Nazis didn't fall out of the sky in January '33': The Holocaust Museum's director on warning signs o

[sinkingfeeling]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/nazis-didnt-fall-out-of-the-sky-in-january-33-the-holocaust-museums-director-on-warning-signs-of-fascism/2020/01/06/d97a2cbc-cf26-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html

Sara Bloomfield, 69, is director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. She lives in Washington.

What worries you most about the state of the world now?

I worry about what I think is a real decline in the teaching of good history. History majors are down more than any other major. Humanities are already down compared to STEM, which I can understand — STEM is important. But I believe the humanities are incredibly important if we want to create an engaged, responsible citizenry.

Are there ways to prevent or stop genocide?

There are some early warning signs. There’s a long lead-up with previous violence, the state legitimizing differences and fostering that conflict over time. State-sponsored violence, control of the media. You have to have a whole constellation.

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Ad accompanying this thread:

‘Trump is on a roll.’ Ironic or serendipitous...can’t tell anymore.

I am prepared for the inevitable barrage of star membership-shaming, which really isn’t the point of my post at all.

[PatSeg]

3. Very ironic indeed

Some ads can show up in the strangest places.

I'm sorry if anyone has ever "star membership shamed" you.

[handmade34]

2. I had the

great fortune of being able to visit the Museum, as well as the monument in Florida, a few years back... both very powerful



https://www.ushmm.org/

[modrepub]

4. It's All STEM These Days

and I wonder if it coincides with a lot of people's inability to think critically. Philosophy used to be something taught to all college students regardless of major. Not so any more. We've become so fixated on test scores and "falling behind" other countries that we have "bumped out" lots of curriculum to focus on math and reading. I always was interested in history and considered pursuing studies in college but that wouldn't "pay the bills" so I chose a science. It turned out well for me but I've often wondered if all that science focus robbed me of other critical thinking skills a humanities major would posess.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire

Education has been commercialized and fields in the humanities are not considered as important as STEM and business degrees.

No money in those, you know.

The Nazis had a history in the 1920's doing a lot of things the Repubs have been doing actively since at least Reagan, and more intensively since the early 90's.

[czarjak]

8. At least since...

Johnson signed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. 1963-1965.

[Texin]

6. It' wasn't/isn't just the Nazis.

Just watched the show, The Most Dangerous Man in the World, about Vladimir Putin on VICE TV. It was chilling. He used/uses a playbook right out of Hitler's and the Nazis, and it's how he managed to slyly gain control and then consolidate his stranglehold on the country. The thing that chilled me to the bone, is the fact that tRump is replicating the same game plan (but in a bumbling and ineffectual manner). The ONLY reason tRump hasn't gone as far as Putin or Hitler by now is that this dictator-in-waiting needs to get *re-elected*. If he manages to crawl back later this year, it will be hell on Earth in this country.

God help us all.

[58Sunliner]

7. Agreed.

[Wounded Bear]

9. Authoritarians throughout history have used a similar playbook...

SSDD

[Evolve Dammit]

10. Yes and with technology to invent/ create an alternate reality with fake news 24/7 easily digested

on whatever media choice they gravitate towards. It makes them feel included and valued, and that's what the outlets, GOP and 45 play to. Remember they don't respect you, they laugh at you and make fun of you, but you have a home here with us. It appeals very strongly to the human primal fear of abandonment and the alternative prospect of being rescued and loved. It works and they will continue to exploit it to maintain and increase power.

[Texin]

11. Yes, that is true. It's just that we're not used to seeing it here and so far away from

the time of Hitler, Mussolini, et al.

The only thing that gives me even a glimmer of hope is the fact the U.S. has maintained a democratic republic since the late 1700s. Russia, Germany, Italy and most of Europe and South and Central America did not have that, and most don't today. It's not difficult for a strong man dictator to seize control and maintain it when the populace don't know the difference. But authoritarians and folks who like to be led around by the nose by one are more than willing to cede their own choices over to a so-called Father figure.

[appalachiablue]

12. The study of history and humanities in favor of math and science

is way down and very unhealthy. The director Ms. Bloomfield is correct. People need to study the humanities to understand the world we live in- ancient and modern languages, literature, philosophy, history, geography, law, politics, religion, and art.

Knowledge of the holocaust has seriously declined in Europe, the US and Canada according to recent surveys.

~ "I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”- John Adams, Letters of John Adams, Addressed to His Wife, 1800

[Liberalhammer]

13. They're on the moon

And in the center of the earth.