Thread by @sunnshiiny

This is the effect of allowing a megalomaniac and malignant narcissist remain in power for 4 years.

People begin to believe his behaviour is acceptable and normal.

https://twitter.com/MeganKelleyHall/status/1367873250940907525

This is true of Kenney and Ford. Moe and Pallister.

And who started this almost a couple decades ago? Stephen Harper.

The strongman who asks for no permission and never admits fault.

Notice this is all emanating from men. Because it’s toxic masculinity and patriarchy.

Canadians and American have allowed people who could have done something about this to minimize the threat and explain away what was happening.

Also known as turn the other cheek and the deep belief in the exceptionalism of democracy.

“It can’t happen here.”

Well, guess what? It can and did. We are NOT EXCEPTIONAL!

Never again is now.

And I’m so enraged by those who refused to recognize what was occurring across the globe. People with large platforms that have false reassurance that democracy protects us from autocrats.

Tell that to Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, the US, UK and Canada.

All strong democracies 10 years ago. All under attack from autocrats and plutocrats determined to remove democracy as an option. Poland, Hungary and Turkey are now autocracies.

But sure, tell us again how people like me who recognize the signs of fascism were hyperbolic and over reacting.

Your hubris allowed this to happen. Your convictions leant credibility to people who are moving to assume total power.

If I could slap you I would.

You now have the responsibility to admit your hubristic overconfidence and warn the rest of the population.

But many won’t. They’ll hide behind their shame. Knowing full well their culpability.

What is killing us are fascists who are refusing to maintain norms. People pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable. They’ve moved the goal posts much further right.

Our paid canaries who continued to sing. Ignoring the real canaries (BIPOC & LGBTQ) who’d begun shrieking.

This is how Germany was overtaken by Nazis. How Turkey, Poland and Hungary became the newest autocracies. How Trump was elected.

Those who are paid to warn us what’s happening didn’t do their jobs. I can’t answer why. And I can’t speculate.

But at the same time they were ignoring the blatant signs of creeping autocracy, they ignored and humiliated those who were sounding the alarm. Called them conspiracy theorists and trouble makers.

It reminds me of Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller’s iconic poem. Many know it, but do they know the history of Martin Niemöller? And why he hammered this message at every opportunity for the rest of his life? Probably not.

Martin Niemöller’s lifelong use of this poem was his way of sending a warning to future generations to set aside their self interest and courageously defend every human being.

There is no absolution from cowardice and selfish protection of your own interests. None.

Those who turned a blind eye because their interests aligned with the creeping fascist rise in power will live the rest of their lives seeking absolution that will never come.

This is the privilege BIPOC & LGBTQ identify as systemic disadvantage.

Martin Niemöller recognized his selfish protection of his own interests had enabled and permitted the rise of Nazi fascism. His life story and this poem should be taught in school. It defines how easily we rationalize the suffering of others to prevent ourselves from acting.

Just because a threat identified is targeted at a different social/cultural/political group, if you aren’t speaking out and actively dissenting, you’re as culpable and complicit as those committing the abuse. And there is no absolution available to excuse cowardice.

BIPOC & LGBTQ don’t have the luxury of cowardice. We are always one of the first targets. You ignore us at your own peril. It infuriates me that this could have been mitigated if not prevented if moderate conservatives had acknowledged it sooner.

Now these naysayers are worried about their interests and how it will impact them.

That’s how Germany was subsumed by Nazis. Those with the power to stop them turned a blind eye.