FOWC with Fandango — Continue
Continue?
In many ways, the nightmare we are currently experiencing is a continuation of what went before. None of this came out of “nowhere.” We’ve had bad presidents and even some of our good presidents were not all that great. We have plundered the earth and made money the beginning and end of all things. Greed is God.
Notice how little time it took and the methodology. Simple, wasn’t it?
We worship money. We’ve been watching “Luke Cage” on Netflix and his comment that “The only thing that gets respect is money” is disgustingly true. You can be any color you want including pink with yellow polka-dots, but if you don’t control a few billion dollars, you aren’t going to get real respect.
Given our passion for money, why not elect a buffoon for whom greed and the power it gives him has been his all-consuming goal his entire life? We’ve been heading this way for a long time. We didn’t understand where this direction would take us.
The displacement of Germany’s liberal democratic government took ONLY ten years. Most of it happened in less than five.
Europe hit some kind of long-held target when it rounded up everyone they didn’t like and killed them. When World War II was finished, there were no foreigners or Jews or Romany left. They were dead. The perils of the world have changed the scenario, but the plundering of the earth to create the mess it’s in now didn’t start in the U.S.
The Rhone, the Rhine, and the Thames were flowing sewerage long before the U.S. even got its industrial revolution in gear.
In November 1923, a German army veteran and leader of an extremist party, Adolf Hitler, tried to take a page from Mussolini’s book. Hitler’s rise to power is one of the most significant events of our century. His success raised disturbing questions that we still debate today. How did Germany, which had a liberal democratic government in the 1920s, become a totalitarian dictatorship in the 1930s? Why did Hitler gain the enthusiastic support of many Germans? In less than a decade, he turned one of the most liberal nations in the world into the greatest killer of them all.
It doesn’t take a hundred years. It doesn’t even take a lifetime. In these hyper speedy days, with ultra-fast communications, it can take virtually no time. It took Germany a decade, but we’ve gotten there much faster.
Our rise to power wasn’t unilateral. We needed help and we got it by — you guessed it — immigration. We imported Europeans who knew how to build the mills and sluice the waste into our rivers. We couldn’t have done it without your help. Thanks, guys!
When you start to throw dirt around, make sure you let some stick to you. This world is one world. Nothing happens independently without collaboration. Despite that America has probably the worst goon and buffoon in office, Australia, Canada and many countries in Europe are not far behind. The hatred we spew is being spewed on every continent and in many languages.
The U.S. is not alone. If you think we are, you should look around. Read your own newspapers and think about your own government. All those things about which you are so proud and which took years to build can be stripped away so fast you won’t have time to say “what happened.” You’ve done it before, you can do it again.
Let us show set you an example. After all, you already dragged us into two world wars. Maybe it’s our turn to show you how evil a government can be. Continue indeed. Yes, let’s do that. Let us continue. It is amazing how little we seem to learn from history, isn’t it?
Are you going to continue too? You had Hitler and Mussolini. Are you getting ready for your next set of dictators? It took very little to overthrow Germany and a lot other countries helped Germany along. They didn’t think all that hatred was such a bad thing. They didn’t like Those People either.
Forgive me, dear overseas friends, but it’s time to look around at the whole picture. England pulled out of the European trade union before we got around to installing the orange moron in the White House. There were hate riots in Europe before we even got started on our 2016 election. Hatred didn’t start here.
It has always been with us. Always. Here, there, and everywhere.
If we get to start a world war, it’ll be our first.
But it won’t be your first.
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Categories: #FOWC, Daily Prompt, Government, political parties, Politics, President, You can't make this stuff up
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I do not like your regular referencing on Germany so as if this would be the only country in the world where autocratic regimes killed millions of life. This rather Anti-German attitude is very common also in the UK. But why are you not talking about Stalin or Mao-Tse Tung? They killed millions of people in their country (20 or 30 or 50 millions, nobody knows for sure). Turkish genocide killed nearly 1 million Armenians after WW I. And how many people died in Iraq after the US-American/British invasion? The USA have supported numerous dictators in Latin America after WW II. Fight for freedom is something else. Why don’t you talk about your own history, instead you point on Germany using symbols which are forbidden there for good reason.
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It’s true. Germany was not the only murderous fascist nation to kill millions of people, but it is the one that killed most of my family. And there are a lot of parallels in the current political rise of Trump in America to Hitler’s rise in Germany. The parallels are hard to miss. Germany wasn’t a dictatorship before Hitler rose to power and that is really the point. It wasn’t a political putsch or coup. He was elected and supported by a liberal, democratic country that was famous for its love of the arts and freedom. You can’t say that about China or Russia. They were tyrannical pretty much always. And still are.
I understand not liking it and I don’t much care for it either. But if there are any lessons to be learned from history, then it has to be in the similarities of societies. There were murderous dictators in a lot of countries — but none of them resembled America. Germany was much more like us than any others. It is a fearsome lesson in how quickly a country can slide from one thing to another and that is what we need to see.
We are not following in Mao’s footsteps, you know?
That’s what happened Even if we don’t like it.
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I understand this very well, but your approaching is not considering that in Germany there is a strong culture of remembrance on this in big contrast to other countries who committed also crimes and strictly deny this. I am telling you again that I do not like your use of Nazi-Reich symbols, in my country this is strictly forbidden (applicable for Austria and Germany).
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One additional remark, just ask the native people of the USA now living in reserves what they think about the White Man and its bloody war against them, all presidents of the USA were elected and they did this oppressive “job”. This is a US-American problem unsolved till today. So something is wrong in your political system!
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This is Anti-German what you are doing not for the first time. But you are not speaking open and directly, but giving your followers a very bad image of the Germany by saying simply only this country is very bad. This will not make you happy in any case but without an open-minded attitude in your blog in this regard there is no reason to follow it anymore. Sorry .
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We know that not all Germans were in favor of, or took part in, the Nazi movement. I have German friends who are extremely embarrassed by this part of German history and refuse to discuss it on any level. Yes, the USA was involved in slavery and later suppression of freedmen, abuse of our Native indigenous tribes and prejudice towards almost all other immigrant groups like Jewish, Irish, Italians, Polish and you name it. Some record for a country supposedly built on the principles of “Freedom?” We ask freedom for whom? White, Arian skinheads and the Republican Party, these days, headed by a dangerous buffoon for our chief executive, who seems to support the violence these groups live by? Other cultures and ethnic groups have done equally horrendous things, but German culture is the closest to western examples and our way of life and so become a prime focus.
If you are Jewish, the connection is most immediate, sometimes as close as the last generation. I know as I have many Jewish friends as well. They, like our own slave past where human beings were treated as “livestock” have in many cases little access to their past as the Nazis destroyed all and took what they considered of value. As for Slavery, family records were just not kept and children were routinely separated and sold. So what’s so different about the present situation at our southern border?
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The difference is not is what’s going on. The difference is in the similarity of the two countries, Germany and the U.S. It’s NOT that we are so different. It’s more how similar we are. Germany was a politically liberal country full of scientists and artists. That it could be brought down in less than 10 years by Hitler makes our political situation even more perilous. It couldn’t happen in Germany, either. But it did.
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I have NOT said that Germany is bad any more than I have said America is bad. But bad things happen to good countries. See my final comment at the end. It isn’t the differences between the U.S. & Germany that are so threatening: it is the similarities. As nations, we are more alike than different. Much more alike. You got Hitler. We got Trump. Do you see the problem?
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I agree completely, but was trying to address banactee’s comments and seeming anger at pointing to the Nazi/German issues as being a knock to Germans in general.
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You can’t argue with what happened. It was horrible and I can understand not wanting to discuss it. But it happened. Bad things happen to good countries, just like bad things happen to good people. Hopefully, you don’t let them happen again.
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Yeah, I get that
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Truer words, Marilyn. I’ve been watching our news and am equally horrified at decisions this bastard government is making. Horrific!
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The irony is that not every idea he has is a bad one, but the WAY he tries to carry thing out is horrific. It’s true. The U.S. has gotten short shrift on many — maybe most — of our trade deals and many of us have long felt the issue needed addressing. But not like this. Not with a damned trade war! This isn’t going to fix anything. It’s just going to make things worse.
Do we need better border control? I guess that depends on your personal attitude towards immigration. Personally, I think we need those people. They keep this country working. The start businesses. They do the work that most people would refuse. But regardless, tearing children away from their parents and family? There’s a way to do stuff that doesn’t involve cruelty, but Trump is a cruel, mean-spirited ugly human being, so everything he does is ugly.
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I so agree with everything you’ve said. This trade war is going to hurt you immensely, the cost of ever item you wish to buy is going to skyrocket since most of it is imported and little manufactured in the states. As for the children? I haven’t slept much since witnessing this atrocity. Vicious vile devoid of humanity ugly mean-spirited cruel, there aren’t enough words to describe the despicable actions he supports.
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I should not have clicked ‘like,’ considering the bone-chilling content of this post. I still have a lot of hope. American people are not as asleep. They care. We will prevail.
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I just hope some of the slugs wake up. Two of those slugs are my son and granddaughter. They don’t even seem to get that this has anything to do with them and I have no idea how to convince them that they matter. The problem isn’t you or me. It’s the people who don’t vote, don’t pay attention to the news … and when stuff happens, they are stunned. They have no idea what’s going on in their own world. THEY scare me. I love them, but I’d also like to bat them around the yard a few times.
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This is a very scary post Marilyn. I have recently read some articles on the rise of Nazi Germany and the words, “It can never happen here” kept ringing in may head. I’m just not so sure anymore.
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I was sure it couldn’t happen here, too. We were so innocent, weren’t we?
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I’m feeling rather hopeless. Seems I’m battered every day with new “unprecedented” actions by Trump and his cronies. I don’t know that November’s elections won’t be hacked or affected by Russian meddling, but if the blue wave doesn’t materialize and Dems don’t take control of Congress, I’m seriously thinking about emigrating.
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I’m trying not to think about anything much beyond Wednesday. I’m going to get through the 4th of July, then i will try to think again. The last few days I’ve been thinking too much. MUCH too much. What is so particularly terrible is i remember my parents trying to pound it into my brain that Germany changed from the liberal country for artists and writers to the most bestial country on earth in fewer than 10 years and BY ELECTION. Election.
I didn’t believe them. I knew they were right, but I didn’t imagine it could ever apply to us.
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Yes, me too. Maybe Canada, even though I dislike cold weather.
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I’m not sure Canada wants us. I’m pretty sure they don’t want us. They want young people who can work, not old people on pensions who need medical care.
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It is a mad, mad, mad world out there and wouldn’t it be nice if we could all get along without all of this hatred that exists. I used to think that I liked all people and at one time I did, except for George Bush junior, but now I also hate Trump. I guess I just hate idiots and when idiots are in charge that makes it much worse. I really hate all of the clueless idiots that line up every day to kiss Trump’s ass.
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Many of us do. But unfortunately, not ALL of us.
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Hypocrites and liars, that’s who I hate. I don’t like to hate people but I do hate Trump. And Mitch McConnell. And now Justice Kennedy, who I thought I could respect at least, is turning out to be a sleazebag too.
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Well, honesty and politics have never been a winning combination anywhere. But a little lying and a little cheating are not what we have. What we have here is a disease.
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This is what’s coming. This is why I don’t want to be around to have to try surviving it. Those Europeans had grit, determination and a lot of stuff I don’t personally have, because they’ve lived through TWO of those kinds of wars. All we’ve done vis a vis wars is fight off a monarchy, fight among ourselves, try to spread our version of democracy in places that ultimately didn’t want help (civil wars are, IMHO, best left to the inhabitants), and now chase phantoms across deserts. Terrorists? We need to look much closer to home. This is TERRIFYING.
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Yes. It is. And somehow believing that our artificial borders are somehow protectable is particularly ludicrous.
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yeah, it’s scary times we live in. People forgot how progressive Germany was, how writing and art, creativity and invention, freedom of speech and learning was flourishing and how quickly it ended. All it takes is one event to scare people into handing over the controls to an demagogue — in that case it was the Great Depression. And now with news flying as quickly as it does, it seems like events that trigger control legislation are getting smaller and smaller — a Facebook scandal triggers an EU legislation that affects bloggers worldwide as they slap down controls that don’t really affect the big data miners which is what triggered the scandals in the first place. Some controls are good (try driving without traffic lights — it’s a mess) but people have to stop giving carte blanche when scandals and events happen. Yeah, governments can be frustratingly slow as they study the ramifications of something before implementing it but it creates a check and balance on governments/politicians feeling like they can pass any law. That habit of demanding something be done right now and handing over the controls at the same time is just asking for a new tyrant to step in. It’s scary.
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The thing is, it’s not a bunch of countries with lines between them. We really ARE one world and what happens here is going to be at least a part of what happens there. Like it or not. For good and ill, this business of assuming that somehow we are each SAFE behind our borders has always been absurd … but now? With the internet and airplanes and rockets and constant movement between nations? Does it mean anything? And then we are also not going to talk to each other? Now THAT makes sense, right?
It’s madness. Here and everywhere.
Even knowing history doesn’t prevent you from figuring you know better and you can make it work. It seems to me that we have learned nothing from the past. Even if we remember it, it’s just someone else’s old problem.
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We are one world but we are not one country. It’s not just transportation and communication that goes across borders. Weapon effects are no longer confined to their location either. The assumption you can nuke another country without affecting your own country is addlebrained.
There’s a reason why there’s an old adage, “History repeats itself.”
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The concept of “open borders” is anathema to a lot of people, but the reality is that we effectively already HAVE open borders. I get that everyone wants to protect themselves, but it doesn’t work. It has never really worked. Unless you were an island, there was always a border to breach and even island nations — England, for example — was overrun multiple times by the Normans and others. Even the Celts weren’t natives to the island. Hell, NO ONE is native except to Africa — which is where life began.
Now, today? So you’re going to nuke North Korea and the South Koreans won’t notice?
It’s not only that these are difficult times — it’s that people are so incredibly stupid. The dangers have always been there, though they certainly feel a lot closer to home than they used to. But we were never safe. We liked to think we were. It was a lot easier that way.
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Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. – George Santayana
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And then, there are those who remember the past and are convinced it has nothing to do with them. A paraphrase of Aldous Huxley.
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It is haunting us now.
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Sad state of affairs. I am continually making phone call and signing petitions to let my voice be heard loud and clear–unfortunately, it seems as though those in power are deaf. We’ve also begun boycotting (power of the purse)…but it sure seems like an uphill battle.
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I doubt it will get better until Orange Guy is out of office. Hopefully, that is sooner rather than later. It depends on whether we really get the vote out this time. VERY frustrating.
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I just hope there’s enough cantankerous seniors to put a stop to any thought of war.
Leslie
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Let us hope someone LISTENS to us! You know … old people are ignored. What could we possibly know?
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There soon will be more of us than them. We still have the vote. Sheer numbers could be pretty persuasive.
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Let’s hope we make it all the way to the election. Right now, I wonder.
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Don’t lose hope Marilyn….
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I’m trying not to lose hope and that is NOT easy.
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Hang in there Marilyn….
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