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| Meme from the Occupy Democrats Facebook page. |
I taught a writing class in my son's fourth, fifth and sixth
grade classes, two hours once a week. Each year I would begin the first class
with an example of the power of words. Martin Luther King's "I have a
dream" speech, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. And I had a trick one for
them. I read this: "Dear Aunt Mary, I had a good day in school today we
learned about birds and some spelling and then this funny guy came in and
taught us writing. Love, Alice."
I told them those were powerful words also. Powerful because
they would have affected someone, Alice thinking of her aunt fondly enough to
write to her and tell her about that day. She's saying she loves her aunt with
that message.
Well, the third year I read them a speech by Adolph Hitler. The
only things I took out were a couple of references to Germany. The speech called
for nationalism and love of country among other things.
When I finished I asked them who they thought might have
written that speech. Around the room I heard the names of every living ex-president
and the current president at the time. A couple of other names popped up,
popular leaders of something or other, but all respected Americans.
Then I stopped them and paused for a minute and said,
"Adolph Hitler wrote that speech." The ones who knew who Hitler was were
stunned. I told them the power of words can be used in several ways, not
all of them good, and to listen to or read powerful words critically. Just
because someone is saying something powerful, doesn't mean you have to agree
with the speaker. I told them Hitler gave that speech in 1936, the same year he
snubbed Jesse Owens at the Olympic Games and not too long before he invaded
Poland, setting off World War II. It was a lesson I hoped they would take with
them,
Then this meme popped up today and called up that memory. A
real teacher had passed on the same lesson, with the same hope.
The similarities between the two speakers are striking and
the American public should realize it and act accordingly. I have dissed the
Godwin Effect in the past but in this case it fits. If you don't know what that
is, it is the propensity to reduce any argument to calling someone Hitler or
Nazi.
The thing is in the modern case, I think the speaker is so uninformed about government and history he doesn't even realize he is parroting the worst murderer of the 20th Century. He also seems to be a man who cannot resist adoration no matter where it comes from, even modern American Nazis and Klansmen. Compliment him, follow him no matter who you are, massage his huge ego, and he will champion your cause no matter the repercussions, at least until you say something he doesn't like.
The thing is in the modern case, I think the speaker is so uninformed about government and history he doesn't even realize he is parroting the worst murderer of the 20th Century. He also seems to be a man who cannot resist adoration no matter where it comes from, even modern American Nazis and Klansmen. Compliment him, follow him no matter who you are, massage his huge ego, and he will champion your cause no matter the repercussions, at least until you say something he doesn't like.
What I find so incredible is what some people are willing to ignore as long as they hear what they want to hear. That probably goes for both sides. But history is our greatest teacher, not ad campaigns or talking heads. This is the scariest election of my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteMine too
ReplyDeleteI have always been dumbfounded at the willful ignorance presented by many of my coworkers who were just waiting for a Trump-like figure to emerge. These Trump people are all extremely poorly educated types who know how to do one thing well and have absolutely no comprehension of the world outside immediate area. What is scary is the rage they barely keep contained because the world doesn't make sense to them but at the same time they have no desire to understand it.
ReplyDeleteI truly believe Trump is an existential threat to the foundations of the United States. The problem that goes beyond Trump though is that even if he does lose in November his followers will not disappear.