It's not only the video's content but the comments to the video that show the degree of radicalization of mainstream media viewers. Whenever I watch a documentary about the horrors of world war two, I am always baffled by the German citizens' participation, how they actively helped the third Reich commit mass murder and how very few stood up for what is right. Well, in recent years, the repugnant "news" media have distorted truth so much that we will now learn first hand how the German citizens aided the Nazis in persecution. History is repeating, and we can see the true evil of groupthink.
Once people cannot tell the difference between the truth and the government's lies, Snyder explains, they lose their freedom and independence as individuals. When they make politics about shared feelings and loyalty rather than facts and principles, authoritarians no longer have to show that their policies benefit anyone so that they can rule for their personal benefit.
We are watching the death of freedom and the birth of a new fascistic tyrannical government that values loyalty to the state rather than liberty and individualism. Ultimately, this emphasis on loyalty has dangerous consequences.
Authoritarians nearly always mobilize both the government and their loyal supporters against other groups—usually racial, ethnic, or religious—that they declare to be enemies. This conflict becomes the tyrant's justification for staying in power and gives the tyrant's supporters a source of meaning and purpose in politics.
It also leads to catastrophic events like the Holocaust, when governments provide citizens with a mission to give meaning to their loyalty. People feel that they are special or chosen for following their leader, and in turn, those who do not are "enemies of the state." To prove their faith and trust in the government, citizens actively help persecute scapegoated "enemies," whom they often place at the center of elaborate conspiracy theories.
This is why everyday Germans gave the Nazis lists of Jewish citizens to deport, and doctors, lawyers, and police officers enthusiastically agreed to participate in mass murder ordered by the government. This makes authoritarians uniquely dangerous: they invent enemies and then persecute them using all the tools of the state and the citizenry.
In short, this explains why tyranny frequently leads to genocide and war—and why it must be stopped.
In the last few days, I have read multiple stories about people wanting to detain individuals and put them into re-education camps. They are opening talking about creating lists of their political enemies.
We are in dangerous territory…these people have lost their minds.