THE
RISE OF THE FOURTH REICH
Author Unknown
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.