Before WW2, people in Germany with any sense at all left the country for safer places, concerned Adolf Hitler would lead them into ruin. He led Germany into what many would call, Hell on Earth, as the German people, in their fear of losing whatever being German meant, put their hopes in a psychopath. A tear had formed in the fabric of Germany, facing the consequences of starting a war that destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure, economically stressed to the breaking point, and just tired of being treated as outcasts by the world. Germany was looking for anyone who would promise salvation and hope. It is no surprise they saw salvation in someone who told them what they wanted to hear, someone who promised to make Germany great once more, to restore order and prosperity. Hitler was not so much a strong leader as he was someone who filled a void.
History Repeating Itself?
Like post war Germany, the U.S. seems to be doing the same thing. White people, afraid of losing whatever “being American” meant and not knowing what to do, led by a group of leaders seeking their personal gain and prestige with no moral character, ran into the void filled by another psychopath who told them what they wanted to hear, someone who promised salvation and hope, someone who will “make America great again” by removing those things threatening to take away the rights and freedoms of “God-fearing, hard working White Americans.”
Once the majority, white Americans are understandably scared about their inevitable decline into a minority population. The country is diversifying as California already has; Latinos have outnumbered whites in the state since 2015, and demographers predict whites will become a minority in the United States by 2060. While some white people scoff at the complaints of minorities, they seem implicitly to understand that being a minority has not always been a pleasant experience — hence their fear of becoming a minority. These white people demand their country back, a more prosperous America where they once owned the culture.
- via latimes.com
Do You Fit the Norm?
As in Germany, if you do not fit the physical, social, and ideological norm, you will find yourself outside the circle of craziness. Such a system does not sit idly by and ignore those who disagree with how it operates. It is equipped with surveillance subsystems that constantly monitor all, looking for those who might “rock the boat” and dealing with them through penalties, punishments, or isolating them much like honeybees starve out drones when they no longer need them. Hitler focused his wrath on both Jews and those who held conflicting ideologies.
In 1921 Hitler set up a group within the NSDAP that would protect his political meetings from attacks by rivals. It gave a military look, feel and discipline to the party. This group was known as the ‘stormtroopers’ (Sturm Abteilung – SA) or ‘Brownshirts’.
Many members of the SA were former soldiers unemployed since the end of the war. As the SA grew in size, rather than simply protecting Hitler and Nazi meetings from opponents, they began to disrupt the meetings of rival political groups.
As the Nazis gained power through democratic means, the SA gained a reputation as a well-organised gang of violent thugs. This frightened and put many off Nazism, but others were attracted by the organisation and discipline of a uniformed group.
- via www.theholocaustexplained.org
There are few differences in what happened in Germany and what is now happening in the U.S. The Racial Contract and Whiteness still dictate the terms of acceptance. Normalized White people will overtly and covertly support those systems that have always favored them, afraid to lose their power and privilege, choosing to ignore and even supporting the policies and social systems that exclude the Other. Charles Mills, in his book, The Racial Contract, gives insight into this silent White majority, that whites have
… an agreement to misinterpret the world. ... to learn to see the world wrongly, but with the assurance that this set of mistaken perceptions will be validated by white epistemic authority, whether religious or secular…
-(1997, p. 18)
Just as the majority in Germany closed their eyes as millions of Jews—and Germans— were led to their deaths, Whites will close their eyes to the exclusion and extermination of the Others in the U.S. Led by another psychopathic madman, we will travel the same path as borders continue to close, military power continues to grow, and sanctions create a killing field for those who are different.
The Hidden Roots of “Being American”
The U.S. is founded on thievery. It is built on stolen land using stolen resources using the stolen lives of slaves and immigrant workers. The American “culture” is a hodgepodge of appropriated customs and practices. We call it “borrowing, ” but it is thievery; there was never an intention to return any of those things.
Cultural appropriation is an entirely different matter. It has little to do with one’s exposure to and familiarity with different cultures. Instead, cultural appropriation typically involves members of a dominant group exploiting the culture of less privileged groups — often with little understanding of the latter’s history, experience and traditions.
- via About.com News & Issues
It does not take much digging to uncover the skeletons on which the U.S. society is built. Our social system is built upon the privilege of the few and exploitation of the masses. What we have comes from living in a system that gives us privilege and power, advantages in access to resources and opportunities free from fear of retaliation or punishment. We justify our advantages and exploitations by first making the Other “less than” then giving our thievery a kind of moral validity; we “deserve” what we have because we are better than those who had it. In that deviated logic, it is ethical to steal and cheat, to appropriate what we need to enjoy life.