I was recently writing a short essay on fascism for my world history class and I was reminded of how President Bush has used scare tactics similar to those used by Hitler and Mussolini during World War II. Now I’m not putting Hitler and Bush on the same level, as the death and destruction that Hitler created should always stand on its own and should never be grouped, but I am comparing the actual tactics each leader used in order to gain and maintain power. After WWI, Germany faced one of the worst economic situations in its history, which resulted in worry and unrest amongst citizens.
Hitler used his country’s vulnerability in order to strengthen his own power, by escalating people’s already developing fear. By using scare-tactics, Hitler created citizens that were terrified of communism and willing to do anything to regain their country’s glory and power. This brought about a surge in ultranationalism that allowed Hitler to have authoritative rule over his people and develop extremist economic and social policies. The brainwashed citizens welcomed fascism and totalitarian rule, as they believed it was for the good of their country. They also allowed their dictators to initiate violent foreign policies and invade territories in Eastern Europe, which completely violated the Versailles Treaty, but they had no idea.
Fast-forward to 9/11 and remember how President Bush reacted to the situation by using terror alerts, threats, heightened danger levels, which the media then plastered over everything. In fear, Americans allowed the government to take away some of their liberties and impose extreme policies at home and abroad in order to protect against terrorists, or Al-Qaeda, or maybe it was Hassam Hussein. Everywhere you went you were reminded of how dangerous it was in the United States and how inhumane and evil the ‘terrorists’ were. Of course it got a little confusing to who we were actually fighting against and at one point the majority of Americans somehow believed Hassam Hussein was behind 9/11, but who cares Iraq was in the Middle East and thus was threatening our freedom and safety, right? As more ‘threats’ were announced, there was a huge surge in patriotism and nationalism as Americans joined together, willing to do anything to protect our glorious country, even if it meant invading Iraq, which of course had nothing to do with 9/11. Hmm, sounds familiar, the congressman, Keith Ellison explained last year, “It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that..After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.”
Now I would never make a statement saying that President Bush planned 9/11, but I do believe he used our vulnerability in order to brainwash us into thinking that we needed to give up some of our freedoms and invest over $500 billion into an unwinnable war. This is similar to how Hitler convinced the people of Germany that violating the Treaty of Versailles was for their own protection and well-being.
When researching this entry, I came across a startling quote from President Bush that compared Congress' Democratic leaders with people who ignored the rise of Lenin and Hitler, saying "The world paid a terrible price then and risks similar consequences for inaction today." REALLY...I’m sorry, writing this blog has really made me ashamed to be an American, which I don’t believe any citizen should ever have to feel. Isn't a democracy supposed to be a government for the people, by the people? No wonder the entire world hates us, I really feel bad for the next president, who is going to have to restore our reputation and hopefully our economy.
No comments:
Post a Comment