People have over the years asked how a people so advanced, with a history of technological and scientific knowledge, could succumb to the evil that Hitler unleashed upon his people—the Jewish race?
There is no doubt that Hitler was a powerful, charismatic orator who could mesmerize his audience. It was pertinent as Germany was humiliated with the Treaty of Versailles, signed at the end of World War 1. Germany had to acknowledge its guilt for causing the war and also had to disarm. Hitler appealed to the collective responsibility imposed on the German people.
As Hitler accelerated his grip on power, he passed laws to confiscate Jewish property and purge Jews of positions in German life. The public was complicit in this policy, thanks to a colossal propaganda campaign. Goebbels famously stated, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." Who assisted in the propaganda? It was the media of the day. Does that sound familiar?
In 1961, outgoing U.S. Eisenhower said: "Public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite." The Nazis used this to full effect, and unfortunately, we see this playing out on today's social media. Even so, why did Germany succumb to such virulent antisemitic hatred?
Volksgemeinschaft is a German word meaning the "people's community". Hitler took this to the extreme, and the community morphed into the Aryan race. Aryans were the "us", and everyone else was the "other". Jews, gypsies, communists were part of the other. The Nazis portrayed them as sub-human; thus, the Nazis had to eradicate them. The German propaganda machine spewed a constant onslaught of antisemitic vilification of the Jews. This whipped people into a frenzy.
The elimination of sub-human elements from German society was an extreme version of cancel culture––the elimination of the Jews, despite a high percentage of Jews contributing to German science, philosophy, medicine and culture. The result was the suppression of Jewish thought and writings. The books burnings of Jewish works were prominent in Hitler's day.
Today we also have a form of "book burning", the suppression of articles or videos from social media platforms with the tacit approval of governments. The Tech giants dictate what and who is allowed to publish on their sites. We even have publishers cancel contracts with authors because of their political ideology. It's just another form of the "other". This suppression of free thought is dangerous, especially as students only hear from one side of the political and cultural spectrum.
If you don't think fascist policies are creeping in as we speak, look at the gradual progression to a Covid-19 vaccine mandate, including a vaccine passport. President Joe Biden has indicated that the government will send authorities to peoples' homes to try and "encourage" people to get vaccinated. In Oregon, the Chief Health Officer is looking at using the National Guard to visit people to convince them to vaccinate. We are in an era of coercion and intimidation. Australia is not far off with this line of thinking. The result is to portray the unvaccinated as the "other".
So we have come to a state in many countries when questioning the safety of a vaccine, and a large number of adverse events is equivalent to being a denier and extremist. Many top doctors and researchers at the forefront of the whole Covid experience are victims of this mentality because they questioned lockdowns or the suppression of successful drug treatments.
The propaganda has gripped other essential subjects as well. Eminent scientists such as Dr Patrick Michaels, Climatologist and Dr Patrick Moore, Founder of Greenpeace, are banned from social media because they dared to question the Climate Change orthodoxy. In fact, in our new form of fascism, questioning is not allowed.
It appears that we have forgotten the lessons of the Nazi era. We are carrying on a modern-day version of the same modus operandi. All that has changed is the form. The "Jews" of today are those who seek to challenge the prevailing dialogue. It's a slippery slope to ever more dangerous territory. We must vigorously oppose this form of tyranny.
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