Connecting the Dots / Issue #124: More False News
I DO NOT look at the news these days. Yup, as hard as this is to believe, and even harder to do, I turned my back on the news. Too much false reporting. Too much mudslinging. There is something to be said for a head in the sand.
I’m not as closed off as it seems. Other people around are still quite hooked on the news, and let me know, whether or I want to hear or not, what’s going on. People send me tidbits in emails, either as part of their mailing list or to ask me what I think. I used to really enjoy reading the news. Now it makes me feel so cheap.
But, I was told recently that a certain high-up once again started using the “H” word with respect to President Trump. That got my blood moving a bit faster, and has forced me to put pen to paper, figuratively-speaking.
I always feel compelled to state, for the record, that I have never been head-over-heals about Donald Trump. Long before he even expressed a desire to run for President I wasn’t such a fan. In spite of all the good things he may have done, and in particular, what he has done for the Jewish people since being in office, there are lots of things he also did that I have found objectionable. Had the Democrats had someone more honest, responsible, and honorable running against him, I might have looked that way instead.
Not that I can vote. As I have declared on many occasions, I am not American. But like many non-American Jews, especially Israeli ones, I feel as if I have, or should have a say in American politics, since they so directly affect me.
Having said all that, I want to return to the main topic.
Adolf Hitler, ysv”z, was many things, none of them at all good. He was a fascist, a sociopath, a Social Darwinist, and evil genius. He considered the war against the Allies to be secondary to his war against the Jews. He was one of the greatest anti-Semites ever, and many hold that he was a spiritual descendant of Amalek. You can’t get much worse than this.
Donald Trump is none of these things, not even close to it. To refer to him as a “Hitler” is not only an insult to the intelligence of intelligent people, but it is a travesty of justice and abuse of history. It is certainly a VERY disrespectful slap across the national face of the Jewish people. To say such a false thing in the news is to create the worst kind of false news ever.
What it does though is reflect back on the people who are trying to make the comparison. If President Trump was guilty of even some of Hitler’s tendencies mentioned above, then it can be assumed the comparison was honest and accurate. Since he is not, then it means that the people who are making the comparison have no problem overlooking Hitler’s evil ways to use his personna to smash their enemy. Now who sounds more like the real Hitler?
In fact, careful reading of Hitler’s early days reveals similar tendencies and pretty liberal policies, at least with respect to be people on their side. He also used similar tactics as those being used against President Trump to scare the population into rejecting the sitting government and support his rise to power.
In fact, when later asked why they supported Hitler’s rise to power, German university professors reported believing that he was leading a kind of messianic movement. Germany was in terrible financial shape at the time, and even worse off nationally. The German people, very nationalistic, were desperate for a savior and quick fix. They thought Hitler’s Nationalist Socialist Party was that.
The amazing thing is that if you read what Hitler wrote about himself and his plans, he thought he was doing the world a favor. He knew that others he had to fight against did not agree, but what did they know? It is a virus’ job to stay alive and multiply. It is the immune system’s job to get rid of the virus. It’s just a question of which one is stronger and can win the battle.
That’s the thing about people who do not believe in God. They do not believe in morality. Not believing in morality means there is no right or wrong, just different ways. Some cooperate with each other while others clash. The one’s that clash have to fight it out, and nature has worked it out that the strongest, or the craftiest one wins.
Murder is no longer an issue in such a state of mind. It’s like being invaded by thousands of ants. The ants want to stay and prosper. The homeowner wants to get rid of every last ant. Does he consider the moral implication of eliminating thousands of ants? Of course not. As far as he is concerned, there are none. If anything, he is in the right and the ants, bees, or whatever other menace he has to deal with, are in the wrong. Period.
Recently I read a story about what may have been a murder-suicide. My first reaction was, “No way!” I could not comprehend how a person could do such a thing. Suicide is bad enough, but murder?
But then I read that the alleged murderer was also an avowed atheist who wrote that life has no meaning and all religions were ridiculously artificial. I started to see life from his very cold and lonely point of view. If you don’t believe in God, Divine judgment, or the Afterlife, then why NOT murder-suicide, if you feel you already had enough, and did not look forward to what was coming up?
The point is that society becomes a very slippery place when people stop believing in spiritual realities. It is eerily cold when God is such a distant reality that it does not occur even a little that He might be watching and taking note of what we’re doing. It leaves a void that tends to get filled with human arrogance and hubris, and the end can’t be far off when that happens.
I guess that is the point I really wanted to make when I started this article. The fact that some high-up politician could compare President Trump to Hitler in ANY way is just another sign of just how morally empty society has become. True, not everyone agrees with the comparison, but how many people are up-in-arms about it?
Exactly. and that is why I felt compelled to write this essay anyhow. It’s not so much a discussion about Donald Trump or his time as President of the United States. It is more a discussion about speaking honestly, and maintaining a truer amount of respect for the difference between good and evil. When that goes, EVERYTHING good goes.
