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I Now Better Understand the 'Good German'
Townhall.com ^ | January 5, 2021 | Dennis Prager

Posted on 01/05/2021 5:46:51 AM PST by Kaslin

As my listeners and readers can hopefully attest, I have been on a lifelong quest to understand human nature and human behavior. I am sad to report that I have learned more in the last few years, particularly in 2020, than in any equivalent period of time.

One of the biggest revelations concerns a question that has always plagued me: How does one explain the "good German," the term used to describe the average, presumably decent German, who did nothing to hurt Jews but also did nothing to help them and did nothing to undermine the Nazi regime? The same question could be asked about the average Frenchman during the Vichy era, the average Russian under Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev and their successors, and the millions of others who did nothing to help their fellow citizens under oppressive dictatorships.

These past few years have taught me not to so quickly judge the quiet German, Russian, etc. Of course, I still judge Germans who helped the Nazis and Germans who in any way hurt Jews. But the Germans who did nothing? Not so fast.

What has changed my thinking has been watching what is happening in America (and Canada and Australia and elsewhere, for that matter).

The ease with which tens of millions of Americans have accepted irrational, unconstitutional and unprecedented police state-type restrictions on their freedoms, including even the freedom to make a living, has been, to understate the case, sobering.

The same holds true for the acceptance by most Americans of the rampant censorship on Twitter and all other major social media platforms. Even physicians and other scientists are deprived of freedom of speech if, for example, they offer scientific support for hydroxychloroquine along with zinc to treat COVID-19 in the early stages. Board-certified physician Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, who has saved hundreds of COVID-19 patients from suffering and/or death, has been banned from Twitter for publicizing his lifesaving hydroxychloroquine and zinc protocol.

Half of America, the non-left half, is afraid to speak their minds at virtually every university, movie studio and large corporation -- indeed, at virtually every place of work. Professors who say anything that offends the left fear being ostracized if they have tenure and being fired if they do not. People are socially ostracized, publicly shamed and/or fired for differing with Black Lives Matter, as America-hating and white-hating a group as has ever existed. And few Americans speak up. On the contrary, when BLM protestors demand that diners outside of restaurants raise their fists to show their support of BLM, nearly every diner does.

So, then, who are we to condemn the average German who faced the Gestapo if he didn't salute Hitler or the average Russian who faced the NKVD (the secret police and intelligence agency that preceded the KGB) if he didn't demonstrate sufficient enthusiasm for Stalin? Americans face the left's cancel culture, but not left-wing secret police or reeducation camps. (At least not yet -- I have little doubt the left would send outspoken conservatives to reeducation camps if they could.)

I have come to understand the average German living under Nazism and the average Russian living under communism for another reason: the power of the media to brainwash.

As a student of totalitarianism since my graduate studies at the Russian Institute of Columbia University's School of International Affairs (as it was then known), I have always believed that only in a dictatorship could a society be brainwashed. I was wrong. I now understand that mass brainwashing can take place in a nominally free society. The incessant left-wing drumbeat of The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and almost every other major newspaper, plus The Atlantic, The New Yorker, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, all of Hollywood and almost every school from kindergarten through graduate school, has brainwashed at least half of America every bit as effectively as the German, Soviet and Chinese communist press did (and in the latter case, still does). That thousands of schools will teach the lie that is the New York Times' "1619 Project" is one of countless examples.

Prior to the lockdowns, I flew almost every week of the year, so I was approached by people who recognized me on a regular basis. Increasingly, I noticed that people would look around to see if anyone was within earshot and then tell me in almost a whisper: "I support Trump" or, "I'm a conservative." The last time people looked around and whispered things to me was when I used to visit the Soviet Union.

In Quebec this past weekend, as one can see on a viral video, a family was fined and members arrested because six -- yes, six -- people gathered to celebrate the new year. A neighbor snitched on them, and the celebrants were duly arrested. The Quebec government lauded the snitches and asked for more public "collaboration."

Snitches are likewise lauded and encouraged in some Democrat-run states and cities in America (Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in March: "Snitches get rewards") and by left-wing governments in Australia. Plenty of Americans, Canadians and Australians are only too happy to snitch on people who refuse to lock down their lives.

All this is taking place without concentration camps, without a Gestapo, without a KGB and without Maoist reeducation camps.

That's why I no longer judge the average German as easily as I used to. Apathy in the face of tyranny turns out not to be a German or Russian characteristic. I just never thought it could happen in America.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Germany; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: apathy; brainwashed; censorship; cowardice; freedomofspeech; freedomofthepress; linguisticgymnastics; linguusticgymnastics; oppression; peerpressure; snitches; snitching
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To: sauropod

What exactly have they done? Nothing. Totally useless.


41 posted on 01/05/2021 9:55:27 AM PST by nonliberal (Caput gerat lupinum)
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To: JadeEmperor

The pingulim is always swinging. Even if the left thinks they now control it.


42 posted on 01/05/2021 10:42:24 AM PST by Leep (Save America. Lock down Joe Biden!)
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>> What has changed my thinking has been watching what is happening in America

A rude awakening for many of us.


43 posted on 01/05/2021 10:43:59 AM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Kaslin

Bloat.

5.56mm


44 posted on 01/05/2021 10:47:37 AM PST by M Kehoe (DRAIN THE SWAMP! Finish THE WALL!)
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To: nonliberal

I see them at protests.

Where are you?


45 posted on 01/05/2021 12:14:46 PM PST by sauropod ("No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot." - Mark Twain)
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To: Red6

Good posts. Authority, Teutonic culture, and regimentation have always been prized by Germans.
.........
Prager should not compare to the Germany of the 1930s without discussing and understanding the pressures on the German people.
.......
Germany was in complete turmoil internally, a largely destitute working class, riots all over for food, and political choices. The Bolsheviks offered solutions to common people.
..............
But many Germans saw Bolshevism as absolutely destructive of established authority and order, and as anti-intellectual and anti-capitalist.
...........
The Nazi’s offered a solution that preserved German cultural values far better than the Bolsheviks. Too many German Jews unfortunately sided with the Bolsheviks and all German Jews then suffered the terrible consequences.
............
Most Germans saw the hate-driven Nazi’s for what they were, dangerous political thugs. But took a “whatever” attitude to Nazi political ascendance because they got the economy organized and touted Germanic pride.


46 posted on 01/05/2021 3:23:36 PM PST by gandalftb
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To: Kaslin

Great piece, touching on the 2 important watersheds this year: medical-hysteria tyranny and mob tyranny.


47 posted on 01/05/2021 3:29:31 PM PST by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs. I )
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To: Kaslin

bmp


48 posted on 01/06/2021 3:37:50 AM PST by gattaca ("Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." Ronald Reagan)
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To: marktwain

Far more important that taking over media, they took over Education - totally brainwashing 3.7 million minds a year until we got to where we are today - the state of Georgia becoming Marxist.

The media just keeps people brainwashed. But Education got them there.


49 posted on 01/06/2021 3:56:23 AM PST by Arlis
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To: Kaslin
... when BLM protestors demand that diners outside of restaurants raise their fists to show their support of BLM, nearly every diner does.

While others don't.



50 posted on 01/06/2021 4:02:13 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Kaslin

Dear Mr. Prager,

Times change. People don’t.

L


51 posted on 01/06/2021 4:07:30 AM PST by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. )
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To: Persevero
I am not sure what I would do.

Ecclesiastes 10:20 KJV

Curse not the king, no not in thy thought;
and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber:
for a bird of the air shall carry the voice,
and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

52 posted on 01/06/2021 4:18:33 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: gandalftb
Germany was in complete turmoil internally, a largely destitute working class, riots all over for food, and political choices. The Bolsheviks offered solutions to common people.

America is in complete turmoil internally, a largely unemployed working class, riots all over for control, and political choices. The Democrats/Liberals offer solutions to ignorant people.

53 posted on 01/06/2021 4:22:30 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Kaslin; 100American; 3D-JOY; abner; Abundy; AGreatPer; Albion Wilde; AliVeritas; alisasny; ...

Good Germans. Good Russians. Good Americans.

Time to stop being “good.”

PING!


54 posted on 01/06/2021 5:16:07 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Hope is not a plan. -- Matthew Bracken)
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To: Kaslin

I’d point out that Dennis is a bit slow, but he finally arrived. There were thousands here at Freerepublic prior to 9-11, prior to WACO, prior to Ruby Ridge, and we owe just a bit to Jim Robinson for the opportunity and education.


55 posted on 01/06/2021 5:48:28 AM PST by wita (Always and forever, under oath in defense of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.)
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To: magyars4

The Founders did understand human nature.


56 posted on 01/06/2021 5:50:14 AM PST by wita (Always and forever, under oath in defense of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.)
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To: Liz

Amen


57 posted on 01/06/2021 5:51:30 AM PST by wita (Always and forever, under oath in defense of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.)
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To: Elsie

Good one. Where’s that like button?


58 posted on 01/06/2021 6:10:31 AM PST by wita (Always and forever, under oath in defense of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Time to stop being “good.”

I understand the context, but being “good” in reality, as in doing the will of God, is all that stands between us and our total destruction.


59 posted on 01/06/2021 6:14:18 AM PST by wita (Always and forever, under oath in defense of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.)
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To: gandalftb

The Great Depression (1929) was more than just an American Depression. But in addition to the economic downturn of 1929, the Germans faced the loss of their colonies, some land, a humiliating defeat, restrictive rules, and war reparations for the costs incurred for WWI in addition to the depression. There was hyper inflation so bad that pictures of people paying for a loaf of bread with a wheelbarrow of cash, coffee, lettuce with an armful of cash, are immortalized in pictures and cartoons to this day: https://secure.i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02052/Weimar-republic_2052284b.jpg Money was itself becoming worthless and people were bartering. People just do not realize how destitute things were in Germany at that point. Horses and dogs were disappearing.

In the US the communist party became very popular after 1929, that is also something that today is forgotten. When people are “truly” desperate, they will do nearly anything to better their situation.

That said, along comes a charismatic, young, WWI veteran who can give great speeches and talks about Germany’s honor. He is ambitious and without any reservations (Röhm). He was Cunning (Reichstag fire), manipulative (Enabling Act) and like it or not, smart (there are many examples of smart but evil people in history). He was one of the first to truly use the power of modern film to his advantage (Leni Riefenstahl and others), had pretty uniforms (designed by Hugo Boss). And like it or not, in the beginning he was incredibly successful, admired even by the likes of Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford, pulling Germany out of it’s dire economic situation, creating programs and ideas that in many cases live on today but people do not associate with him: Autobahn, Kindergeld...

But here is where things get interesting, only about 30-36% of the Germans voted for him.

Hitler is a German anomaly.

The reason why so many Jews lived in Germany when he seized power, is because of all the places in Europe, Germany was one of the most liberal and tolerant places where they faced the least persecution. You had entire and large sections of major cities in Germany that were Jewish and accepted/tolerated. Likewise, why did the Protestants (Huguenots and other groups) flee Catholic France and come to Germany many years prior? Germany and more than 2,000 years of culture are today defined by a 13 year period which is not in step with most of its history.


60 posted on 01/06/2021 9:52:52 AM PST by Red6
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