Where Are They Now?

Where are they? I mean the free speech warriors in the political right who claim that for them, the first amendment is holier than holy. Where are they, now that the state, whose power they abhor and want to minimize as much as humanly possible, clamps down on peaceful protesters and label peaceful movements, like Black Lives Matter and Antifa, as "terrorist organizations"? Why are they so quiet now?

_{Image by me}

Let me correct that; the far right goons and grifters aren't quiet, no the celebrate the excessive force used by the state against their ideological opponents on the left. What happened to "I may not agree with what you're saying, but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it"? Now that the federal government overrides local and state government under the fascistic directives of a certain Donald Trump and his administration, where are your constant outcries about "state rights"? Now more than ever the political right and Republicans in general show themselves to be a bunch of hypocrites. I'm sorry, but there are no other words to do this reality justice. They're okay with free speech, as long as it's their free speech, they whine about being "deplatformed" and "cancel culture", but are apparently totally fine with violent punitive actions from the state when these actions are aimed against progressive voices.

I wish I had but a single poetic bone in my body; maybe I could then sound nicer and package this post in a colorful lyrical flower garden. On the other hand, their hypocritical cowardice deserves no less than a response that equals their own hateful message. Despite that, I do have a poem for you all to share at the end of this rant. You see, my American brothers and sisters, fascism is knocking at your door, as well as some other countries around the world, and I'm afraid many of you simply don't recognize that it's 5 minutes to midnight and the doomsday clock keeps on ticking... This clock reached midnight when Hitler started to lock in concentration camps his political opponents first, and his Jewish scapegoats next. After Portland, Trump is now sending federal law enforcement officers into Chicago and Albuquerque, expanding his controversial crackdown on what he claims is an unchecked surge of violence in Democratic-run cities. Watch the below linked video of his announcement and pay attention to the language he uses (again). He's constantly talking about the "radical left" and the "far left", something that doesn't even exist in 2020 America; communists are far left, and to equate Democratic politicians, Black Live Matters or Antifa with communists or socialists would be laughable if it weren't so politically and rhetorically nefarious.

Remember that Hitler, as well as other fascists, came for the communists and socialists first. Fascism is a reactionary political movement against a perceived far left movement. The sad thing is that the "far left" in 2020 America consists of moderate progressives who want nothing more than a return to some sense of equitability after this has been destroyed under decades of neoliberalism, and equal rights for historically suppressed groups like women, African Americans, immigrants and LGBTQ people. The right wing hacks whose voices are nowhere to be heard right now would do well to remember the old saying "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"; are you not "good men"? When Hitler rose to power, many Germans simply weren't able to see the evil coming; fascism is never born in a day, but is instead a gradual development in which the people aren't shocked with one giant leap forward, but instead are guided along through small incremental steps towards ultimate evil.

Americans have been guided along this path at the very least since the former Republican president, George W. Bush, who adopted World War 2 style linguistics after the 9/11 attacks; the terrorist enemies were called "Axis of evil", and he started "Homeland Security", "homeland" being the word Hitler himself used to describe the land that the Germans could rightfully claim for themselves. Trump started out by being at the front of the Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories or "Birther Movement". His election campaign was heavily focused on fear mongering against foreigners, Mexicans, South Americans and Muslims, but he also promised to bring back American industries; he made good on the xenophobia, but failed miserably on the bringing back industry part. He then claimed that there were "good people on both sides" when fascists protested and anti-fascists counter-protested. And now that the violent murder of African American George Floyd was the straw that broke the progressive camel's back, Trump chooses to take heavy handed punitive action, instead of taking a look at the underlying causes of the people's dissatisfaction with their lifes. In the interview I highlighted in yesterday's post he all but announced that he would not accept the outcome of the November elections if he were to lose; it seems that he will do anything in his considerable power to hang on to the presidency, like any good old fascist strong man would.

I promised you a poem. It's one many of you will already know of, but right now it's more relevant than ever before because fascism in America means fascism all over the world. The poem was originally written in 1946, right after the Second World War, by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller. It is about the cowardice of German intellectuals (much like the cowardice displayed by the American right, moderates and "centrists") and certain clergy (including, by his own admission, Niemöller himself) following the Nazis' rise to power and subsequent incremental purging of their chosen targets, group after group. It's about that gradual build-up towards total and complete fascist evil. Read it, and take it to heart, or you WILL be next. This is a later version of the original poem:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
_{source: Wikipedia}

Look, I hope I'm wrong, of course. But all the signs are there for all to see and my eyes and ears are open, so I can't ignore them. What scares me most is that in the mainstream everything seems just fine and everyone there is going on with business as usual. Maybe I am wrong; if so, please leave a comment and bring me back to reality...

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