must insist that these pictures are published - to insure that people know why the murderers committed their crimes and why we must protect satire at all costs, as satire is the most valuable of speech protected by the 1st amendment.
Years ago, Charlie Chaplin said that he would never have made "The Great Dictator" had he known how evil Hitler was. To me, that would have been a great crime in itself. Only Chaplin could put Hitler in proper perspective - as an evil man who was out of control and wanted to rule the entire world.
We have a choice as Americans - run and hide, or defend free speech. Years ago, Larry Flynt was asked why he appealed an obscenity ruling against Hustler Magazine. He responded that he believed that it was important to defend obscene satire - and the Supreme Court of the United States agreed, in an 8-0 unanimous verdict. He could have given up, but he didn't.
Yes, I find Flynt a vulgar man - unlike his then peers, Hefner (Playboy), Guccione (Penthouse), and Goldstein (Screw). But I respect him and his peers (especially Hefner) for their work to preserve the protections of the 1st amendment. And I feel that it is important that we support the right to be offensive, for if we don't support it, our freedoms will be whittled away by those who want to act as moral police....
