Posted on 04/14/2013 12:51:51 PM PDT by Free_SJersey
The guards at Auschwitz all reiterated the same things, "I were only doing my job." or "I was only following orders.". Members of the S.S. would have the same story. I'm sure many of the men who carried out Pol Pot's, Stalin's or Mao's orders tried to shirk off their personal responsibility in the same manner. Even more fightening, is the fact that so many of the private citizens turned a blind eye to it until it was too late, without questions.
We'd like to believe something like this could never happen in the U.S. in 2013. The DHS, TSA, the FBI and probably a dozen other groups we don't know about exist solely to protect us which is why they need such sweeping powers, armored personnel carriers and billions of rounds of ammunition. They want to know who we are and what we have. They are compiling data bases for undisclosed reasons. They are releasing information on farmers, hunters and anyone else that doesn't fit their profile of a loyal subject. Fairness dictates that the same happen to them.
Perhaps a data base easily accessable to the public of members of these groups should be established. Have a neighbor who belongs to one of these agencies? Post their name, address, photo and photo of their house to the data base then perhaps mail them or hand them a copy of the Constitution and the oath they took with the part to defend the Constitution highlighted and remind them that following an unlawfull order would not reduce their personal liability of their actions. Let them know that the citizenry is watching and we know who they are.
There’s been security at our courthouse since the early 90s. I was there in 1987 when a man killed his wife and shot himself and again several years later when a friend went into a bathroom and found a man who had shot himself. I average being out there 2-3 times a week all year long. For years I included the security guys on my Christmas cookie list. Then a few months ago, the judges abdicated the security to the sheriff. He’s a crusty old guy, big supporter of 2nd amendment but by golly, no one is getting shot on his watch so he cranked up the radar on the scanner. Now no woman can wear heels or jewelry, no man can wear a belt. I’ve seen them make small children remove shoes and belts and a crippled man with a service dog had to hold onto his dog (not a very well trained one) and take off his shoes and belt with no assistance. So I think I’ve become a challenge to these security people. They try to get me to talk with them saying “Hi, how are you today” etc. I always tell them that I’m not happy but they keep asking so the other day I told them, “look, I used to be pleasant. I gave you cookies. But now I have to take off my shoes and jewelry and I finally got around to watching all of Shindler’s List.” He was shocked at that reference. Now they leave me alone.
Here’s my point. The most shocking thing to me about that movie was that the Jews calmly followed the orders. We are training people to go into gas chambers with no resistence.
I made this video not long ago that expresses my thoughts on:
Police State USA,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYn9JF0TSgw
The enemy is anyone who believes lovers of the constitution are an extreme right wing nuts.
What would have happened to any of these guys who refused to follow orders, or who actively resisted the killers?
He would have joined the victims in death, we would never have heard his name, and those he objected to killing would have been murdered anyway.
IOW, once a situation like this reaches a certain point, the choices are between following orders or dying without result, other than maintaining one's integrity and humanity. Not an entirely pointless exercise, but not one that helps anybody else.
Which means we need to stop such a situation before it gets to that point, and not be overly self-righteous in our condemnation of those faced with a choice none of us have ever had to deal with.
It is amazing to consider the apathy to loss of freedom in our nation today.
Some people follow orders out of loyalty and others out of fear.
Self preservation is a big motivator.
I think it was the Italians that said “better to live on your knees than die on your feet”.
An interesting insight into how Nazi Germany found so many followers may be found by watching the movie “Swing Kids”.
Sorry, didn’t mean to imply YOU were self-righteous in what you said, only that some who make similar points are.
Calling them out now is exactly the thing to do and was my main point.
Also that only those who have refused to participate in evil at the risk of their lives have a moral right to denounce those who go along to survive. And in my experience most of this first group don’t do much denouncing.
Or do you seriously contend that a single German or Soviet soldier refusing to participate in genocide would have accomplished anything except his own death for disobeying orders?
Good for you.
What about if you knew that your refusal to participate meant your whole family would die horribly?
That is a decision some have faced.
Agreed.
What you’re calling apathy is, with too many residents of this dead Constitutional Republic, an embrace of government feeding and housing as their concept of security. To them they are obtaining security, not being apathetic to the usurpation of their freedoms never exercised. Sadly, they have no clue that the same nanny state which is enslaving them to the handouts will stop that exercise on a dime and watch them starve and steal and die in a collapsed state of chaos and mayhem which the same oligarchs who were feeding them have orchestrated to use them as the fodder to end the Republic of We The People.
“We’d like to believe something like this could never happen in the U.S. in 2013.”
Keep dreaming; the current age is, if anything, more morally vacuous and more materialistic than the Thirties; most people would sell out their neighbors for a pittance, let alone a steady job with a steady paycheck - as long as they could cover themselves with the fig leaf that, “The government asked me to do it.”
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