“Never Again” or Here We Go Again?

First, my apologies that this post will be somewhat stream of consciousness.  But something has been on my mind, and it’s certainly important enough that I should not be silent about it.  Holocaust Remembrance Day yesterday has goaded me to say something even if my thoughts are not that well organized yet.

Yesterday is a reminder of how deadly totalitarianism is.  The totalitarian mindset cares not a wit for the freedom and lives of political opponents and of others who are hated for other reasons, such as class, religion, and ethnicity.  Totalitarianism is why the 20^th Century was such a deadly one.  And do not forgot that the Communist brand of totalitarianism killed tens of millions more than Hitler’s did.  Of course, thankfully, Hitler’s time was shorter.

Another lesson of the 20^th Century is that often it is hard to see just how dangerous times are when you are in the middle of them.  As a child, I wondered why all the Jews did not flee what was to come.  Well, although they knew times were not good, most did not know the horrors to come although there was much warning.  Us humans are prone to denial of coming horrors until it is too late.

I understand that denial more now.  I see the totalitarian mindset on the march today in the conduct of the Left and of the Deep State, of their contempt for freedom of speech, for freedom of religion, and of democracy in general. I also see it in the vilification of others under the guise of “White Privilege” and now and soon “Christian Privilege.” I do not know what scares me more, the little totalitarians taking over college campuses or the conduct of Mueller and Company in attempting to overturn a presidential election.  Their method of practically inventing the crimes of political opponents reminds me of the old Soviet Union and of today’s Russian under Putin.  Instead of investigating a crime and finding the man behind it, they investigate the man and search for or invent a supposed crime to bring him down.  The raid of Trump’s lawyer’s offices has made that modus operandi that much more clear.

And yet part of me thinks this too will pass.  But I don’t know whether that part is realistic or in denial.

Under totalitarianism, the people are not allowed to choose their leaders (except for the correct “The People,” of course).  And it seems electing Trump was not permissible and must be overturned.  I’ve said it before and will say it again, the Left and others with a totalitarian mindset only respect democracy when they win.  And very early on, my alter ego smelled an attempted coup against Trump, and that attempted coup continues.

I know I may seem overwrought.  I know that totalitarianism in the U. S. may seem a conspiratorial fever dream.  But how many saw the coming ravages of Nazism and Communism before it was too late?  For that matter, how many ten or twenty years ago foresaw how mad the college campuses have become?  And with the attacks on free speech and on Constitutional and democratic values in general, I see warning signs too similar to warning signs of totalitarianism in the past.  More and more, I feel like I am living in a pre-totalitarian time and place.  I certainly understand more what so many Europeans experienced in the 20^th Century.

Yes, I told you this would be somewhat stream of consciousness.  But because it is so important that “Never again” triumphs over “Here we go again,” I may try to do my part and address the revival of totalitarian and of the totalitarian mindset from time to time as unpleasant as the subject may be.  For once, let us keep history from repeating itself.

Post-Charlottesville, The Double Standard Continues

After the awful events in Charlottesville, there has been an odd, but familiar phenomenon.  There are the rightful denunciations of the Nazis, KKK, etc.  But if someone even asks the denouncers if they have ever also denounced Antifa and Black Lives Matters, two groups who also have demonstrated racism and political violence, then even that question gets denounced.  Those who denounce both the Nazi types and Antifa and BLM, and who denounce double standards also get very similar treatment.  I’ve seen this sorry exercise even on the Facebook group page of the Anglican Church of North America, which is shameful.

This is an in-your-face example of a big double standard that has poisoned politics and the study of history since World War 2.  While the atrocities of the “Right”* are emphasized, the atrocities of the Left are downplayed or ignored, even if those atrocities are of a much greater scale.  The History Channel once was dubbed the Hitler Channel because of the frequency of its emphasis on Nazism and its atrocities. And certainly we should “never forget.”  But how often does one see documentaries of the atrocities under Lenin and Stalin, who killed millions more than Hitler?

Of course, there is much more to the study of history than the History Channel – thank God – but the phenomenon can be found across academia as well.  And when someone tries to provide some balance and focus on Communist evil, they often get grief for it.  The controversy that surrounded the publication of the Black Book of Communism is one example.

I detest this double standard, which only enables the Leftist New Totalitarians, who are a much greater danger than the KKK, neo-Nazis, and other loons.  If someone has been silent for over a year as Antifa has violently attacked peaceful demonstrators, Trump supporters, free speech, even those who simply wanted to hear a speaker, then his/her display of indignation over white supremacist violence is worth very little to me.

And, yes I will say it, President Trump was right to denounce violence from both sides.  And he was courageous to do so in the face of those who hate truth-telling about the Left.

By the way, these kind of double standards just feed hate.  Denouncing rightist hate while being silent about or even praising Leftist hate throws gasoline on hate.  The double standards must stop.  The political violence from both sides must be denounced and stopped.

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* I use “right” very loosely here.  Placing, say, Nazis on the right is highly questionable as they are a form of totalitarianism not very different from Communism.