by mymicz
Thursday, May. 22, 2003 at 7:34 AM
I tried to get people to watch, but it was too painful.
I knew the gist of the CBS biography of Hitler, just by reading the press. I know that liberals tend to make movies that highlight instances that they feel are important. I knew this was going to be one of those movies, where everything is highlighted.
I wasn't surprised to learn that Hitler raped his own neice. I was even less surprised to hear of how he treated other women eventually. For any accusation against Hitler has to be believable, after all, he is equated with the devil himself in many instances.
My mother and I, who often debate the striking similarities between Hitler and Bush, both put effort into watching this flick. Some time around when the niece died, mom turned it off. What a shame, she missed the punchline.
It was late, around 10:30, when the real point of the movie was shown. I don't know how many Americans understood the implications of the culmination of this dastardly life. It was late, everyone was getting sleepy. But there it was, like a beacon of light reserved for late night, how did Hitler suceed? How did he manipulate so many? How did he convince people to be racist? To be blind?
And the answer, in bold color in my living room, was shocking.
First he lit a building on fire. Then he blamed the terrorists and Jews. By doing so he was able to scare the public. After that, he was able to intimidate the government, and suspend the constitution. On a roll, he gave the final speech, saying something that sounded so much like, "you are either with us or against us," I couldn't tell the difference. The room, representing the parliament or Reichstag, was divided into Nazi brown shirts and suits evenly. Some tried to argue against Hitler, then a brown shirt sang the anthem. And there it was, Hitler used patriotism to force them to stand together against this false terrorist threat.
Interestingly enough the first Holocaust victim in the film is a journalist. You see, in order to manipulate people, he had to controll media. So he burned printing houses until all were gone but his own. Even then, opposition spoke out. Much like Powell the second is finding Clear Channel being forced to air liberal views for profit. When all else failed, and he couldn't get them to be intimidated, he sent them to the camps. He beat them, tortured them, and killed them, before the Jews.
The lesson here is a warning, to all journalists with integrity. The path you have chosen makes you Bush's first target. The closer to battle you are the easier it is to kill you without scrutiny. And public scrutiny itself has become useless against this size of this machine.
We are in danger. I was told not to forget the Holocaust because I was born Jewish. But the most important thing I have learned is that inside, I am that journalist. And until my last breath, like the man who wrote the last negative article about Hitler, I am a target. It doesn't matter what my skin or religion are. What matters is that I tell the truth.
But, I always agree, to tell the truth and run. Perhaps some day, I can sit down for a while, and make my mom watch the end of the movie, when democracy failed in Germany, and the journalists, like her daughter, were the first to go. Perhaps then, she will understand, how valuable the constitution is, and how easily men like Hitler can use our pride to turn us into evil people.