Adolf Hitler sowed his evil undetected.
During his reign, the German people were “encouraged” to focus on their education, work and community engagements so as to be distracted by the true motives at play.
The people, little by little, were told what to do in the guise of “incomprehensible to the public” or “an immanent threat to national security.”
Civilians followed with wholesome intent. Hitler wanted expansion to unite and have complete rule over “his” people. Furthermore, he believed that the German people were the greatest genetic specimens mankind could offer. Those who were a not a part of this bloodline would taint the genetic perfection they represented, and therefore were an obstacle to be removed.
The civilians did not know what hit them:
“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.”
– They Thought They Were Free, Milton Sanford Mayer
What Lies in Wait
To further tilt the scales in his favor, Hitler labeled the Jews not only as liars, but as the power behind Britain, Russia and the United States. He accused the Jews of blaming Germany for WWI. This was reinforced with propaganda galore, which gave allowed the country to incarcerate and murder those who threatened Germany as an act of self-defense. The German government played innocent.
“All this was inspired by the principle…that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie… It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.“
– Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler
Hitler had many more dark and raving layers to his rule, but most of what he said was a lie. There is no evidence for a race’s gene pool to be “diluted” by another race (eugenics is more complicated than that and involves specific traits of people). There was no evidence of Jewish conspiracies to that scale. Hitler never took blame or admitted fault. He pointed fingers. He kept his people rabid.
And the people believed in his lies so much that they fought for them. They gave their lives for them.
Those lies sparked the most savage war the world has ever seen, in which 80 million people died. Those lies led to six million Jews losing their lives in the Holocaust, perhaps the most vile setting in the history of mankind. Those lies also pulled the US out of the Great Depression.
That last fact is a disturbing addition juxtaposed against human lives, but it is emblematic of our times. If you are not careful, you will miss the important numbers entirely and fall for the comforting one.
So before you succumb to another wretched lie, you need to understand what is at stake.
The Truest of Friends
The truth has identifiable traits. It admits fault with pure intentions. It can be oftentimes uncomfortable. It is, above all, real.
So to find what is real, the best place to start is by seeking real people. We have heard from white men with fresh-pressed suits about racism. But shouldn’t we be listening to those of color in these instances? Shouldn’t we listen to those who live among the 330 million Americans in this country as opposed to the 1% who reside above their people?
Beacons of Truth:
- The People: This actually takes a lot of effort, and I think a whole post dedicated to this subject is a worthy effort down the road. In practice, you go on social media, search topics/hashtags, monitor what people are saying and how they are reacting, and triangulate the viewpoints to create a map of the reality. No politicians, no news reporters (unless they are sharing from a civilian).
This has been especially critical during the recent protests: looking on social media yielded exponentially more unique videos and pictures of peaceful protests. Yet, many outlets shared the same rioting videos over and over. If you only watched the news, I can understand why you would be call the protests “the riots.”
This works on the other side as well: If 99% of the population are reacting to a situation in the same way, tread lightly on what the other 1% have to say, even if you agree. - Fact Checkers: A few sites online are dedicated to checking facts, namely Snopes and Politifact. The Washington Post has also joined the cause. These are vital tools to have in your box, as they undress whatever rhetoric masks a polarizing topic. They are usually well-sourced, so you can double check their work if you are skeptical.
- Follow the Money: When in doubt, just look at the money. The World Bank is a tremendous resource for this. Additionally, you can easily find police budget information online. Why would knowing about money matter? Context. It also helps you understand when a hype headline is unwarranted:
Believing In A Lie Until it Becomes the Truth
We have something the Germans under Hitler never had: the Internet and more access to information.
However, I have spoken to several people and seen many comments online indicating they do not know who to trust. This is certainly by design. Some entities have agendas to achieve, money to make and power to hold. While we have more data at our fingertips, we are inundated with misinformation attempting to confuse and manipulate us.
I am already exhausted from writing this. There contradictory information floods the Internet, I can see why one would go mad trying to make sense of it all. Someone needs to drain that swamp, so thank you to Twitter for stepping up.
I can also see why one would just stick to their information sources of choice for comfort’s sake. But that is how we get lulled into this false sense of security.
I disdain politics, so I am not coming in with deep-seated loyalty to anyone or any party. I do, however, refuse to be swayed by the words of liars, which means I am biased here. And I am very much aware that you will not stop tuning into your sources of choice, even if they are proven to be liars time and time again.
Still, I am standing up for the truth and against the lies. Eighty million lives – I cannot get that number out of my head. We’ve already lost 434,000. That starts up top.
The Untrustworthy
- The Government: The Washington Post tallied 16,241 false or misleading claims in Trumps first three years in office. As of now, they are mostly small and boastful, but he has lost all credibility to those paying attention. Clinton and Nixon were notable in their massive cover-ups as well. Down the ranks, even with the current administration, corruption runs rampant.
- Many News Outlets: See more in the video below, but with Sinclair owning a vast majority of media outlets, the messaging looks less like your local news and more like a school of fish with no independent thought. Some are not even trying to be discrete. Remember this: context is key. Some sources seem to be there to numb us with rapid-fire accusations and world-shattering headlines. That is not news.
- Influencers: Fake people cannot produce real content.
I list these knowing there are shades of gray to every side. But the moment I hear a blatant lie from any source, I abort. It is not worth our mental energies to have that filling up our minds. While it is good to see sides from every angle, a lie is where we should draw the line.
Regardless of your views, I would verify everything you see and hear from this bunch. Each of these deserves its own post in more detail, but all are largely problematic right now.
In Summary
In digging through this topic, I feel much of this is incomplete, so I invite your input below. This is a constant battle we must always be fighting and not all of us have the energy for it. Additionally, we may never know what the real truth is because some people out there are doing heinous work to prevent you from ever seeing it.
But do not underestimate the power of a lie. There are many powers working against the truth, but there are plenty of resources to give you perspective so that you can come to rational conclusions for yourself. Eighty million lives.
You may think that based off of my intro that I fear the rise of a totalitarian regime. Perhaps. While you can make comparisons to today’s United States and Hitler’s Germany, one major difference is that there is a resistance. The society is fractured. But my main fear is something else.
They give us the right to vote. They give us the ability to protest. They give us our day. Then the dust settles and nothing has changed. We thought Democracy listened to the voices of all the people, not just a select few. If we do not have that, then what?
So I fear the day when the people believe the lie is the system itself.