Thread by @sunnshiiny

For the past while, I’ve wondered if the average German citizen felt rebellious or resentful when it became apparent Nazis were in charge.

I wonder about silly things like that because it distracts me from the frustration I feel about public apathy & the public’s egocentrism.

https://twitter.com/threadreaderapp/status/1479609727164243975

There have been multiple opportunities to recognize the nature of conservative premiers over the past 4 years, but it’s taken the threat of personal infection of a deadly disease for many to pay attention. That speaks volumes about human compassion.

Still, the public complains, but does little to address the situation, besides bitch. They are inconvenienced by restrictions, but dutifully return to work and send children into certain contagion. So many have internalized obedience to authority, they no longer question it.

During the Nuremberg Trials after WW2, the rationale that people were “just following orders” was eliminated as an excuse for committing atrocities. We all have free will. Regardless of our circumstances. We choose to obey. But Germans did have a gun pointed at their head.

Still, the excuse that those with authority ordered actions that were evil, horrendous, murderous and callous was not an acceptable reason to remove culpability and responsibility for the crimes that were committed by military or civilian complicit Nazi supporters.

Yet when faced with a similar choice regarding COVid safety, the vast majority of the Canadian public is more than happy to rely on the duty to obey their leaders and carry on like nothing is happening. Their excuse? They must continue to pay the bills. They have no choice.

But we do have a choice in whether we obey leaders who demand we put our children at imminent risk during this omicron surge, put ourselves in dangerous situations, or require essential workers to put their lives on the line for our benefit, while making minimum wage.

So many choose to obey. They don’t even question what is occurring. They just focus on paying bills & keeping afloat financially. They accept the terms of the social contract without question or critical thinking. Work to make money to pay your bills, despite the risk to health.

Put children at risk from a disease with unknown long term consequences. The most vulnerable, the youngest have zero protections.

Allow the elderly and health compromised to become virtual prisoners in their own homes; many in solitary confinement, which is torture, literally.

Force essential workers to perform with no additional compensation and limited protection through “half assed” COVid restrictions. And if they do get sick, the recovery time and safety for others is now reduced to 5 days. If they’re sick, so what. They are required to work.

Leave small businesses open to permit the continuation of mortgage and rent payments and the ability to transmit COVid. Continued contagion seems to be a goal unto itself. The public bitches, but carries on obeying dutifully.

And there are no meaningful protests while conservative premiers dismantle long standing institutions. Healthcare, education, social supports, drug treatment, home subsidies, libraries, access to higher education, property ownership, emergency services.

The public is too distracted with personal survival that the removal and weakening of vital institutions is barely noticed. Services for children diagnosed with ASD; the removal of human rights for employed youth, long forgotten issues that started the attack on institutions.

It didn’t affect us personally, so it’s someone else’s responsibility to champion the cause. Obeying divide & conquer strategies of complicit cons.

There is no unity, social cohesion, or even widespread comprehension that an attack on one social institution is an attack on all.

The impact of years of destructive propaganda is abundantly apparent. People don’t care about anyone but themselves & their tribe (family, social group, fiscal peers). Or at least it’s what they believe about the state of the world & human nature. The public doesn’t question it.

Generation X and younger have heard propaganda all their lives that taught them all people are selfish, egocentric, greedy, deceptive, opportunistic, or bad. It’s dog eat dog & only the strong survive. It’s a cynical pessimistic world. You do what is required to survive.

Everything around us, our environment, reinforces this narrative. Christianity has become a selfish pursuit of personal salvation, replacing decades of brotherly love & social interrelatedness, and replacing it with the duty to obey and recruit new members through proselytizing.

Still, no one questions what’s happening. Youth are too young to remember any different. A few question the direction humanity is following, but the majority ignore their lamentations believing them to be clouded and fantasy nostalgia for a mythical past.

But it wasn’t a myth.

People weren’t libertarian cynics. Most didn’t use obedience to authority as a method to escape the hard work of critical thought. Principles and integrity were more prevalent. We looked out for one another. In crises we helped each other.

That’s not a myth. I participated in several of those actions personally. I was not allowed to use obedience to the demands of authority or peer pressure as an excuse. Followed by a lecture and query whether I would jump off a bridge if instructed or asked.

I despise the influence of libertarianism.

Roll every negative personality trait into white, wealthy, male human beings and that’s libertarianism. Conspicuous economic & social privilege of physically strong but talentless authoritarians. That’s who and what the public obeys.

The decree that libertarianism be adopted and society suffer, so the man babies of society can collect their desserts. Unhindered and unopposed.

Hitler was a failed artist, a substandard military grunt, an incel (before it was referred to as such) & a self-centred megalomaniac.

You think the public would categorically reject such misfits as leaders when they get elected with populist hype.

But they don’t. They just bitch and whine and obey their inhuman commands. I believe we are devolving into spineless creatures who don’t deserve democracy.

We do little to keep democracy and the integrity of our established institutions afloat. There is the power in the public to stop these insane decisions that are killing us. But we don’t use it.

I wonder why. A simple “no, try again” would suffice. But that requires courage.

The public cannot continue to use the excuse that they are just following orders. It’s not a valid reason to keep obeying inept leaders. There are no Nuremberg trials to convict you. Just your own personal integrity and human compassion guiding your decisions. Your conscience.

@threadreaderapp please compile