Living in this environment of uncertainty it is impossible to notice change. Each step is so small and inconsequential that change goes unnoticed.
"When the Nazis attacked the Communists, he was a little uneasy, but, after all, he was not a Communist, and so he did nothing, and then they attacked the Socialists, and he was a little uneasier, but, still he was not a Socialist, and he did nothing; and then the schools, the press, the Jews, and so on, and he was always uneasier, but still he did nothing. And then they attacked the Church, and he was a Churchman, and he did something -- but then it was too late". [5]
Then and Now:
Uncertainty is very important to the government. One doesn't see where or exactly how to move. One keeps waiting for the one "great event" that will trigger an appropriate response within oneself. But the "big event" never comes. One doesn't want to talk or act alone. Standing alone is not the only restraining factor; uncertainty is certainly an important factor. Life is not a series of isolated events; life is more a flow of continuing events and change comes very slowly. We no longer see spying on Americans inside the United States as an important event. It is just one of a series of outrages that seems no larger than the hundreds that went before. One lie is no larger than the ones that went before and brought us into a war of aggression aimed at another country's resources.
Today we are outraged by the "news" that our government has been spying on Americans in the United States for the last year or so. (The truth is that spying on Americans is so commonplace to our government and has been going on so long that "spying" hardly even rates a raised eyebrow at this point).
Another factor common to Nazi Germany and our present American Way is the small number of people required to change a whole country from a free, prosperous land envied by all into one hated and despised by the whole world - but not for our prosperity. How many people did it take to change our country's goals and its perception by others: Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Feith, Libby, Luty, Perle, Rumsfeld, and a few "movers and shakers in the business world. How many "do nothings" did it take to allow this to happen? Answer: At last count, 535 members of Congress and almost 290 million Americans. And how many Americans have resisted our slide into totalitarianism and oblivion? At last count there were two - Kevin Benderman and Cindy Sheehan. (Oh yes, there have been more who have protested in marches and others who have hurled "word bombs" from the safety of "our" computer keyboards at the criminals guiding our descent into chaos and oblivion, but only these two have taken their convictions "to the mat" or more correctly, "to the jails and prisons" for all of us).
Conclusions:
And after the war - the Big One - WWII. What did the average German feel? Was it remorse? shame? guilt? Yes, some Germans felt all three. But within the majority was an underlying hypocrisy. Although some confessed that their government's actions were terrible, few were able to say that the actions of their government "violated the precepts of Christian, civilized, lawful life"[6] and even fewer were able to say that "I" knew it was wrong when it was happening and "I" knew it was un-Christian, uncivilized and unlawful and "I" pretended it wasn't.
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