“We will never be perfect: that is our limitation. But we can have, and have had, moments in which we can take genuine pride.” Zadie Smith

In the late 60’s, I bought a bright red Volkswagen Beetle. My mother was angry I bought a German car. Shit, I thought it was really cool and back then, it wasn’t even $2 grand. Listen, I am neither naive nor stupid. The atrocities committed by the Nazis defy even the darkest imagination and I am well aware of it.

For reasons I don’t quite understand, it didn’t make sense to vilify a people as being somehow inherently evil, like it’s genetic. I also understand it is a lot easier for me to feel that way, not having lived through the horrific nightmare. 

I don’t know how long ago I started thinking about our being a flawed species. I am definitely no fan of getting older, thinking it has redemptive qualities. Getting closer to death is no brass ring, as far as I am concerned. One of things it does do is allow you to continually re-think your thoughts. Trust me, I don’t think it goes by the name of wisdom, God forbid. Wisdom carries with it the stigma of being right and I don’t like that. Experience is the ticket and that allows you to continually revisit where you have been, often adjusting your once certain ideas. 

We have such recognizable differences, myriad ways of defining ourselves. We got country, religion, gender, age, history, skin color, politics, economics and on and on. Like it or not, with all the differences, circumstances often push us in similar directions, which is why history keeps repeating itself. 

Shit, before I go any further, the last thing I want you to think is that I am positioning myself as some kind of expert, an authority. I happen to like writing and that’s as far as it goes. I have been writing about my experiences and feelings for quite a while now. I am no pundit, just a guy always looking for a way forward.

Like all of you I find myself in the midst of a world-class shit show. A myopic view is a way to drown in the moment and I prefer to swim. So, I try to understand, not that it alters the circumstances, but it can alter my perspective just a little. 

I wonder how this can be happening, knowing it is not some isolated aberration. In spite of all our differences listed above, the map of history might as well be a circle, based on our behavioral  patterns over the millennia. God help me, I decided to do a little research about US complicity in the rise of fascism, nearly a hundred years before rearing its ugly, orange face once again., right here.

“There is at least one official voice in Europe that expresses understanding of the methods and motives of President Roosevelt—the voice of Germany, as represented by Chancellor Adolf Hitler.”

That incredible statement was the opening line of a flattering feature story about the Nazi leader that appeared on the front page of the New York Times in 1933,

In the same year, an editorial in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin on Jan. 30 claimed that “there have been indications of moderation” on Hitler’s part. The editors of the Cleveland Press, on Jan. 31, asserted that the “appointment of Hitler as German chancellor may not be such a threat to world peace as it appears at first blush.”

Officials of the Roosevelt administration were quoted in the press as saying they “had faith that Hitler would act with moderation compared to the extremist agitation in his recent election campaigning”.

In a subsequent, favorable interview in the Times, Hitler said. “I have sympathy with President Roosevelt because he marches straight toward his objective over Congress, over lobbies, over stubborn bureaucracies.” He would love our President and it seeds the idea of our spiritual frailties, overridden by greed and circumstance. 

Power can be very intoxicating and the press was not alone in being blind to the danger of unfettered control in the hands of a few, especially when supported by monied interests.The list of major US corporations that did business with Hitler is mind blowing and frightening, morality blinded by money.

The Rockefeller Foundation helped fund their eugenics research. Chase Manhattan helped them raise $20million. They helped target Jewish accounts and those fleeing the regime. Henry Ford was proud of his relationship with Hitler, who kept a photograph of him in his office. IBM provided technology to track down Jews.  Woolworth fired all its Jewish workers and were considered honorary Aryan sellers by the Third Reich. I could go on, but all roads would lead to today and the doorstep of Elon Musk. There is a blind vanity associated with great wealth, always about you, fuck everyone else!

I started wondering about the mindset of people, who do the bidding of these perpetrators, from the chosen few to the masses of loyal followers. I was struck by the title of Hannah Arendt’s justification for the action of Adolph Eichmann, finally        captured and on trial in Israel in 1961. She thought he was an ordinary schnook, doing what he was told. She didn’t think he was evil, rather “thoughtless”, disengaged from the reality of his actions.

Who am I to disagree with such a well respected philosopher and writer? Guess what? I do and I can. First, I am not sure I believe in the tent poles of good and evil as absolutes. The definition of banality means it’s not something new and in that, I’d agree about evil. We all live in between those two. We are far more complicated than single word labels. Eichmann knew what he was doing and he didn’t care at all about the consequences of his actions. Our president is surrounded by Eichmanns. 

Right now, we have people doing the bidding of our very own Fuhrer. They are not evil, they are devoid of even an ounce of compassion for the damage they are doing to our future as a country. Far more important are the people they are punishing. In a horrible way, it is one step removed from throwing innocent Jews into the ovens of Auschwitz. Then, turning your back and moving on to the next self-righteous punishment of the other, never one’s self.

There will be no after-the-fact Nuremberg in post Trump Washington, although I’d love to be on the jury. His legions of supporters are not evil, they are insensitive, hell bent on destroying, not being able to see past it. Inciting anger and capitalizing on it is the domain of the Perpetrator, who looks in the mirror and only sees himself. As for all those around him, power is very intoxicating, blinding one from its true purpose and consequences.

This country of ours is incredibly imperfect. How else could someone like DJT be our president? Up until this very moment, the three branches of government have been more like individual redwoods, somehow having withstood the ravages of time. I don’t know if they will withstand the buzz saw of a demented demon. As far as I am concerned, anyone who fucks with them will perish and I am fine with that. We are more than the will of one man. I am praying we will be able to celebrate our 352nd birthday as Americans, with this time beginning to shrink in the rear view mirror of history. 

It is so easy to give up hope and every morning, I have to look around for it and it is mostly fucken hard to find. I am no optimist when it comes to the behavior of our species, believe me. 

The sun rises every damn morning and I think it is beautiful. How I live my life everyday is what I truly give a shit about. Those red minions can all go fuck themselves. The remaining years of my life are not going to be stolen by anyone, not anyone. 

You and I are better than this and don’t you ever forget it

LISTEN TO IT HERE:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1292459/episodes/16624406-the-banality-of-evil-redux