Inhumane Humanity

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. --Herman Melville

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

The Day the Dog Pulled the Curtain on the Fraud

I have a couple very good and very important books going right now, books I think every U.S. citizen should read as soon as they can possibly get their hands on a copy, or e-copy; “Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris, by Ian Kershaw and On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder.

Hitler is a bit of a slow read (most definitely not due to interest, rather due to the detail one must pay very close attention to) both books are a vital read, given the political scenario in which we find ourselves and our nation today.

While reading “On Tyranny”, I kept thinking of the old B&W movie “The Wizard of Oz”.  I’m normally not one who typically picks up on subtle symbolism in movies, or books.  It takes books with the obvious, such as 1984, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, etc., the kind of books intended to engage our imagination via symbolic characters and scenarios.

But; for some reason “On Tyranny” kept bringing “The Wizard of Oz” to mind for me.

In Oz, there’s apparently symbolism in almost every character, blade of grass and flower in the story, symbolism that has been debated for generations unbeknownst to me :-)

“Hitler Hubris”, no symbolism whatsoever is attempted.  It’s straight out in the open, even spelling it all out for the reader.  However; what it does expose is an extraordinarily frightening parallel between Adolph Hitler and Donald Trump; two men who’s contribution to society will live in infamy as long as there is even but one human being left on this planet with either a memory or the ability to read.

There have been and will always be characters in the history of humanity who will forever live in infamy. 

Some characters aren’t just equated with the worst of what society has to offer, but those who literally define the worst of the worst; sociopathic characters straight from Hell providing the very story of hate, deceit, treachery, ardent narcissism, arrogance, truculence, cruelty, dishonesty, aggression, pusillanimous, ignorance, ruthlessness, etc. etc. etc.

Most of those characters are already historic as of today; names such as Franco, Pinochet, Duvalier, Stalin, Pot, Amin, Mussolini, and of course Hitler.

However; one is creating his own repulsive story as you read this - Donald Trump; a “great and almighty wizard” who is certain he knows all and can even grant people’s most outrageous of wishes, simply by doing nothing but turning knobs, pushing buttons, pulling handles, and communicating from behind a curtain, in fear of dogs; dogs, like you and me, who have already pulled the curtain hiding his fraudulent existence.

Fortunately for the illiterate buffoon that he is, the curtain is limited to one-hundred forty characters or less, so his illiteracy, ignorance, and raw stupidity remain hidden to the less observant, and the foolishly devoted.  

I always use quotes in my posts, but I rarely use one to the extent that I’m using this, but it’s reason and relevance will appear very quickly.  

As you read the following, think of Charlottesville, Trumps campaigns wherein he gleefully threw voices of opposition out of his rallies and compared law abiding liberals to Right Wing hate groups such as the Alt-Right, KKK, and White Supremacists, a tactic used by ultra-nationalists to reduce to their level, all opposition, both in present and in historical pre-WWII Germany, as they rounded up all those they claimed were in need of elimination in order to  cleanse the Motherland of racial impurities.

“Most governments, most of the time, seek to monopolize violence. If only the government can legitimately use force, and this use is constrained by law, then the forms of politics that we take for granted become possible. It is impossible to carry out democratic elections, try cases at court, design and enforce laws, or indeed manage any of the other quiet business of government when agencies beyond the state also have access to violence. For just this reason, people and parties who wish to undermine democracy and the rule of law create and fund violent organizations that involve themselves in politics. Such groups can take the form of a paramilitary wing of a political party, the personal bodyguard of a particular politician— or apparently spontaneous citizens’ initiatives, which usually turn out to have been organized by a party or its leader.
Armed groups first degrade a political order, and then transform it. Violent right-wing groups, such as the Iron Guard in interwar Romania or the Arrow Cross in interwar Hungary, intimidated their rivals. Nazi storm troopers began as a security detail clearing the halls of Hitler’s opponents during his rallies. As paramilitaries known as the SA and the SS, they created a climate of fear that helped the Nazi Party in the parliamentary elections of 1932 and 1933. In Austria in 1938 it was the local SA that quickly took advantage of the absence of the usual local authority to loot, beat, and humiliate Jews, thereby changing the rules of politics and preparing the way for the Nazi takeover of the country. It was the SS that ran the German concentration camps— lawless zones where ordinary rules did not apply. During the Second World War, the SS extended the lawlessness it had pioneered in the camps to whole European countries under German occupation. The SS began as an organization outside the law, became an organization that transcended the law, and ended up as an organization that undid the law.
Because the American federal government uses mercenaries in warfare and American state governments pay corporations to run prisons, the use of violence in the United States is already highly privatized. What is novel is a president who wishes to maintain, while in office, a personal security force which during his campaign used force against dissenters. As a candidate, the president ordered a private security detail to clear opponents from rallies, but also encouraged the audience itself to remove people who expressed different opinions. A protestor would first be greeted with boos, then with frenetic cries of “USA,” and then be forced to leave the rally. At one campaign rally the candidate said, “There’s a remnant left over. Maybe get the remnant out. Get the remnant out.” The crowd, taking its cue, then tried to root out other people who might be dissenters, all the while crying “USA.” The candidate interjected: “Isn’t this more fun than a regular boring rally? To me, it’s fun.” This kind of mob violence was meant to transform the political atmosphere, and it did.
For violence to transform not just the atmosphere but also the system, the emotions of rallies and the ideology of exclusion have to be incorporated into the training of armed guards. These first challenge the police and military, then penetrate the police and military, and finally transform the police and military.”

Snyder, Timothy. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (pp. 45-46). Crown/Archetype. Kindle Edition.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:33 PM

    My first thought after reading your post was Trump's idea that he would fight the Afghanistan war with contract mercenaries, not regular sworn in American soldiers. He stated that in the primaries and even after he became president. Thanks to whoever talked him out of that idea, but I'm sure Trump felt that would eliminate any problems with the military not carrying out his orders.

    It's obvious that if you work for Trump and disagree with him, you are out. He cannot, yet, get away with the Hitler tactic of just killing them.

    You give Trump to much credit. Trump couldn't even write a book like "Mein Kampf" much less conceive of the detailed plan of taking over a whole government.

    The despots of history like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc., etc... used some brains in their murderous plans. One reason they succeeded. One would need more brains than Trump has to succeed at true evil.

    That's not to say that an evil idiot like Trump couldn't kill millions of people. Of course he hasn't done that yet, but lets not give him any ideas he would never think of on his own. Trump's danger is his stupidity mixed with bigotry, hate, and egomania.

    The real danger is if the courts start siding with Trump's crazy ideas, which they already have. Trump can't get major legislation passed, even with majority in both houses. With presidential power, proclamations and crazy court decisions Trump could do plenty of damage without the Congress. He still doesn't have the brains to fight through the check and balances of a 250 year old Republic, not to mention the patriots who would stop him at any cost.

    The first thing that has to happen is for Republicans to stop his insanity upon America. We can't impeach him without Republican votes in the Congress. I have no clue how far the Republicans will let Trump go before they do something.

    Maybe I'm to optimistic, but I think there is a limit to the damage Trump can do, but that limit would include outrageous injustices and many deaths.

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    1. Agree 100% ! And, the way Trump has foolishly begun courting the Democrats because the GOP Congressional members won't get any of his insanity accomplished haste a bit worried.

      IF, and that's not an impossible IF, the Democrats see this as an opportunity to embarrass the GOP, they'll likely take the bait and any chance of trump's premature exit from the WH will vanish in puff of smoke and a rabbits hat.

      The democrats are so damned starved for attention and success, they'll likely not even see Trump's efforts coming and the morons will undo what they've been trying to accomplish since day one.

      Then all red-faced an befuddled, as Trump again takes sides with the idiot GOPers, they'll become Trumps his-asses for the next 3.5, if not 7.5 years.

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  2. Hi Bob. Thanks for the detailed comment over at my place about fresh food in Cali while growing up.

    It's what makes things go round for sure. I think that's why food tastes so good for the most part in where I hang out in Mexico. There are three places in the market adjoining each other that make great inexpensive food with all the the fresh made in front of you tortilla's you can eat. Run out of something and within 100' you can get some more and it's all fresh. I can't believe the amount of vegetables these two places in Emiliano Zappata sell. Nonstop and quick the people checking you out. I really believe I feel better eating this fresh food. Later,TB

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