I’ve just started “following” this blog and I was taken, shall we say, with this article so I’m reblogging it. It is my opinion that America, under Trump, has seriously begun the slide towards totalitarian fascism and we need articles such as this one to be reminded of “how it begins” and why, once set in motion, only bloody counter violence can end it, if indeed it can ever be ended. We have yet to find either moral or legal solutions to our propensity to plunge into the genocide of “others” we consider less than human when we measure them by our personal standards of what constitutes a “real” human. While on that subject, let me throw out the reminder: a true human is easily recognized by the fact that it does not kill.
Friends of Padre Steve’s World,
Seventy-nine years ago the members of Heinrich Himmler’s Einsatzgruppen were following the German Army into Poland. These forces were intended to do one thing, to eliminate any Poles capable of resisting the Reich and to round up and kill Jews. The sad thing is that while the Genocide committed by the Nazis is in a league of its own, the propensity for others to write about, urge, and promote genocidal practices is not unique.
One of the most troubling aspects of genocide is the degree to which people will go to rationalize and justify it, especially if it is supposedly commanded by their “God.” This includes people who exalt their human leader’s pronouncements to that of a god.
Eric Hoffer wrote:
“The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is the surrendering and humbling of…
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~Burning Woman~ 
Yeah. Again. You make sense. But you always have. Most humans do not like what you seem intent upon sharing. Love, peace, blessings, and my best wishes always… Regis
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Thanks for that encouragement, Regis. Keeps my motivation going. I was going to add to my comment about what constitute a human being: not only does it not kill, it never acts as a predator. I wonder how many Earthians, even those sincerely involved in promoting social justice or exposing lies and Hegemon mass murders, would accept such a definition of their claimed humanity? How many would stop long enough to realize that if we are not willing to accept that as our base nature then the problems we see and bemoan will of necessity continue to hound us and drive us off the face of planet earth. I’m no longer sure that would be such a bad thing, despite the unimaginable loss of life in the eradication process. We can be better, we just don’t want to do the work, that’s all.
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I am totally not good with WordPress. I hope my comments get to you. I do comment on a regular basis.
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I don’t seem to have any problem getting your comments, Regis. Sometimes due to time constraints or other more pressing issues, some comments have to wait for a reply. Very few get ignored. I’ll check my spam queue just in case…
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Must be something in the air. I just drafted a post yesterday about humility and pride being both sides of the same. One is a gesture in hypocrisy, the other is a character trait. Love Eric Hoffer great post. Shalom.
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On behalf of the author, thank you, Jim.
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I have written about the “True Believer.” he is a most curious sort of animal — and surprisingly numerous.
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Indeed! Also a dangerous animal as it doesn’t think. It just believes and woe to that which stands in the way of that belief, as the article makes so clear. It relies on emotions and if a god, guru, leader, Fuhrer, President, can manipulate that emotion, the true believer will do whatever it is told to do, or imagines it is told to do. Food for thought: the true believer is absolutely necessary to the maintenance of the status quo, hence why he’s a protected species, kind of like your India holy cows.
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Thank you for the share. I love you your words, “a true human is easily recognized by the fact that it does not kill.” Interestingly, just an hour ago, I listened to a podcast interview in which journalist Cal Fussman discusses an interview with Jimmy Carter; though he’s not generally considered the best American president, Carter felt exceedingly proud of his presidency, simply because he didn’t kill anyone. I think the world would be a much better place if all leaders adopted a similar ambition…to lead with integrity and strive for peaceful outcomes.
It’s sad and disturbing how prevalent and accepted genocide, eugenics, sex trafficking, and other acts of human cruelty are in our modern world. It breaks my heart that those with power aren’t stepping up to the plate, relenting some of their power in sake of humanity.
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We possess sentience and some degree of intelligence but without empathy and little, if any, compassion. How can we be but what we are? Some can see the missing link but how many even dare think of a workable solution to our social problems (which by the way are but growing in size as do populations) or admit to themselves that there could actually be “one”? No, we, or better put “they” since I know better, will continue to play around with all the classic tried and failed methods to bring about change and predictably will prove the truism again and again that the more things change, the more they remain the same. There is nothing and no one outside of ourselves as individuals that can lift us out of the hole we have dug for ourselves as a society and a civilization. Like the last words of the Dwarves in the mines of Moria (Lord of the Rings – the Two Towers) we will say, “We are trapped, we cannot get out!” In Tolkien’s story the Dwarves died fighting the orcs and the Balrog, but they all died nevertheless. What awoke their doom? Their own greed as they delved too deeply for those things they found precious to their eyes, or which they could sell. It is not difficult to see the parallel with our current situation.
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A salutary post.
It is so easy to slip into that mindset. I just quit FaceBook because there was too much fun picking arguments with those I deemed Intolerant; then it struck me did I care about the cause or just humiliating those who I deemed ‘deserved it’?
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I dunno, Roger. I opted out of Facebook years ago – it was either too repetitive since all my WP posts ended up on FB also, or either too much like an uncharted romp through troll land. Now I realize that trolls turn to stone at sunrise but the ones on FB apparently never encountered the sun so they remained there, an annoying and disgusting nuisance. I think that any Internet media plagued with trolls should provide some kind of protection, like “Raid” or “Off” we could set up by the modem with an automatic trigger mechanism… At the end of the session you just vacuum up the dead bugs… et voila! There are days (like today!) when I seriously question my sanity for wandering around the blogosphere. If one could ride it to alternate realities, worlds, universes it wouldn’t be so predictable. Oh well, in a couple of days I won’t even know why I wrote this. My neighbour and I claim we both suffer from selective dementia…
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Hi Sha Tara.
I like the idea of vacuuming up trolls of all sorts.
The blogosphere has a lot going for it, when you meet folk with constructive views & differing perspectives which they are able to lay out in a rational manner.
There are also a large number of folk who are just writing on it for creative reasons.
It would be fun (but only a dream I guess) where a programme could be installed on a social media site, in which the message would pop up:
‘In your last 100 messages there has been no evidence of any intelligent, constructive thought, or at least friendly inoffensive discourse. You are therefore blocked from this site’
Actually I think you may have a sophisticated brain filter mechanism. After all we can’t store ALL of the stuff hurled at us everyday.
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That filter mechanism, sure, if only more people would use it and not respond to the trolling. Discernment anyone?
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Quite…for once I listened to my dear wife Sheila when I quit FaceBook, I was there for all the wrong reasons.
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As I continue to “force” myself deeper into the ramifications of living a compassionate life I discover daily that I cannot allow other people to get to me through emotional statements or debate. Life is so much like a commute: beware road rage I say to myself. I have unfollowed many blogs and deleted hundreds of comments simply because I saw no way to enter into the arguments in reasoned and reasonable fashion. Often these days silence is the only wise option.
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I’m on a similar journey Sha’ Tara.
There is the conundrum. How does one take a stand against Intolerance and Ignorance. Is it sufficient to work only on one’s self? Is this victory enough? Does it help victims?
No I don’t have an answer.
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There is no actual answer to that. Mine is, I’m running out of Earth years and preparing for a quiet, gentle exit. I have found one concept that answers all of my “angst” existential questions and it applies to me only, or to anyone else who makes a similar personal choice. I expound on it to anyone who asks about it and I demonstrate it with my own life. That’s it and that’s all, she wrote.
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I reckon we must in a parallel tracks here.
Meet you on the ‘Otherside’ !
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Of course, and let’s not forget Lisa… then we’ll find the yellow brick road… then we’ll… hmm, well, whatever!
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No, you’re quite right we mustn’t forget Lisa and then Yep! That is it exactly…. We’ll….whatever!
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Thanks for the post, yeah tell me about those so called ‘True Believers’ in God. Scary people in my opinion as they are completely convinced that killing in name of divine is sign of their greatness. Smh…
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…and it matters not which “god” the believe in either, so switching from one mindset to another solves nothing. Yet I suspect, deep down, that it isn’t “religion” as such that is at fault, but something within us as individual Earthians, something faulty, something we choose not to fix because, well, we enjoy inflicting pain on others, particularly when we can lay the responsibility on a god, a Fuhrer, a ruler, as in the old cop out: “The Devil made me do it.”
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The problem with those that follow dogmatic doctrines, is that they see everything outside of it as evil. The advent of the first world war brought a delirious nationalistic patriotism (for all countries) so profound, that men marched off cheerfully to war, imagining that their particular nation would be the Victor’s after just a few fired shots and a bit of primate posturing in front of the ‘enemy.’ What was absent from their vision, was that they were ‘the enemy’ and they marched straight into oblivion or traumatised and tortured survivors with their soul torn apart and illusions shattered.
A group of men were the exception. They were the conscientious objectors, or ‘conci’ s, ‘ as they were euphemistically known. These gentle people with a genuine need not to kill others, were spat upon by the general population, branded as cowards and sent off to Britain’ s own concentration camps (We Brits invented them apparently) and forced to do hard labour. Their wives and children were outcast from society, spat upon and generally they ended up in poor houses because no one would supply work to these families and they starved.
Our society is geared to ‘sheep.’
We are expected to eat whatever we are fed, and stampede to the cliff edge whenever required. Any clever wits who escape the flock will be rounded up by dogs, treated roughly, or killed outright if we don’t stay in line.
I see nothing new here, but it would be helpful if more people could see the folly of this system as in any way beneficial to their own existence.
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I think you are “hinting” at self empowerment here Colette. Beware, that makes you the enemy of the Matrix you know… 🙂
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Yes, I know, but to comply with the matrix is to sleepwalk through life. It is not a life is it? 😶
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That was an attempt at a bit of humour, Colette. I would never, EVER, even hint that someone should comply with the Matrix. There are times of course when our choices are severely limited and we do comply, but I take heart in knowing that I am complying and while doing so, looking for some way out. I’m always looking for new and creative ways to opt out also.
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“Our society is geared to sheep.” – oh yes. Hence why we call it “the sheeple” as being the best description, better than “deplorables” and such. People are programmed to believe and when they are told they live in the best of worlds or societies, they believe it. They don’t reason it. I find interactions between Christians and atheists quite amusing in the sense that both are true believers. Non belief requires just as much faith as beliefs since if they are on about god, neither can know which is what. Atheism isn’t reason, it’s just denial. That’s how our societal cart bumps and grinds along and periodically one group gets mad and starts tearing the wheels off the car, hauling those riding on it unto the ground and massacring them for belief or lack thereof. Earthians are certifiably insane but in a quasi-total insane world it is the sane who will be seen as insane.
Quote from your comment: “Any clever wits who escape the flock will be rounded up by dogs, treated roughly, or killed outright if we don’t stay in line.” What more could I add to that?
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