Everyone likes to say, "Hitler did this", and,
"Hitler did that". But the truth is Hitler did very little. He was a
world class tyrant, but the evil actually done by the Third Reich, from the
death camps to WW2 was all done by German citizens who were afraid to question
if what they were told by their government was the truth or not, and who
because they did not want to admit to themselves that they were afraid to
question the government, refused to see the truth behind the Reichstag Fire,
refused to see the invasion by Poland was a staged fake, and followed Hitler
into national disaster.
The German people of the late 1930s imagined themselves to
be brave. They saw themselves as the heroic Germans depicted by the Wagnerian
Operas, the descendants of the fierce Germanic warriors who had hunted wild
boar with nothing but spears and who had defeated three of Rome's mightiest
legions in the Tuetenberg Forest.
But in truth, by the 1930s, the German people had become
civilized and tamed, culturally obsessed with fine details in both science and
society. Their self-image of bravery was both salve and slavery. Germans were
required to behave as if they were brave, even when they were not.
It's easy to look back and realize what a jerk Hitler was.
But at the time, Hitler looked pretty good to the German people, with the help
of the media. He was TIME Magazine's Man Of The Year in 1938. The German people
assumed they were safe from a tyrant. They lived in a Republic, after all, with
strict laws regarding what the government could and more importantly could not
do. Their leader was a devoutly religious man, and had even sung with the boy's
choir of a monastery in his youth.
The reality was that the German people, as individuals, had
lost their courage. The German government preferred it that way as a fearful
people are easier to rule than a courageous one. But the German people didn't
wish to lose their self-image of courage. So, when confronted with a situation
demanding individual courage, in the form of a government gone wrong, the
German people simply pretended that the situation did not exist. And in that
simple self-deception lay the ruin of an entire nation and the coming of the
second World War.
When the Reichstag burned down, most Germans simply refused
to believe suggestions that the fire had been staged by Hitler himself. They
were afraid to. But so trapped were the Germans by their belief in their own
bravery that they willed themselves to be blind to the evidence before their
eyes, so that they could nod in agreement with Der Fuhrer while still imagining
themselves to have courage, even as they avoided the one situation which most
required real courage; to stand up to Hitler's lies and deceptions.
When Hitler requested temporary extraordinary powers, powers
specifically banned under German law, but powers Hitler claimed he needed to
have to deal with the "terrorists", the German people, having already
sold their souls to their self-delusions, agreed. The temporary powers were
conferred, and once conferred lasted until Germany itself was destroyed.
When Hitler staged a phony invasion from Poland, the vast
majority of the German people, their own self-image dependant on continuing
blindness to Hitler's deceptions, did not question why Poland would have done
something so stupid, and found themselves in a war.
But Hitler knew he ruled a nation of cowards, and knew he
had to spend the money to make the new war something cowards could fight and
win. He decorated his troops with regalia to make them proud of themselves,
further trapping them in their self-image. Hitler copied the parade regalia of
ancient Rome, to remind the Germans of the defeat of the legions at the Tuetenberg
Forest. Talismans were added from orthodox religions and the occult to fill the
soldiers with delusions of mystical strengths and an afterlife if they fell in
battle. Finally, knowing that it takes courage to kill the enemy face to face,
Hitler spent vast sums of money on his wonder weapons, airplanes, submarines,
ultra-long range artillery, the world's first cruise missile and the world's
first guided missile, weapons that could be used to kill at a distance, so that
those doing the killing need not have to face the reality of what they were
doing.
The German people were lured into WW2 not because they were
brave, but because they were cowards who wanted to be seen as brave, and found
that shooting long range weapons at people they could not see took less courage
than standing up to Hitler. Sent into battle by that false image of courage,
the Germans were dependent on their wonder-weapons. When the wonder-weapons
stopped working, the Germans lost the war.
I remember as a child listening to the stories of WW2 from
my grandfather and my uncles who had served in Europe. I wondered how the
German people could have been so stupid as to have ever elected Hitler dog
catcher, let alone leader of the nation. Such is the clarity of historical
hindsight. And with that clarity, I see the exact same mechanism that Hitler
used at work here in this nation.
The American people imagine themselves to be brave. They see
themselves as the heroic Americans depicted by Western Movies, the descendants
of the fierce patriot warriors who had tamed the frontier and defeated the
might of the British Empire.
But in truth, by the dawn of the third millennium, the
American people have become civilized and tamed, culturally obsessed with fine
details in both science and society. Their self-image of bravery is both salve
and slavery. Americans are required to behave as if they are brave, even when
they are not.
The American people assume they are safe. They live in a
Republic, after all, with strict laws regarding what the government can and
more importantly cannot do. Their leader is a devoutly religious man.
The reality is that the American people, as individuals,
have lost their courage. The government prefers it that way as a fearful people
are easier to rule than a courageous one. But Americans don't wish to lose
their self-image of courage. So, when confronted with a situation demanding
courage, in the form of a government gone wrong, the American people simply
pretend that the situation does not exist.
When the World Trade Towers collapsed, most Americans simply
refused to believe suggestions that the attacks had been staged by parties
working for the US Government itself. Americans were afraid to, even as news
reports surfaced proving that the US Government had announced plans for the
invasion of Afghanistan early in the year, plans into which the attacks on the
World Trade Towers which angered the American people into support of the
already-planned war fit entirely too conveniently. But so trapped are Americans
by their belief in their own bravery that they will themselves to be blind to
the evidence before their eyes, so that they can nod in agreement with the
government while still imagining themselves to have courage, even as they avoid
the one situation which most requires real courage; to stand up to the
government's lies and deceptions. The vast majority of the American people,
their own self-image dependant on continuing blindness to the government's
deceptions, never question why Afghanistan would have done something so stupid
as to attack the United States, and as a result, Americans find themselves in a
war.
Now the US Government has requested temporary extraordinary
powers, powers specifically banned under Constitutional law, but powers the
government is claiming they need to have to deal with the
"terrorists". The American people, having already sold their souls to
their self-delusions, are agreeing. The temporary powers recently conferred
will be no more temporary in America than they were in Germany.
The US Government knows they rule a nation of cowards. The
government has had to spend the money to make the new war something cowards can
fight. The government has decorated the troops with regalia to make them proud
of themselves, further trapping them in their self-image. Talismans are added
from orthodox religions and the occult to fill the soldiers with delusions of
mystical strengths and an afterlife if they fall in battle. Finally, knowing
that it takes courage to kill the enemy face to face, the United States government
has spent vast sums of money on wonder weapons, airplanes, submarines,
ultra-long range artillery, cruise missiles, and guided missiles, weapons that
kill at a distance, so that those doing the killing need not have to face the
reality of what they are doing.
As I mentioned above, Hitler was TIME Magazine's Man Of The
Year in 1938. Stalin was TIME Magazine's Man Of The Year for 1939 and 1942.
Both of these men, and many others also celebrated by the media, were
unimaginable monsters. The lesson from these facts is that it isn't easy to
spot a genocidal tyrant when you live with one, especially one whom the press
supports and promotes. Tyrants become obvious only when looking back, after
what they have done becomes known. The German people did not stand up to Hitler
because their media betrayed them, just as the American media is betraying the
American people by willingly, voluntarily, even proudly, abandoning its
traditional role as watchdog against government abuse.
It is the very nature of power that it attracts the sort of
people who should not have it. The United States, as the world's last
superpower, is a prize that attracts men and women willing to do absolutely
anything to win that power, and hence are also willing to do absolutely anything
with that power once they have it. If one thinks about it long enough, one will
realize that all tyrants, past and most especially present, MUST use deception
on their population to initiate a war. No citizen of a modern industrialized
nation will send their children off to die in a war to grab another nation's
resources and assets, yet resources and assets are what all wars are fought
over. The nation that wishes to initiate a war of conquest must create the
illusion of an attack or a threat to start a war, and must always give their
population of cowards an excuse never to question that carefully crafted
illusion.
It is naive, not to mention racist to assume that tyrants appear only in other nations and that somehow America is immune simply because we're Americans. America has escaped the clutches of a dictatorship thus far only through the efforts of those citizens who, unlike the Germans of the 1930s, have the moral courage to stand up and point out where the government is lying to the people. And unless more Americans are willing to have that kind of individual courage, then future generations may well look back on the American people with the same harshness of judgment with which we look back on the 1930s Germans.
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"I
am only one, but I am one.
I cannot do everything, but I can do something.
And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that
I can do.
What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will
do."
---Edward Everett Hale