I’ve studied more than a little of the history of Nazi Germany, partly out of curiosity, partly out of my interest in things related to World War 2 and partly as a result of my hobby of Stamp Collecting. I have a very specialized collection related to the inflationary period of the 20’s which led directly to the rise of Hitler. Recently this interest expanded into a slow rising feeling of deja vu with the rise of the woke movement and its companion cancel culture. I purchased this book to get a better insight into the events in Germany related to their practices related to censorship and media control. Sadly, there are some disturbing parallels.
As is my habit, I noted some relevant topics on a note card with a reference to the page where it was found:
Page 7 – “the Nazis began to settle accounts with their political enemies”. There does not seem to me to be a better comparison to the current climate in the US and the purpose and direction of the cancel culture.
Page 12 – “the time of unlimited individual freedom…were over”. All around we see all manner of looming restrictions of our liberty and our ability to speak our mind. The concentration of power in the major tech firms clearly shows that only a certain set of views is allowed. No better example is the banning of President Trump from numerous media sites and facilities….and he is certainly not alone.
Page 31 – “With only the politically trustworthy allowed to publish…”. We have seen this in a number of instances where conservatives have had books cancelled and publishers withdraw from publishing like books.
Page 98 – “In modern totalitarian states too, leaders who fall out of favor become non-persons…” Reminds one of the efforts of the left to run their opposition out of the public view and out of sight.
Page 108: “…maintain an exact control over who is reading what”. Echoes a lot of what we see in the media today especially as it relates to the tech sector. Everything is about control in one form or another. That is the key to understanding what is happening in the US today.
Page 113: “…the inventories of the public libraries had to be cleansed.” Well, they have not sunk to the level of burning the books yet, but there is a serious effort to remove all variety of literature from the libraries and the reading lists of students everywhere. Seems like hardly a day goes by without finding one more classic banned and removed from circulation.
There is more but this gives one the basic idea and history. Oh….well all this may be an exaggeration and “much ado about nothing” but it is hard to ignore the fact that there are far too many similarities between what happen in Germany to facilitate the rise of Hitler and what is occurring today in this country. If it is not stopped and reversed, it is only a matter of time before this becomes a one-party, one-state, one-mind nation. The founders of this nation would be appalled.