Wednesday, March 25, 2009

SOMETHING OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS IS HAPPENING

This must share piece is presented to my readers without my commentary.

Cathy


SOMETHING OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS IS HAPPENING By Tim Wood
I am a student of history. Professionally. I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied it all my life. I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus.

Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten or fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.

We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back. Why?

We learn just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has 'loaned' two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the 700 B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of 'we the people,' who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why? We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, and school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?
We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman.

Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago? We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government, our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about) the list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x ten. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion, who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.

And now we have elected a man no one knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska . All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary. Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders. No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin 's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more important.

Mr.. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: CHANGE.

Why?

I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now!

This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.

And that is only the beginning.

And I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his 'brown shirts' would bully them into submission. And then, he was duly elected to office, a full-throttled economic crisis at hand [the Great Depression]. Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, department-by-department, person-by-person, bureaucracy-by-bureaucracy. The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name, where they were taught what to think. How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless, and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe , and across the world.

He did it with a compliant media. Did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and . .. .. change. And the people surely got what they voted for.

(Look it up if you think I am exaggerating.)

Read your history books. Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and made fun of. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though.

Don't forget that Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe .. It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And in less than six years a shorter time span than just two terms of the U.. S. presidency' it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them.

As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me.

Some people scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. Perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe, and why I believe it.

I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Authorship of this article is misidentified on many other websites: http://sbuschollian.blogspot.com/2009/03/historian-deals-with-online-identity.html

Despite its attempt at deception (or maybe even because of it), I appreciate that someone sent this essay to me for the simple reason that it troubled me and got me to thinking and researching.
The first sign of trouble is the way the article starts, "I am a student of history. Professionally. I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied it all my life." No sound professional will start a serious essay in this manner. There is no indication of who this person really is. I tried to find out what these 15 books might be. Amazon offers about that many history books written by Tim Wood, most of which are aimed at an audience age 9 to 12 and average 48 pages each. Given that even the most brilliant historian of all time might choose to remain relatively undiscovered by writing for an audience of pre-teens, I still am not impressed by the essayist's credentials.
Another occurrence at duping readers is, "I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about." This rhetoric screams, "I don't know what I'm talking about!" My translation of this sentence is something like, "Because I am unwilling and/or unable to establish my credentials, I'm going to demand that you respect me blindly." First, professors do not necessarily know what they are talking about just because they teach college. Considered within context, " . . . our education system is worse than a joke," we really need to know where this professor teaches. No college professor worth a salary is going to judge the entire education system based on one college, especially when, for all we know this is a professor who teaches remedial history at a community college in Whoknowswhere, USA.
In any case, back to the essay. If that's not enough for this self-proclaimed prophet, he promotes his message "as a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions." How does he qualify his "objective" view? "I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it." Okay . . . who can argue with that? Sorry, but that’s not rational, much less practical.
Essays like this and the people who get roused by them illustrate the harm that a little bit of education and a whole lot of arrogance can do to a population. The author conveniently omits one of the greatest elements of the Third Reich that allowed its successful rise: nationalism. Nazis successfully drew upon German nationalism and fear to motivate the masses after WWI. Fear itself can be a dangerous thing when it leads us to similar reactions to threats.
Finally, this author provides no solution to the problem he fabricates. This vacancy is unforgivable. His cry of warning is the equivalent of a driver yelling, "You're going to get hit by a car!” just before he runs over you. He intentionally evokes fear, but does nothing to help you. Okay, I will concede that he encourages us to “Look it up if you think I am exaggerating” and to “Read your history books.” However, it still comes across as arrogant, translated as, “No need to look it up because I’ve already done all the work for you, and I’m here to tell you what you should be thinking about it!”
To say the least, the essay reeks of amateur application of historical perspectives and ethics. The fact that so many people with good intentions are quick to lap up his sophomoric rhetoric is far more disturbing to me than his message. If readers are already prone to agree with a writer like this, they are only encouraged to justify their fear, rather than actually challenged to think for themselves. For me, I can’t hear what this writer is so desperately trying to say because I have no reason to trust him in the first place. He tries so hard to convince me that he is right that his message remains out of focus. As a result, all I get out of it is that another radical extremist is trying to warn us of another political conspiracy.

Cathy Peschke said...

In responding to Tim Wood's article, you have thoroughly engaged in the very sort of empty credentialism of which you complain. Tim's references to his own credentials are indeed poor style and unnecessary, but they are simply a supplement to the analysis he presents. In contrast, the entirety of your reply is an admonishment of the author for failing to establish his credentials. Only once in your entire post do you address the actual subject of Tim's letter!

Tim's article is not without its faults, and in my opinion constitutes some measure of a leap of faith. The comment about Hitler being elected is incorrect; Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor after intense pressure. There are other substantive differences between our present situation and Weimar Germany.

Tim states that Obama campaigned on "bringing people together". This is about as far from Hitler as one gets, unless you wish to speak of the forcible reunification of ethnic Germans living abroad. Hitler did not enjoy a "compliant media" - the media was brought inline at gunpoint. And Hitler did not seize control of government agencies piecemeal; he gradually ascended into a position of power, then abruptly took control of the entire apparatus.

And finally, for what its worth, it is my personal opinion that while Hitler was the driving architect of the Third Reich, Obama is little more than a useful idiot. If there is some conspiracy, to whatever degree, Obama is NOT the brains behind it. Knowing who is pulling the strings and why would undoubtedly lend more insight as to what is really happening than an admittedly simplistic comparison with Adolf Hitler.

Tim's article makes a weak case, but it does provide food for thought. Noel's final claim that Tim "provides no solutions" is both specious and irrelevant. Its quite obvious to me that Tim considers public awareness of this "conspiracy" to be a significant part of a solution in itself.

Furthermore, Tim never promised solutions. Literature is replete with observations and problem statements lacking solutions. Are we to declare the gamut of all such writing, including much of science, religion, and art as worthless?

Jim Peschke