In the book, “All the Light We Cannot See,” we read about Frederick, who had been drafted to attend the Third Reich military academy and found himself in a meeting in which the school’s commandant and faculty had gathered the students in the middle of a freezing winter’s night to engage in a communal killing of a naked Jewish prisoner.
To accomplish this horrific act, the school’s leaders had given each student a bucket of cold water with which to douse the prisoner (who was chained to the ground) until he died from hypothermia. His fellow students and professors, and the gestalt of his nation, were arrayed there to pressure all, including Frederick, to join in this communal blood lust, as a matter of national pride and patriotism. Frederick refused and was subjected to a brutal beating that left him with a severe brain injury.
I would venture to guess that there is not a single United State’s citizen over the age of eight, with at least a third grade education, who would not praise Frederick for his courage and his act of defiance. During the period of the Third Reich, thousands and thousands of incidents occurred under Hitler’s influence, wherein many German citizens engaged in similar actual incidents of brutality that led to the murders of millions and engulfed the entire world in war. Despite this, there were many, but not enough, German people (like the fictional character, Frederick), who stood up to that brutality and paid for it with their lives.
Given such stark examples of brutality, and given the safety we enjoy of not being under the overwhelming pressure of a police state, I would venture to guess that there are many United State’s citizens who would like to imagine themselves as individuals who would’ve demonstrated the same courage. I would further venture to guess that given the lessons of history, there are many United State’s citizens who would agree that if thousands of Germany’s citizens had protested Hitler’s rise during its incipient stirring, Hitler and World War II may have been averted altogether.
The question, therefore, arises: “Why didn’t they protest?” The reason is that, while they may have disagreed with some of the rhetoric, political philosophies, and the actions and activities of the Nazi movement, its adherents, and its leaders, they were angry at the leaders that Hitler was replacing and saw Hitler as a means to get what they wanted, regardless of the cost, and they would not tolerate any protests against the growing fascism. That is the lesson of history. We cannot give any room for such tyranny, or give in to our own selfish desires to get what we want at all costs. We cannot wait until a leader who espouses fascist ideology gains the reins of power in order to assume the role and engage in the actions of a Hitler, when resistance is difficult. The lesson is that we must rise up early, while there is the possibility of persuading others that the leader, or course the people have selected, is headed down the path of totalitarianism.
That is what is at stake. While President-elect Donald Trump has not been given power, yet, to engage in actions that would lead to totalitarianism, he has already demonstrated, by the things he has said and done, that that is the type of power to which he aspires. That is why individuals like myself, and others, will continue to protest and agitate against the evils that he has indicated he desires to inflict upon the world. So, don’t tell me to get over it. Don’t tell me to stand with my bucket of water and, in an incremental way, participate in something that is reprehensible: dousing my bucket of freezing water upon the backs of those that the Trump administration, and those who support him, have told us we should hate. And don’t tell me to stand by and let you denigrate and malign those who stand with me. I will not.
While I will be the first to acknowledge anything Trump or the Republican legislature does that advances the interests of our nation as a whole, I will voice my opinion, I will shine my light, I will make sure that, to the degree I can, before my life and that of others are at stake, I will reveal President-elect Donald Trump for who he has told us he is: a tyrant who will act viciously, if given the power to do so.
Loren M Lambert © January 2, 2016
To accomplish this horrific act, the school’s leaders had given each student a bucket of cold water with which to douse the prisoner (who was chained to the ground) until he died from hypothermia. His fellow students and professors, and the gestalt of his nation, were arrayed there to pressure all, including Frederick, to join in this communal blood lust, as a matter of national pride and patriotism. Frederick refused and was subjected to a brutal beating that left him with a severe brain injury.
I would venture to guess that there is not a single United State’s citizen over the age of eight, with at least a third grade education, who would not praise Frederick for his courage and his act of defiance. During the period of the Third Reich, thousands and thousands of incidents occurred under Hitler’s influence, wherein many German citizens engaged in similar actual incidents of brutality that led to the murders of millions and engulfed the entire world in war. Despite this, there were many, but not enough, German people (like the fictional character, Frederick), who stood up to that brutality and paid for it with their lives.
Given such stark examples of brutality, and given the safety we enjoy of not being under the overwhelming pressure of a police state, I would venture to guess that there are many United State’s citizens who would like to imagine themselves as individuals who would’ve demonstrated the same courage. I would further venture to guess that given the lessons of history, there are many United State’s citizens who would agree that if thousands of Germany’s citizens had protested Hitler’s rise during its incipient stirring, Hitler and World War II may have been averted altogether.
The question, therefore, arises: “Why didn’t they protest?” The reason is that, while they may have disagreed with some of the rhetoric, political philosophies, and the actions and activities of the Nazi movement, its adherents, and its leaders, they were angry at the leaders that Hitler was replacing and saw Hitler as a means to get what they wanted, regardless of the cost, and they would not tolerate any protests against the growing fascism. That is the lesson of history. We cannot give any room for such tyranny, or give in to our own selfish desires to get what we want at all costs. We cannot wait until a leader who espouses fascist ideology gains the reins of power in order to assume the role and engage in the actions of a Hitler, when resistance is difficult. The lesson is that we must rise up early, while there is the possibility of persuading others that the leader, or course the people have selected, is headed down the path of totalitarianism.
That is what is at stake. While President-elect Donald Trump has not been given power, yet, to engage in actions that would lead to totalitarianism, he has already demonstrated, by the things he has said and done, that that is the type of power to which he aspires. That is why individuals like myself, and others, will continue to protest and agitate against the evils that he has indicated he desires to inflict upon the world. So, don’t tell me to get over it. Don’t tell me to stand with my bucket of water and, in an incremental way, participate in something that is reprehensible: dousing my bucket of freezing water upon the backs of those that the Trump administration, and those who support him, have told us we should hate. And don’t tell me to stand by and let you denigrate and malign those who stand with me. I will not.
While I will be the first to acknowledge anything Trump or the Republican legislature does that advances the interests of our nation as a whole, I will voice my opinion, I will shine my light, I will make sure that, to the degree I can, before my life and that of others are at stake, I will reveal President-elect Donald Trump for who he has told us he is: a tyrant who will act viciously, if given the power to do so.
Loren M Lambert © January 2, 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment