Nothing New Under the Sun…

I miss libraries. Sprawling collections of books, organized by author or subject, all available for immediate perusal or for withdrawal for study in depth. I recall many times going to our city’s central library, not in quest of a particular title, but instead looking for something to read. Biography, history, how-to, fiction; it was all there. Wandering the stacks would take my mind from subject to subject – a favorite author, a personality from history, a myriad of thoughts, ideas, and skills were all there at my command. Sometimes I would sit there and read, though more often I would go home with as many books as I could carry on my bicycle.

When I was a boy, I was drawn to books on history and biography. Looking back, I note that I was drawn to biographies of military or political leaders, rather than inventors. I think this was because, when I read the biographies of leaders, they always seemed to possess some directionality. Their early lives often pointed to their later achievements as though there was some force of destiny or hand of God forging their paths. With inventors, though, it was usually a moment of inspiration – a point where an idea came to them that changed their lives and changed the world. Leaders seemed like stones in a stream. A current carried them forward while the forces of movement smoothed their rough edges, seemingly perfecting them for their destination. Inventors, though, typically did not experience and benefit from the forces of movement. They remained little people with big ideas. Henry Ford gave us the assembly line, yet he remained a bully and a rabid anti-Semite until his death. Thomas Edison gave us the light bulb, yet he remained an opportunist who would appropriate the work of others as his own and exploit it for financial gain.

Although I am rambling to an extent, I see a connection coming. In our world today, the greatest inventions consist of how information is gathered, stored, disseminated, and shared. We have organizations such as Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and others that now exert tremendous influence over our lives. Behind each of them are inventors who are now fabulously wealthy and powerful, but like inventors in the past, they have not been personally improved by the creative process. That is what can result in us having a base, little man now being the wealthiest person in the world and the final arbiter of what we should think and read. This man is now in charge of a virtual book-burning, while the leaders of the other technopolies collude and conspire with one another so as to speak with one voice. Virtual book burnings achieve the same result as the literal book burnings of the 1930’s, but without the telltale smoke.

Every tyranny inflicted in human history has needed a scapegoat. Some person or group to point to in justification of acts that would otherwise be unthinkable. Hitler blamed the communists and the Jews. If there was a problem in the world, it was ultimately their fault. It is widely accepted that Hitler was behind the Reichstag fire that effectively ended democratic government in Germany. Hitler, though, blamed his political opponents and, of course, the Jews. In the 1950’s, we were told of the Red Menace. Senator Joseph McCarthy warned of communists having infiltrated all of our institutions. He was thwarted in his tyrannical efforts by a non-compliant media. TV, radio, and print media exercised the freedom of the press afforded them by our Constitution and shed a harsh light on his efforts, driving him back into the shadows from which he came.

We are now seeing a parallel in our own time. The new scapegoat is white supremacy and racism.  Although I’ve heard and read about white supremacists, in my experience they have always been poor, white, and deeply flawed people who banded together to march or party. Ignorant and ignored, they merited no attention until they ran afoul of the criminal justice system.  These people were obviously racist, as they openly proclaimed their self-perceived superiority. Their numbers were declining, though, over time. We could reasonably look forward to a day when their beliefs died out owing to their own ignorance. Apparently, I was mistaken. Having recently read Robin D’Angelo’s White Fragility, I learned that racism is everywhere. It is systemic. Much like the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia identified “intellectuals” as anyone with eyeglasses (and then murdered them), you can tell racists today by the color of their skin. If you are white, you are racist. Comically, we have a government led largely by old, white people promoting this viewpoint. Apparently, it does truly take one to know one.

We recently had a riot in Washington, D.C. This came from a peaceful demonstration of people who had supported what was then the current president and who believed that through chicanery and electoral fraud that the election held this past November was effectively stolen. Not speaking to that topic, these demonstrators were largely white. This is not because they were racists or white supremacists, but because the media had largely accused the sitting president of being a racist. Their motivation in doing this was twofold – to suggest that anyone who supported him was also racist, and to disincentivize minorities who had experienced dramatic economic progress during his term from supporting him. Electoral victories are typically won on pocketbook issues, and the media knew that without their intervention this would be decided similarly. An extremely small subset of demonstrators “assaulted” the capitol. We are told that this was an armed insurrection by white supremacists. Downplayed in this is that the Capitol Police, some of whom were sympathetic to the demonstration, opened the doors and allowed many of the “insurrectionists” to enter. We are told that one officer was killed by the insurrectionists, having been beaten to death with a fire extinguisher. However, we know that this same officer was on the phone with family members after the “insurrection” and his autopsy showed no signs of blunt force trauma. Still, he was accorded something akin to a state funeral for his role in giving his life in defense of the capitol. Our government still suppresses his full autopsy report to this date. Looking back at our historical parallels with the past, we can be reminded of Horst Wessel, the famous Nazi martyr. This is not to suggest that anyone on either side of the issue holds views similar to the Nazis, however it should not be forgotten that the Nazis were socialists, and socialism has never ascended to power in a nation with free speech, a free media, and free elections. This should give us pause.

The next step, already underway, is to round-up the alleged insurrectionists from across the country for trials in Washington, D.C. The narrative will be that armed white supremacists supporting the former president staged an attempted coup. Reporting will be shaped and focused to support that storyline. How such a coup would have played out, since at the time the person they allegedly supported was the president, has never been and will never be explained.

However, the “insurrection” (Reichstag fire?) was and is being used as justification to strip even more freedoms away from the American people. Soon the commission assembled to study the events of the “insurrection” will release their findings. If we are looking for an informed, sober, and impartial review we should expect disappointment, since those on the commission were chosen for their biases, not for any impartiality. They know or were told what their findings will be and will focus on culling evidence to support their conclusions. Sadly, we will only be allowed to hear the government conclusion, and all we like sheep will be led astray. Indeed, many of us will bleat loudly and demand that our freedoms be stripped away from us for our own safety, insisting that the wolves in leadership protect us.  

With that, the American experiment will draw to a close. It has been noted that the United States does not appear in Biblical prophecy. With our nation being a superpower, this was baffling. It is less baffling, though, as we watch America squander its legacy and recede from prominence on the world stage. Our fifteen minutes of fame is nearly over.