The unruly mobs at this August's health care town halls have me worried. Now I know America in 2009 is a long way away from Germany in the 1930's but, as the social conservatives like to say, there's a slippery slope and I fear that the right's fear mongering propaganda, and its telling effect on the boisterous, ill educated mobs shouting and acting out on their irrational fears, means we've taken the first steps down the hill.
But am I doing what I claim the Right does: being too irrational and fearful? Are there really any parallels between America today and Germany just before Hitler came to power? Can we learn anything useful from that period of time; are there any warnings that we should heed so that we don't go further down the slippery slope?
Thanks to the way back machine at YouTube I was able to get some actual data.
On YouTube, I was able to view the 1960 film Mein Kampf by Erwin Leiser (film, review). Watch my edited clip and ask yourself how strong or weak you think the following parallels are. Then comment and let us all know your opinion.
* The economy then vs. now.
* Hitler's fight against the communists vs. the Right's fight against Obama the socialist.
* German industrialists vs. the American medico-insurance industrial complex.
* Goebbels propaganda abilities vs. the Right's ability to spin any good idea into something terrifying (e.g., counseling about medical directives become Death Panels).
Am I being too dramatic? Remember Pastor Martin Niemöller's poem about incremental steps and the inactivity & passivity of most Germans during the Nazi's rise to power?
First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.
See more at A Blue View.