Hate, fear and division can poison a beautiful recipe
The Nazi Party was formed on Feb. 24, 1920. It ended, not because the ideology dissolved, but war defeated them in 1945. The most alarming point is that the Nazi party went on for 25 years — its hateful, divisive, separatist, extremist uber-nationalism crept insidiously into Germany’s persona as a country with their citizens barely recognizing what was happening to them.
Twenty-five years was long enough to create legions of young, murderous haters. It happened through propaganda, promoting fear of an alleged enemy of the people, reviling those who were not all the same color and nationality, and putting the welfare of one’s own country above any other country, regardless of the hardships imposed upon them.
It also happened through apathy, indifference and national hubris — the best friends of all developing dictators.
Germany is now an amazing country with vibrant, warm and caring people. Over six decades after the end of World War II, many Germans still have a pathological aversion to nationalism. Flying the flag is often still considered a faux pas.
Germany has learned what can happen to a nation that is deliberately fed propaganda, hate, fear and social insecurities. They are now vigilant to our human weaknesses where we can be fooled into fearing what need not be feared, hating what need not be hated, excluding what need not be excluded.
We have had two years of generic fascism in this country, stewing in a slow-cooker, new ingredients both strategically and haphazardly dropped into the pot every day, with the chef carelessly experimenting with which flavors work best to mask the unsavory elements.
Should we trust this chef to oversee our main courses and side dishes with no oversight, safeguards or inspections?
No, we can’t. We must be knowledgeable about the recipe, know how it’s being cooked, what ingredients are being used and what benefits it will bring to the body of this nation and other nations as well. We can learn from Germany’s fatal mistakes from 1925 to 1945 — and learn from them now.
Donna Alalem
Kapaa
Donna, thank you for a thoughtful and terrifying letter. Folks, please pay attention.
I guess the parallels between the Nazi thugs (remember Kristallnacht?) and raging Antifa thugs hasn’t crept into your consciousness. Wake up…it’s the left that is perpetrating the violence here in America. Not your rhetorical “chef”.
Have you not noticed the left’s (especially at the universities) incessant whining about “diversity”, “tolerance” and “inclusion” all while they revile, threaten violence and shout down any speaker that happens to have a different opinion than theirs?
Your assertions are standing on thin ice, sister!
RG DeSoto
Jesus Christ, I could not agree more. The “Facism” in the 1930’s was created out of the depression, the poor against the rich, and to blame the rich. The current President stands for just the opposite. Hitler was the far left, equal pay for everyone, against free market capitalism, common good, …..geez even the word “Nazi” is far left (National SOCIALIST). Kauai education at its best. Stop the madness.
RG..get back to the bugs, you have inhaled too much pesticide.
I forgot who was fighting in WWII. Were we on France side? Fighting against the Germans. Or were we on Italy’s side, coming from the other end. Then there was Poland. They were fighting against the Germans. Adolf Hitler was the problem in WWII. Nazi Germany.
What an absurd crock pot of paranoid nonsense.
It is like you have race against race in the county council. Japs going with chinese. Or the Japs going against the whites. Or the Japs going against the other race. This should be an issue. Who better to bring this out than the bloggers. Racism in county council seats. Who can serve the public better?
They being called the minorities. Only they being the Japs or the chinese. What do you think now?
This comment has inappropriate racist terms and sentiments and should be removed from this page!
Sorry Pete…but I grew up on the island. Only haole in the entire school. You know nothing about what racism is like aside from detesting the various words used. Try the real thing…I did and it was not fun.
RG DeSoto
your racist rant is accepted by this newspaper? Shame on you and TGI.
In all honesty, the Japs are being compensated for their fall in Pearl Habor. Japs attacking other Japs on the island of Oahu. December 7, 1941. Japs from Japan came over to live in Hawai’i. But through racism, they were forced to fight each other. So Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Japs against the japs. Just to save face. Racism in Pearl Harbor. Only they were fighting with themselves.
Japs win or lose? They made a statement. We fight only ourselves. Some statement.
Spanish American War. Some of them were fighters. Some of them were civilians. Spaniards bombed the Philippines in American Territory. 1899. The fighters joined the military. This was a brutal war. Philippines was attacked by spain.
Similarly, Pearl Harbor is a show of pride. Japs were actually backing themselves up. Yet bombing themselves. If your relatives knew of the war that went on there, they too took pride in fighting. So as you can see, fighting is passed down as a sense of pride. Some never lost it. They joined the military. Whether it be Japanese, Philippines, Spain, whoever? Some still do take pride in fighting. The military nailed ground on the grounds of Subic Bay, Philippines. And to this date, they are still signal a monumental event that happened there.
What ever your reason is to fight, race runs deep. It is still alive. Don’t ever forget it. Even in America today. They go by race and they acknowledge it. Are you one of the Japs that fought for your country? If so, this is the only win some see.
The Wright Bros. flight at Kitty Hawk was in Dec. 1903. Just curious, did Spain use hot air balloons for this 1899 bombing you mentioned?
Racism! Alive and well Fed on the Islands of Hawaii. Transplants,severely Hated here! Read it and Weep! But it’s the Truth!