This is too good not to share. It is a response to comment under a post at The Last Refuge. A commenter states that “The German people did not do enough to oppose Hitler and the Third Reich and look what happened.”
Related: The Left is No Longer Hiding from the Tyranny of Their Worldview
One of those “hindsight is 20-20” remarks that happen to both true and prescient given what the Left is doing in America today.
It is this follow-up comment by Anon that is the must-read material (reformatted).
That is a really interesting comment and one I have wrestled with trying to understand for a long long time: “why many Germans simply said they didn’t know what Hitler and the Nazi Party were doing”. It seems incredulous from our point of view. However, from the point of view of living in a totalitarian society (one which we are just starting to experience) “knowing” is huge problem. You are in danger even if officials think you know something.
Look at the fate of today’s whistle blowers. And even reporters like Sheryl Atkinson, who get too close to the truth, and put themselves in danger. Look at the family members who turned in relatives to the FBI because they attended the Jan 6th protest in DC. Or employees terminated because an employer found out they attended a MAGA rally.
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So how long can that be sustained (draw reader interest) as there is no point in knowing what Rod Rosenstein is doing, as he will never be held accountable.) So, the only thing that knowing something will do in a totalitarian society is make you stressed and depressed.
So, in summary, in a totalitarian society, “knowing” something is superfluous, psychologically unhealthy and ultimately downright dangerous. And given that reality, people will make “not knowing” an art. You avoid talking to anyone about anything controversial, you avoid controversial associations (leave the room when they start to come up) and become very skilled at being uniformed… because your survival depends on it.
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This realization hit me after the Nov 3rd election, when I started deleting all of my Social Media accounts and stopped watching Fox News and even ordinary news, because whatever Biden was doing, I could do nothing about, as I no longer have a vote. (I was drifting into “not knowing” as a protection mechanism.) And that is likely what many ordinary Germans did, but on a much more extreme scale (not tune into the BBC or better yet, get rid of the radio entirely), as their livelihoods, psychological wellbeing and survival depended upon it.
Anyway, just a thought.
More than just a thought and thanks to Anon for sharing it – read the whole comment here and then the post under which it occurs.
That starts with “Attorney Lin Wood has released an interview with a whistleblower [pdf here] who operated for years within part of the apparatus connected to Deep State surveillance.”
Sobering stuff.
The Cancel culture is not a conspiracy, the bureaucratic state does not suffer for unconstitutional action, the side effects are the goal. We’ve talked at length about it.
- Making very-public examples of those who deviate from the approved narratives.
- Protecting insiders accused of wrongdoing who are part of the ruling class.
- Destroying those who speak out or saving what they know when it does not advance the one-party-state agenda.
This is not a joke; we are on the precipice. If states do not push back hard against the Feds and voters against the states to protect their rights, we will be reduced to pre-war Nazi Germany or the current state of “open-discourse” in Communist China. That is to say, knowing nothing will be the best thing to ensure your survival, which is exactly where they want you to be.
Hat Tip to Howard for the link
