Steve McAlexander on Sat, 17 Nov 2001 08:20:01 +0100 (CET)


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[Nettime-bold] THE RISE OF THE FOURTH REICH


 

 

Steve McAlexander
From: AJ Chwick [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent:
Friday, November 16, 2001 06:20
To: eList/(M)/LITRT
Subject: [APFN] FYI - [NYTRT] THE RISE OF THE FOURTH REICH

 

An article that is a perfect example of this statement
~Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it~

THE RISE OF THE FOURTH REICH

      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 boars 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 celibrated 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 judgement with which we look back on the
1930s Germans.


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