Nine years ago, I wrote this, and since then many of my dark predictions have come to pass.
and I did not speak out, because I was not involved with ACORN.
Fist they came for the communists
and I did not speak out because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists,
and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me —
and there was no one left to speak out for me."
~Martin Niemöller
Sound familiar? The communists, the trade unionists... Sounds a bit like biggovernment.com's hit list to me.
We all know the poem, we all know what it means, and yet we forget it too easily today.
To let this smear campaign succeed, not matter what you think of ACORN, is a threat to all progressives. The idea that doctored videos played by Fox news can have consequences on a national level is something we cannot let stand. If you think their doctored videos will stop with ACORN, you couldn't be more wrong. The people who did those videos are already moving on their next targets, SEIU, Obama, and Democratic congress people. It is only a matter of time before doctored videos showing horrific acts of any progressive person or organization are broadcast all over Fox news. They'll wait long enough before the next fraud tape comes out, maybe use a different conservative blogger puppet, but mark my words, it will come.
The Democratic congress people who voted to defund ACORN will regret it when they become the next target of these despicable attacks. Divide and conquer, it's the oldest trick the book. When conservatives realized how quick progressives are to throw their brethren under the bus they decided to prey on that, by making fake videos and framing a long time progressive organization for something despicable. If they succeed in severely harming ACORN with this fraud, they will not stop with ACORN. They will continue their campaign of making fraudulent videos to disgrace every progressive organization, politician, and candidate, out there. ACORN may be the first to fall to this new type of propaganda smear campaign, but they will not be the last.
If we do not band together and stand up this fraud now, they will use the same tactics against the SEIU, HCAN, the OFA, the AFL-CIO, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Barrack Obama, the Democratic Party, progressive academics, and all minorities, when one else is left to stand up for them.
We cannot let their hoax stand. The future of the progressive movement depends on it.
Since I wrote that many things have changed. Since then the right’s lies & propaganda, and divide & conquer tactics have brought us to the brink of fascism. Many people can see that now, but it may well be too late to stop it.
Since I wrote that, friends of mine have been tortured by our government, they have tried to send protesters to prisons for 60 years, unions have been further decimated, countless progressive organizations have been framed, children have been torn from their parents and imprisoned, and a significant portion of our population is immune to facts and believes only right wing propaganda. We are now a country “waking up, as Germany once did, to the awareness that 1/3 of our people would kill another 1/3, while 1/3 watches”. Even Madeleine Albright is warning of encroaching fascism.
It may well be too late now. Over the last few years I’ve been adding lines to that poem
as I watch thing fall apart. They have already entrenched themselves in government through undemocratic means, in the judiciary, and in the minds of too many with their propaganda. The center cannot hold any longer. Now we know how that poem goes this time around...
Fist they came for the ACORN,
and I did not speak out, because I was not involved with ACORN;
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the journalists,
and I did not speak out because I was not a journalist;
Then they came for the immigrants,
and I did not speak out because I was not a immigrant;
Then they came for me —
and there was no one left to speak out for me.