| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' 08:39 - Jul 25 with 52995 views | m14_blue |
Someone used this term on another thread and it really resonated with me.
It's always fascinated and mystified me how 'normal' Germans allowed the Nazis to perpetrate such evil but the exact same phenomenon is happening in the West at the moment, with 'the left' the new bogeyman.
Now, I'm not saying this will end the same way but the modus operandi is identical. They have control of the overwhelming majority of the printed media and have launched a relentless, vicious assault on the free press that present a balanced, or left leaning, view (the BBC, Channel 4, CNN etc).
You can see the evidence on this very site. There have always been a few far right English Nationalists but there are many who would consider themselves (and I would previously to have considered) to be normal people, decent people, who have been poisoned. They now spout nothing but hatred and bile, throwing around phrases such as 'Enemy of the people', 'traitor', 'treason' whilst being totally unable to explain why.
I challenge anyone to read the below text and deny the parallels. Scary times.
'Men like me were the greater offenders, not because we knew better (that would be too much to say) but because we sensed better. Pastor Niemöller spoke for the thousands and thousands of men like me when he spoke (too modestly of himself) and said that, when the Nazis attacked the Communists, he was a little uneasy, but, after all, he was not a Communist, and so he did nothing; and then they attacked the Socialists, and he was a little uneasier, but, still, he was not a Socialist, and he did nothing; and then the schools, the press, the Jews, and so on, and he was always uneasier, but still he did nothing. And then they attacked the Church, and he was a Churchman, and he did something–but then it was too late."
One doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not?–Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.
You speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or ‘You’re an alarmist.’
And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, the believers intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic. You are left with your close friends, who are, naturally, people who have always thought as you have.
And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in–your nation, your people–is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed.'
It's time for the liberal (small L) majority in this great country to unite and speak out against the rise of the right. We must not be cowed into silent compliance or things will continue to deteriorate until it is too late. [Post edited 25 Jul 2019 8:43]
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| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 10:15 - Nov 21 with 697 views | DJR |
| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 09:58 - Nov 21 by Blueschev |
What like attempts to ban peaceful protest? Or banning certain books from the national curriculum? I agree it's very worrying. Not sure I'd describe the Tories who've been in power for 13 years as left, or fascist for that matter. |
Or how about keeping secret files to stop people speaking at public events?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/nov/18/shocking-scale-of-uk-government
"The guidelines are designed to prevent anyone who has criticised the government in the previous three to five years from speaking at government-organised conferences and other events." [Post edited 21 Nov 2023 10:16]
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| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 10:33 - Nov 21 with 640 views | Blueschev |
| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 10:15 - Nov 21 by DJR |
Or how about keeping secret files to stop people speaking at public events?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/nov/18/shocking-scale-of-uk-government
"The guidelines are designed to prevent anyone who has criticised the government in the previous three to five years from speaking at government-organised conferences and other events." [Post edited 21 Nov 2023 10:16]
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Actual, worrying cancel culture. It's disgusting. |  | | |
| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 10:33 - Nov 21 with 640 views | leitrimblue |
| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 09:04 - Nov 21 by Rob88 |
I think you are absolutely right and I can see it.
I think there is an ever increasing problem with the rise of the fascist left and illiberal liberals. |
 Genuis Rob. Favourite poster ever |  | | |
| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 15:17 - Nov 21 with 503 views | eireblue |
It is also worth noting the phrase maybe new, but the actions have been occurring for a very long time, from Socrates being very cancelled for his views, to Victorians changing the endings to Shakespeare’s plays. |  | | |
| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 18:42 - Nov 21 with 431 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 09:04 - Nov 21 by Rob88 |
I think you are absolutely right and I can see it.
I think there is an ever increasing problem with the rise of the fascist left and illiberal liberals. |
The question here is whether you are using the Chico logic of this government is left wing or whether you are using the government's ploy of blaming everything that is wrong on those who haven't had power for well over a decade.
Either way, well done for seeing it as it must take a lot of effort to. |  |
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| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 19:04 - Nov 21 with 411 views | Rob88 |
| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 18:42 - Nov 21 by Nthsuffolkblue |
The question here is whether you are using the Chico logic of this government is left wing or whether you are using the government's ploy of blaming everything that is wrong on those who haven't had power for well over a decade.
Either way, well done for seeing it as it must take a lot of effort to. |
Neither.
Guess again. | | | |
| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 19:07 - Nov 21 with 406 views | Herbivore |
| 'Sleepwalking into Fascism' on 19:04 - Nov 21 by Rob88 |
Neither.
Guess again. |
Good old fashioned trolling. |  |
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