Where are we?

 I'm no history buff. I took European history in high school and got really bad grades. I haven't really studied history since I graduated high school. So take this as a layperson's understanding of European history. I know that history repeats. I know what we're seeing now in the USA has happened before in other countries, many times throughout history--both recorded history and lost history.

I see the way people talk about Hitler and Nazis and I feel that it is problematic specifically for the reason that Hitler specifically and by extension the Nazi party are often set up on a pedestal of pure, unadulterated  evil. The reason I see this as problematic is because it then becomes illogical to compare any contemporary person with them, because it is extremely rare to find an individual (and rarer still to find a group of people) who embody pure evil. So as strange as it may seem, I believe it is more helpful to humanize them--to the end of understanding how such horrors can repeat later in history (such as now in the USA), so I want this post to be a series of thought experiments.

I wonder at what point in time people started to realize what was happening in Germany as Hitler rose to power. When was it that each individual saw him for the authoritarian demagogue that he was? Surely a percentage of the German populace saw it almost immediately--perhaps they felt uncomfortable hearing him speak. Surely there was a significant portion of the population who believed he was a strong, powerful leader who was meant to lead Germany to a brighter future. There were clearly those who found hope in his words, and were excited by his message. I'm confident that many people who supported him (particularly in early days) thought he would be great for the German economy, or that he would be a powerful military leader. They truly believed that he would make life better for them.

In 1934 the German head of state referendum, which merged the office of President and Chancellor to Führer and bestowed this power on Hitler passed with 90% approval, and that's with 95% voter participation--that is over 85% of registered German voters voted for Hitler to become Führer at that time. Clearly his message resonated strongly with the German electorate. It is wholly illogical to think that all these people foresaw the horror that was to follow, and surely even fewer still would have approved of it had they foreseen it. So I wonder, what was going through their heads at the time? What did they like about his message? And at what point in time did each of those people who voted for him re-evaluate their decisions? Perhaps there were many who died before they ever changed their minds--going to their graves believing they'd made the right choice and that Hitler was indeed a good leader. Perhaps some noticed early on, perhaps some didn't notice until they were at war with the rest of Europe and then eventually also the United States.

I know there were many people within the nation who opposed some of the more drastic actions of the Nazi party. There were people who would offer refuge to persecuted people, hiding them in their houses to keep them safe. I know there were also people who diligently went out to search for these scapegoated peoples, rounding them up and shipping them off to be slaughtered or tortured in concentration camps. What was going through the minds of the people who supported the horrific acts? What was going through the minds of the people who released the toxic gases into the gas chambers? The people who drove the trains full of Jews? What was their motivation? What was their justification? How did they rationalize what they were doing? Were they doing it just because it was their duty and didn't consider the morality of their actions? Surely, at least some of them thought that they truly were doing the work of the God they worshipped. Sure some of them believed what they were doing was in the best interest of the nation. Perhaps some did it merely to be obedient to their superiors--perhaps they feared punishment that would surely come following disobedience. 

I wonder these questions because it is my opinion that if history has taught us anything it is that freedom is a fragile thing and can so easily be disrupted by demagoguery and authoritarian rule. Republics and Democracies have fallen time and again. It is a struggle to keep in place a system which purports to establish equality or freedom. Biologically, humans are predisposed to be tribal. We trust people we identify with more than those who we see as different. We fear those from different tribes and implicitly trust those from our own tribe. It's how evolution has made us, since it is the approach which led to greatest survival among our ancestors in ages long past.

And so it is that I am left wondering at what point we are currently. Perhaps Trump is America's Hitler. Perhaps his followers are our Nazi party. Maybe not. I can certainly see why some people are convinced that they are. I remain unconvinced that they are not (particularly when they march on Washington chanting "Jews will not replace us" or they march around wearing black and waving flags bearing the Swastika). Why does this matter? I see many liberals post on social media that this is the basis whereby they desire to cut ties with any who support Trump. I believe that ostracism is an effective tool to discourage unwanted behavior. It works. I don't know that it's the best approach all the time, but I do know that it has worked in the past and will work in the future as well. Surely it is better to simply cut ties with someone than to kill them, or to round them up and place them in concentration camps. 

I remember learning about the Holocaust at a young age--learning what concentration camps were and the terrible things that were done at them. It wasn't until I was a full-grown adult that I first learned that the USA also had concentration camps during WWII. We don't like to call them that--we like to call them internment camps, thinking that that name is more palatable. We may not have killed millions of Japanese Americans, as the Nazis did with Jews. But we did round them up, we did keep them under armed guard, we did displace them from their homes, and all for no reason other than the fact of their lineage. When I hear talk from people in the USA that we should have concentration camps again, I see it as no different from what the USA did with Japanese people in WWII, or what the Nazis did with Jews. I would hope that no significant portion of the population would think that to bring back such horror is in any way a good idea. However, I do see support for such actions. I hear voices who agree with these terrible ideas.

I've seen people online who express their intent to cut off contact with their family or acquaintances who are racist. In counter to that, I have seen some Black people implore them to maintain contact--the reasoning being that with maintained contact there may be hope for reaching them but with no contact they will be left in their racist echo chamber, where their racism will only intensify. I don't feel qualified to tell people which path they should take in this context. I feel that people are justified in cutting out people they no longer wish to associate with. I feel that people are equally justified in maintaining contact, whether they intend to try to change the person's mind or not. I will say, that for the sake of one's own mental health, I believe it is helpful to cease interaction with toxic individuals. I will never judge someone for choosing their own mental well-being over the codependence of another.

I have no intention of going along with authority figures who I believe to be oppressing freedom, or who grossly overstep their authority. As I mentioned in my previous post, I do intend to stand for what I believe to be right. I will not stand for bigotry, and I will call it out as often as I am witness to it. I will do my best to be vigilant in watching for demagoguery and standing fast against it. I do not wish to see any group of people--especially not an under-represented group or a minority group--oppressed and marginalized. I believe there is still much room for progress before we truly see equal rights for all. I intend to remain an advocate for equality, an advocate for freedom. 

I suppose this has been a meandering piece, which I intended it to be. It reflects my own inner turmoil. I hope that we are not on the precipice of initiating the Fourth Reich. I hope that the Constitution itself may yet stay the hand of authoritarianism from taking root. I'm not convinced that the Constitution is sufficient to prevent totalitarianism from happening in the USA, but I do hope that it will be a significant obstacle. I will end with an enumeration of my beliefs, values that I choose to fight for.

I believe in peace. I believe that rational, reasonable adults are capable of settling their differences with words rather than with blood.

I believe in the right of each woman to decide what to do with her own body. It is her business alone, and no one else's. Laws should not prevent her from getting the medical care that she needs or wants.

I believe that people should be treated equally regardless of their ancestry, place of birth, skin color, or any other fact of birth. I see no logical reason to treat people differently because of who their parents were or where their parents were born.

I believe that people should be treated equally regardless of gender identity. Just as it is respectful to call a person by the name they wish to be called, it is respectful to treat a person the way they wish to be treated. Should a person wish to present as female, she deserves to be treated as such. Should a person wish to present as male, he deserves to be treated as such. Should a person wish to reject the binary of male/female that our society seems so obsessed with, they deserve the freedom to depart from the false dichotomy.

I believe that people should be treated equally regardless of orientation. There is more than enough hatred in the world and I believe the world will be better off with more love in it. People should be encouraged to find love, not discouraged from it because the target of their love is deemed to be the wrong person. 

I believe in individual liberty, but more importantly I believe in community liberty. After all, we humans are not biologically predisposed to be lonely--we are meant to be social. We are stronger together. Let us grow together, and lift each other up. Let us liberate one another and be a free society, not just free individuals.