“The colossal emptiness and lack of meaning of these never-ending events was by no means unintentional. The population should become used to cheering and jubilation, even when there was no visible reason for it…”
German journalist Sebastian Haffner, writing in 1939 about Nazis.
German journalist Sebastian Haffner, writing in 1939 about Nazis.
If you wonder why Trump’s rallies all have the same lies, the same lines, and the same call-and-response with the crowd, it’s because it’s effective as a propaganda tool. The impressionable people watching those crowds can be made to feel a sense of belonging when they watch.
Goebbels, head of the “Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda,” believed these frequent, flashy events—no matter how devoid of substance—would be a powerful tool to win enthusiastic adherents to the Nazis’ nationalist dogma, even as their own agency was being eroded.
It isn’t hyperbole to suggest there are parallels between Trump’s GOP and Germany’s NSDAP.
Pop quiz: which of those parties attacked oppositional media, sent “election monitors” to supervise the vote, and held frequent rallies to unite their followers against the evil “others?”
Pop quiz: which of those parties attacked oppositional media, sent “election monitors” to supervise the vote, and held frequent rallies to unite their followers against the evil “others?”
Of course, the answer is self-evident.
We must not allow history to repeat itself.
Make a plan to vote. Vote in numbers too large to manipulate. That means: involve others in your plan; make sure they’re voting, too.
End this nightmare, so we can begin to heal, and to rebuild.
We must not allow history to repeat itself.
Make a plan to vote. Vote in numbers too large to manipulate. That means: involve others in your plan; make sure they’re voting, too.
End this nightmare, so we can begin to heal, and to rebuild.
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