Excellent! Yours is the first thing I've read this morning. I also, some three years ago read Christopher R. Browning book (🐧 1998 edition). It wasn't "easy" read.
Also with some "extra dimension", I suppose me being born and growing up in Poland (left mid 1981) daughter of Auschwitz and NKWD surviver. I like your clear, logical thinking and enjoy your writing very much. Yes, "best and brightest" being familiar with J..Peterson it came as a huge surprise to me too, it always does with persons who I consider much, much "smarter" than myself and,
somewhat, makes me feel better about my own cognitive processes.
I've been analysing it forever and constantly being mother to one son dbl +1 vcd, +flu shot in May, pregnant wife last year dbl cc'd and baby born Nov dutifully
presented for all available "protective" vaxx. (He is forty and otherwise smart, successful man but his wife is even smarter (sarc). Nothing could get through to them, she served me "you know Canberra has the highest percentage of highly educated, don't you?" as in argument for getting the jabs. How can you argue with someone like that (they live in Canberra). I tried and tried. My other son
(six yrs older) was like me from the start (something "fishy" with the way they're pushing it, we're very healthy, very slim chance of getting it, almost 100% survival rate etc). So here we are today, our small family, don't have to tell you my state of mind. Hope you don't mind me sharing. Once again, thank you for the great
Russian proverb: "Destroying is not building", meaning it is easier to destroy than to build...when an ordinary human gets a task of destroying, after years of servitude...it brings physical and psychological joy...because the task is easier, much easier to perform, than previous hard labor of "building"...thus...they Destroy...with joyful pleasure...most of them...
I find most people don't understand subtlety and nuance, and are ambivalent to the dehumanisation. Unless they saw an unvaccinated person being dragged off to camp and executed they would not consider they are being persecuted, even though they were unable to work visit shops etc. If you compare Nazi Germany to treatment of unvaccinated they just don't get it and think it a ridiculous comparison. They don't seem to understand it took 10 years from 1932 to 1942 to get to the point described in the Ordinary Men book. Is it just a case of understanding reality rather than propaganda?
In this essay, I want to cut to the chase and share the one quality, without which moral courage will be fleeting: we must cherish the humanity in others, not just for their sake but for our own.
The ideas you have about someone else exist in your mind. A mistaken idea—in which you deny someone else’s humanity—can be projected, but it will never leave its source—your mind.
Without seeing it in others, we will never embrace our humanity, warts and all. We will never find our own freedom without valuing freedom for all others. The courage we seek comes from a place where individual action is informed by a vast truth that dwarfs our calculative thinking.
My 28yo daughter, very smart & usually engaged in social issues, completely switches off when I try to raise this "If you compare Nazi Germany to treatment of unvaccinated they just don't get it and think it a ridiculous comparison. They don't seem to understand it took 10 years from 1932 to 1942 to get to the point described in the Ordinary Men book." Despite uniform A-grades and a 1st-class degree in psychology from a top university, I fear she is not very well educated :(
And, of course, The Nuremberg Code - which was supposed to be our warning not to embark on the same path ever again - has been summarily trampled in plain sight.
From what I remember (perhaps I am wrong - please correct me if so) the commander of the battalion gave his men the option to stand down from the extermination task. Only one or two took up the offer. Such is the power of group think and tribal behaviour.
I want to reiterate that I am not judging these men. They are us. Under the right set of circumstances over a long enough period of time (antisemitism had a centuries old tradition in Europe that Arendt outlines wonderfully in The Origins of Totalitarianism) we all are capable of this. It's a horrifying thought, but it is what it is. In a room of 100 people, probably 97 of them, I think, can do what they did. We can only work on ourselves and pray to be among the 3 that can stand up to the beast when it arrives. Here is a passage:
Departing from Biłgoraj around 2:00 a.m., the truck convoy arrived in Józefów just as the sky was beginning to lighten. Trapp assembled the men in a half-circle and addressed them. After explaining the battalion’s murderous assignment, he made his extraordinary offer: any of the older men who did not feel up to the task that lay before them could step out. Trapp paused, and after some moments one man from Third Company, Otto-Julius Schimke,* stepped forward. Captain Hoffmann, who had arrived in Józefów directly from Zakrzów with the Third Platoon of Third Company and had not been part of the officers’ meetings in Biłgoraj the day before, was furious that one of his men had been the first to break ranks. Hoffmann began to berate Schimke, but Trapp cut him off. After he had taken Schimke under his protection, some ten or twelve other men stepped forward as well. They turned in their rifles and were told to await a further assignment from the major.
Dunno if you missed it but "antisemitism had a centuries old tradition in Europe that Arendt outlines wonderfully in The Origins of Totalitarianism" was mentioned in a couple of tweets by @eugyppius on the other day. He argued that Ciimate Change is the new "anti-semitism" but I didn't really understand his reasoning.
Thanks for that detailed information, much appreciated. 'They are us' is absolutely right. How telling that a dozen others stepped forward after Schimke had taken the first step. I know for sure that I took much moral strength during the COVID 'emergency' from people like Mike Yeadon, Peter McCullough or even James Delingpole, who were all prepared to stick their neck out and tell the truth as they saw it.
I was warned long ago that Peterson's rise to fame was not organic and he is being used to normalize conservatives. Sure seems like it these days. Anyone who takes the jab and then criticizes it, but continues to take boosters for their "right to travel" is a fraud. If you listen to Peterson carefully he is bringing conservatives closer to center as the left swings wildly more left. More Hegelian dialectic controlled opposition.
There's another litmus test... Anyone who apologizes or praises the monarchy. They're bought and paid for and know not to bite the hand that feeds them.
i was always the one to speak out or say no from a very young age maybe 9 or 10, i guess its just a personality trait rather than something learned
anyway heres a vid of the horse shove https://youtu.be/SCanMXJH0p4?t=22
Thanks Ray!
Excellent! Yours is the first thing I've read this morning. I also, some three years ago read Christopher R. Browning book (🐧 1998 edition). It wasn't "easy" read.
Also with some "extra dimension", I suppose me being born and growing up in Poland (left mid 1981) daughter of Auschwitz and NKWD surviver. I like your clear, logical thinking and enjoy your writing very much. Yes, "best and brightest" being familiar with J..Peterson it came as a huge surprise to me too, it always does with persons who I consider much, much "smarter" than myself and,
somewhat, makes me feel better about my own cognitive processes.
I've been analysing it forever and constantly being mother to one son dbl +1 vcd, +flu shot in May, pregnant wife last year dbl cc'd and baby born Nov dutifully
presented for all available "protective" vaxx. (He is forty and otherwise smart, successful man but his wife is even smarter (sarc). Nothing could get through to them, she served me "you know Canberra has the highest percentage of highly educated, don't you?" as in argument for getting the jabs. How can you argue with someone like that (they live in Canberra). I tried and tried. My other son
(six yrs older) was like me from the start (something "fishy" with the way they're pushing it, we're very healthy, very slim chance of getting it, almost 100% survival rate etc). So here we are today, our small family, don't have to tell you my state of mind. Hope you don't mind me sharing. Once again, thank you for the great
work you're presenting.
Thank you Marta! I don't mind you sharing at all, the personal stories are the best part of this Substack journey.
Russian proverb: "Destroying is not building", meaning it is easier to destroy than to build...when an ordinary human gets a task of destroying, after years of servitude...it brings physical and psychological joy...because the task is easier, much easier to perform, than previous hard labor of "building"...thus...they Destroy...with joyful pleasure...most of them...
That's a great insight, thank you Pava!
I would say I was a desk murderer until I got resigned from my job last November.
I wasn't very good at it; otherwise, they would have figured out a way for me to stay.
I find most people don't understand subtlety and nuance, and are ambivalent to the dehumanisation. Unless they saw an unvaccinated person being dragged off to camp and executed they would not consider they are being persecuted, even though they were unable to work visit shops etc. If you compare Nazi Germany to treatment of unvaccinated they just don't get it and think it a ridiculous comparison. They don't seem to understand it took 10 years from 1932 to 1942 to get to the point described in the Ordinary Men book. Is it just a case of understanding reality rather than propaganda?
Or as I read just after your article
https://www.aier.org/article/opposing-totalitarians-who-are-dizzy-with-success/
In this essay, I want to cut to the chase and share the one quality, without which moral courage will be fleeting: we must cherish the humanity in others, not just for their sake but for our own.
The ideas you have about someone else exist in your mind. A mistaken idea—in which you deny someone else’s humanity—can be projected, but it will never leave its source—your mind.
Without seeing it in others, we will never embrace our humanity, warts and all. We will never find our own freedom without valuing freedom for all others. The courage we seek comes from a place where individual action is informed by a vast truth that dwarfs our calculative thinking.
Thanks Andrew, and for the AIER link.
My 28yo daughter, very smart & usually engaged in social issues, completely switches off when I try to raise this "If you compare Nazi Germany to treatment of unvaccinated they just don't get it and think it a ridiculous comparison. They don't seem to understand it took 10 years from 1932 to 1942 to get to the point described in the Ordinary Men book." Despite uniform A-grades and a 1st-class degree in psychology from a top university, I fear she is not very well educated :(
And, of course, The Nuremberg Code - which was supposed to be our warning not to embark on the same path ever again - has been summarily trampled in plain sight.
Bravo. Bringing different threads together in such a coherent way is reassuring that you're over the target.
From what I remember (perhaps I am wrong - please correct me if so) the commander of the battalion gave his men the option to stand down from the extermination task. Only one or two took up the offer. Such is the power of group think and tribal behaviour.
That is basically correct.
I want to reiterate that I am not judging these men. They are us. Under the right set of circumstances over a long enough period of time (antisemitism had a centuries old tradition in Europe that Arendt outlines wonderfully in The Origins of Totalitarianism) we all are capable of this. It's a horrifying thought, but it is what it is. In a room of 100 people, probably 97 of them, I think, can do what they did. We can only work on ourselves and pray to be among the 3 that can stand up to the beast when it arrives. Here is a passage:
Departing from Biłgoraj around 2:00 a.m., the truck convoy arrived in Józefów just as the sky was beginning to lighten. Trapp assembled the men in a half-circle and addressed them. After explaining the battalion’s murderous assignment, he made his extraordinary offer: any of the older men who did not feel up to the task that lay before them could step out. Trapp paused, and after some moments one man from Third Company, Otto-Julius Schimke,* stepped forward. Captain Hoffmann, who had arrived in Józefów directly from Zakrzów with the Third Platoon of Third Company and had not been part of the officers’ meetings in Biłgoraj the day before, was furious that one of his men had been the first to break ranks. Hoffmann began to berate Schimke, but Trapp cut him off. After he had taken Schimke under his protection, some ten or twelve other men stepped forward as well. They turned in their rifles and were told to await a further assignment from the major.
Dunno if you missed it but "antisemitism had a centuries old tradition in Europe that Arendt outlines wonderfully in The Origins of Totalitarianism" was mentioned in a couple of tweets by @eugyppius on the other day. He argued that Ciimate Change is the new "anti-semitism" but I didn't really understand his reasoning.
Yes, I did miss that tweet. I wrote about it on Sept 16 here at length...hopefully this will help to make more sense of it
https://unbekoming.substack.com/p/nuclear-ivermectin
Maybe eugyppius read my artcile :)
Correction @eugyppius1
Thanks for that detailed information, much appreciated. 'They are us' is absolutely right. How telling that a dozen others stepped forward after Schimke had taken the first step. I know for sure that I took much moral strength during the COVID 'emergency' from people like Mike Yeadon, Peter McCullough or even James Delingpole, who were all prepared to stick their neck out and tell the truth as they saw it.
I was warned long ago that Peterson's rise to fame was not organic and he is being used to normalize conservatives. Sure seems like it these days. Anyone who takes the jab and then criticizes it, but continues to take boosters for their "right to travel" is a fraud. If you listen to Peterson carefully he is bringing conservatives closer to center as the left swings wildly more left. More Hegelian dialectic controlled opposition.
There's another litmus test... Anyone who apologizes or praises the monarchy. They're bought and paid for and know not to bite the hand that feeds them.
Peterson is their boy