In my youth, we often sat around wondering how it was that men like
Mussolini and Hitler took power. Where were the good and moral people
when they were needed to stand up to them? We and our teachers were
perplexed by the idea of a Good German, the fellow who found the
Fascists' promises of a return to Glory so compelling they would look
away at tragic displays of discrimination and violence.
We are
rapidly learning, by watching many of our fellow countrymen in 2016
embrace a narcissistic, sociopathic fascist, how the terrors of the 20s
and 30s came to power and did so much evil in the world.
Some of
those furtive American fascists were obvious to us all along. They were
quick to defend violence against innocent black teens in our own
streets, quick to defend violence perpetuated against innocent Muslims
running from our bombs overseas. While few defended the confederate
flag or outright racism, they were awfully quick to find examples of
their distorted, self-imagined concept of "reverse racism." We saw
through them then. They did not hide their evil from us, despite
displays of high handed morality.
But admit it: some of those who
have come out of the woodwork, some of those excitable followers of the
madness, the Trumpery, of our time, were not so obvious. You saw them
on social media, in the street, in your workplace, and you thought,
admit it: deep down, he's a nice guy.
And now you don't know what
to think. Here's my suggestion: the Good German was not evil -- he was
simply human. Sociopathic marketing geniuses like Mussolini, Hitler
and Trump can see through them and turn them into willing foot soldiers
more easily than you can imagine. Stalin and Mao had the advantage of
communist regimes to back them up, but Mussolini and Hitler and Trump
are the products of democratic processes. They sell a bill of goods to
the disenfranchised, angry, underclass -- and the selling is good.
Forgive them. But don't stop trying to get them to see what is wrong
with electing the last president of the United States of America.
