Cheap Seats 2022 By Rich Trzupek

Awoke - 08/17

 

By Rich Trzupek
  Calling or comparing people to Nazis has become an all too common intellectual crutch, one I generally stay from. Yet, as I muse on the new liberal philosophy/theology we generically refer to as being “woke,” it’s really hard to ignore the similarities. Consider the common principles:
1) Your heritage defines you.
  In Nazi Germany you were guilty of sins against the Fatherland and the German people if you belonged to particular races. The descendants of Abraham were the most reviled, but other groups like Slavs and Gypsies were also despised.
  In woke America you are held to be guilty of sins against the Fatherland and the American people if your skin is of the wrong hue.
2) You cannot escape guilt.
  The Nazis held that German Jews were responsible for all the ills suffered by the German people in the first part of the 20th century. The Jews wielded the true power and they abused that power to achieve their own nefarious ends. It was the Jews that manipulated the Fatherland into accepting the disgusting, humiliating Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. It was Jewish greed that sparked the Great Depression. It did not matter if you actively participated in schemes like these, because Jewish blood was irretrievably corrupt. A Jew in Nazi Germany was not guilty by association so much as being guilty because they were part of an association.
  If your skin is of a particular color in woke America then you are part of a privileged class that has spent centuries abusing and exploiting people of different skin colors. It does not matter whether you or any of your ancestors can be shown to have committed actual misdeeds. If you’re the wrong color then the woke movement asserts you are guilty and there is nothing you can do that will remove that guilt. The best people of the wrong color can hope for is to be allowed to do penance. Such penance currently involves checkbooks rather than concentration camps, but give them time.
3) Dissenting opinions are not tolerated.
  The Nazis had a monopoly on all forms of public discourse. Newspapers and radio stations knew what they could say and they knew there would be harsh consequences if they said anything else. Censorship wasn’t a choice, it was mandatory. The Nazis claimed it was necessary to protect the German people from being deceived by enemies of the state.
  The legacy media, Twitter and Facebook are most important forms of communication today. With the exception of few dissenting voices like Fox and Rumble, everyone else marches pretty much in lockstep. On Twitter and Facebook alternate views about public issues are routinely censored on the grounds that some ideas are hate speech, disinformation or both.
4) Religion is dangerous and must be controlled.
  Hitler was raised Catholic and knew first hand how powerful a force the church can be. Indeed in “Mein Kamph” he spoke of Christianity in tones of admiration, not because he sympathized with its theological mission, but because he approved of the way it wielded power. He eventually banned all Christian churches and public display of the Cross. The pagan National Reich Church of Germany became the only sanctioned “theological” organization, with swastikas replacing crosses behind the altar.
  The National Woke Church of America has not succeeded in driving all other forms of worship into hiding (yet), but they’re working on it. The Nazi’s insisted that their “scientific” ideas about the role of race, genetics and ancestry. In the same way, the wokesters insist that their “scientific” ideas about gender, marriage and the value of life are the only acceptable ways of thinking.
5) The Big Lie works.
  Hitler and Goebbels knew the power of the Big Lie and used it to great effect throughout the Third Reich’s existence. From blaming the Reichstag fire on the communists, to Munich, to blaming Poland and England for starting World War II, to constantly deceiving the German people as the Allies closed in, Adolf and Josef perfected the art form.
  There’s a steady stream of Big Lies coming out of the White House these days, from redefining what a recession is to call government-mandated paid family leave “infrastructure.”  But this statement actually came out of the mouth of the Babbler in Chief: “Today, we received news that our economy had zero inflation in the month of July. Zero percent. Here’s what that means: While the price of some things go up — went up last month, the price of other things went down by the same amount.”
  Uh-huh. The annual rate of inflation, remained constant from June to July  at 8.5 percent. That means there was no change in the rate of inflation, only that the rate did not change (for a change). Claiming that the rate of inflation remaining constant is “zero inflation” is the equivalent of the following. Say a baseball team is are getting whipped by an opponent 17-0 going into the ninth inning. Then, they manage to hold the opponent scoreless in the top of the ninth, score one run in the bottom of the ninth and claim to have won the game.
  I’m not actually claiming that Joe Biden is woke. Hell, half the time you can’t even tell if he’s awake. But clearly his handlers are woke and they are clearly taking several pages out of the Nazi playbook. Like the Nazi’s they’re humorless, self-important, butt-heads; quick to take offense and constantly looking for reasons to attack anyone who disagrees with them. I doubt they’ll be nearly as successful as the Nazis, but I’m sure they’ll continue to give it the old college try.
  Email: richtrzupek@gmail.com