Julie's Web Journal

I'm going to make a confession. 

When I was in high school, I read "Mein Kapmf." I wrote a paper on Adolph Hitler.

There was a reason I did that, and when the teacher understood my reasoning she wholeheartedly approved of my research topic. I wanted to figure out how he got to power in the first place. How good people could let this happen. (The answer is complicated. The paper was long.)

I once came upon a book in German, where, hidden in plain sight among many innocuous things, was the text of one of Hitler's speeches. I laboriously translated the speech. You now what? He was seductive. He told people what they wanted to hear. He - and his speechwriters - knew just the correct words to get the crowd on his side and to his cause. He was passionate, and that passion was infectious. Like the plague. 

I thought we'd never see that here in the United States.

Boy, was I wrong. 

Mark my words, Hitler was not a good person. Nor were the people he surrounded himself with. He was evil. And yet, I'm going to ask you to consider reading "Mein Kampf." And doing some research into that era of history. Because, as has often been said, those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it. That book is hard to read through the lens of history, and you may want a bath or six when you're finished. But you'll gain insight into his thinking and the thinking of some of his followers today. For they are his followers, no matter how much they disavow it.

This is the very the same reason some very good people who hate racism, who decry fascism, delve into those vile underground web sites that promote these things. History must not repeat itself. As Sun Tzu swrote, "know your enemy."

There are no statues in Germany to honor Hitler or his regime. There are markers that tell stories. There are memorials to those who died fighting his cause, or died just because of his hatred, and the hatred he whipped up among his populace. 

Don't let that happen here. Please. Know your enemy. Know your history so it doesn't repeat. My friends, you are good people. And good people don't let this evil happen again.