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In reply to the discussion: 'It's burning people out':Trump aides whine about 'viciousness' of private citizens cursing them out [View all]PatrickforO
(14,566 posts)When I was an undergraduate, many years ago, I spent a lot of time studying the 20th century from around 1920 through the 1980s.
As part of this study, I read a lot of literature written soldiers of the various nations fighting in the Second World War, both axis and allies.
One vignette happens in France around 1943. A couple of German landsers (regular Wehrmacht, not SS) were having a picnic in the French countryside along the shore of a small river. They see some French people on the other shore and wave. The French people shout angrily at the two Germans, throw some rocks and then run away.
The young German landser poignantly expresses his shock at the feverish hatred the French people showed for he and his comrade, their anger and their fear. From his perspective, you see, the whole war was a lark, a happy extension of the fun camping and hiking activities they did in Hitler Youth.
Now, I was struck, so many years ago when reading this innocent account. Note that I use the word 'innocent' on purpose, because the young German who wrote the account was still quite innocent. He had purposely ignored rumors of camps, and any signs of the horrible things Hitler's legions were doing. Of course, later in his account, he expresses shock and dismay at the concentration camps, the Holocaust, the utter destruction of Germany and so on.
But, at that time, on that idyllic day, there in Vichy France on the picturesque shore of a bubbling little river, his innocence was first shaken.
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Well, now that was kind of a long thing. Sorry.
But think about it this way - for many of these Trumpers, they've had decades of propaganda, from Rambo to Reagan, from Vietnam to Desert Storm, from 911 to the drone policies. As Fox watchers and AM conservative talk radio listeners, they have been propagandized to gloss over violations of human rights in favor of the national interest. They have been well coached by very well-funded 'news' sources to ignore things like torture, rendition and the separation of children from their families. The Koch brothers, after all, do have some government contracts. And they want MORE.
So, for many rank and file Trumpers, it is still a lark - hey now we're in power. Let's ignore these snow flakes and take it for a ride!
Like the young German, the naive ones will continue to have their innocence shaken by demonstrations like this. My hope is that enough of them will be awakened to how brutal this regime is before it is too late. Already stories of some ICE people who have resigned over these brutal policies. I suspect scores of people have resigned in the face of often illegal and always thoughtless and casually brutal orders.
I don't know how all this will turn out, but I still have some hope.