Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Hitler, Nazis And Fascists

A few months ago when The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart chided people for likening anything or anyone, even the Bush administration, to Hitler and the Nazis, I agreed. Hitler and his stormtroopers who murdered six million Jews were too singular to use for comparison, and the holocaust too specific to describe anyone and anything else. At that time, I said I would no longer make allusions to Hitler when speaking about the White House. But I am breaking that vow. The recent arrogant admission by George W. Bush that he had broken the law and ordered the National Security Agency to wiretap American citizens and that he had the right to do so because he was President, was the statement of a dictator. The majority of American people have always agreed with Jews who said NEVER AGAIN about Hitler and the Nazis. And yet, here we are. We have allowed a fascistic government to gain so much power that it has made an insane delusional man president of the United States. We have allowed that fascistic government to subvert our Constitution and our laws. We have allowed the Nazis in the White House to spy on American citizens in order to further their aims of totalitarianism and global rule. Yesterday I quoted a man without attribution that I said would understand the way our government is running our country. That man is Adolf Hitler. He said: The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one; strength lies not in defense but in attack; how fortunate for leaders that men do not think; who says I am not under the special protection of God? Our government has ignored the Never Again rallying cry when dictators and fascists run riot in other parts of the globe. Our government always has an excuse, not a plausible excuse, but an excuse, and perhaps it suffices to salve the consciences of Americans. But we know in our hearts we should have stopped the genocide in Rwanda. And we know we should be stopping the genocide in Darfur. But now, we are the people at risk. Now, attention must be paid. We have a Hitler and Nazis running our government. The comparison is apt. On November 4, 2005, President Bush said, “I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals.” What was he really saying? How far is the Bush administration willing to go to eliminate those who don’t share its goals? The Bush administration has already trashed the Constitution, broken laws, and claimed it has the authority to rule without checks and balances. The Bush administration has already used the label "traitor" for people who don’t agree with its policies. And it has said anyone who makes its criminal activities known is aiding and abetting the enemy. What next? Internment camps for registered Democrats? Don’t bet against it when Hitler is your president.

2 comments:

Barry Schwartz said...

I would have told you to ignore Jon Stewart in this. I had a long-standing rule that when 'Nazis' are mentioned the discussion is becoming meaningless. But I saw a few years ago that it was the right term here; from about the time I started calling the former Republican Party the Bushist Arbeiterspartei. Of course I've had people laugh at me, but I don't care. The assumption predicts things that do happen, such as the claim of dictatorial powers.

I'd read most of Mein Kampf. I recognized what I was seeing. Thus I was irate to see so many _Jews_ in the Senate, with Barbara Boxer the only exception, essentially endorsing the questionable re-installation of a would-be Hitler. I despaired, as you do now: 'What happened to "Never again"?'

People do not take nearly seriously enough the tendency of these people to divide everything in life into two fictitious sides. They think Bush is just being simplistic, but they do not realize that this man's 'thought' literally will consider you 'Evil' if you are 'against him'. And I cannot even begin to understand how come there isn't more alarm from language like '"Freedom" is on the March' and 'Armies of "Compassion"'. I mean, come on, you can't see a Hitler-type when he's practically ladling it on you?

No, I suspect people don't all not see it. Some, like Jon Stewart perhaps, simply refuse to see it, because it upsets their model of history.

Barry Schwartz said...

Oh, there was also the frightening resemblance of the PNAC plan to 'Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere', along with the obvious fact—announced prominently by Bush—that this had been adopted as the official policy of the United States government.