I am presently reading "The Betrayal of Anne Frank." I was only a couple of pages into the book when I came across the following two paragraphs. They seemed to described present day conditions.
You might wonder: What is the point of questioning who betrayed Anne Frank in a war that happened so long ago? The answer is that almost eight decades since the end of the war, we seem to have grown complacent, thinking, as the Dutch once thought, that it can't happen here. But contemporary society seems to be increasingly susceptible to ideological divisiveness and the lure of authoritarianism, forgetting the simple truth that incipient fascism metastasizes if allowed to go unchecked.
Anne Frank's world makes this clear. What are the real tools of war? Not just physical violence but rhetorical violence. In attempting to determine how Adolf Hitler had taken control, the US Office of Strategic Services commissioned a report in 1943 that explained his strategy: Never to admit a fault or wrong; never to accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time; blame the enemy for everything that goes wrong; take advantage of every opportunity to raise a political whirlwind. Soon hyperbole, extremism, defamation, and slander become commonplace and acceptable vehicles of power. (page 13)
As I've pondered the above, I can't help but believe that rhetorical violence has been thrust upon our country over the past four years. The Biden administration has never admitted a wrong, even when it was clear the Afghanistan pull out was completely botched up; blame is never accepted, a recent example is Chuck Schumer, after being confronted with visual evidence of President Biden's mental deterioration, denied that there was never anything really wrong with the President; who has been the enemy for the past four years, and even before that? Donald Trump. Anything bad that has happened to our country is his fault alone; the J6 issue seemed to be the perfect opportunity for Democrats to create a political whirlwind. Instead, the country basically rejected the hysteria being made, instead if having had enough of rising inflation, DEI run amok, and a world on fire in many places. And beside, the country survived.
Since starting this blog back in 2011, I've purposedly stayed away from politics. But the above paragraphs were frightening to me since it seems like what happened in the 1930's and 40's is happening again. Will God grant us political and moral leaders who will prevent another catastrophe from happening - this time in our country?
