The reason I am writing this article is two fold.
First, to make clear that S-ICE, a company that I started, has nothing to do with ice.gov. (ICE stands for international creative enterprises.)
Secondly, to condemn the danger presented in the now infamous video of a New York lawyer threatening to call ICE and report people for speaking Spanish.
Verfolgung – Persecution
The word verfolgung in German has several meanings.
- Pursuit, as in the sense of chasing, or pursuing a dream or ambition. Which is a positive thing.
- Track, as in the sense of following the progression of something. Like the flight patterns of Canadian Geese or the patterns of the stock market. Which is also not a bad thing. (Depending upon what you are tracking and why.)
But the word verfolgung has a much darker meaning as well. It also means persecution. The Persecution of the Jews during World War II is known in Germany as the “jüdische Verfolgung”, where the Nazi government followed, tracked and executed Jews during their tyrannical reign.
Harmless or Lethal?
Now, it may seem like this crazy individual threatening to call and report to a government agency could be passed off as harmless. But is it?
No, it is NOT harmless.
First of all, and this must sink in, such a government agency is not designed to look for people to put in jail. The purpose of the agency is to organize and deal with the issues that involve immigration, customs and enforcement.
It is a way to make things legitimate and prevent illegal activities from endangering the safety, profitability and security of the nation. Enforcement does not mean to put people in jail or toss them out of the country, but to show people the right way to do things to be legitimate. However, illegal activities are punishable, but that is for another department of government.
Here is the problem with what happened in that video.
My experience in Germany gave me the opportunity to learn about the times of World War II from people who lived during that time. They are friends of mine. The description that best defines the reign of the Nazis is fear, intimidation and rationalization of brutality and violence all housed the German high virtues of:
- Loyalty to country and the leader
- Military might and the idolization of those serving in the armed forces
- Duty to hard work and sacrifice for a higher cause
- Pride in nationality and race, Patriotism and Nationalism
- Defense of moral values
- Modernization of society
- Idealized Moral Purity
- Complete devotion to the flag
Do these values sound familiar? They should, the United States holds all of these things high, as do many nations.
The problem occurs when a government and a people start to keep track of who is doing what for whom and why.
In Germany, a minute minority of people were actually willingly sworn in Nazis. But, when the Nazis took over everything in the government, including the justice department, then not doing the dance meant you were on a black list and were going to be followed, because if you aren’t for us you are against us.
During the early years you had a lot of bullying going on. One image that sticks in my mind are the trucks driving around with the Brownshirts in them intimidating people by their brusk behavior.
My friend once told me that the entire society flipped upside down, the lower socioeconomic and ignorant part of society was empowered to do the leader’s bidding. Hitler had absolute control over his dedicated followers and if you think they don’t still exist, think again.
So when I see these huge pick up trucks aggressively driving around flying either a rebel flag or an American flag, I become wary of our nations condition. That is a Nazi tactic, clear and simple. Even if there isn’t a flag flying, these aggressive drivers are prime candidates for complete indoctrination by a madman.
But, while that is bad on it’s own, and obvious, it is nothing compared to the most lethal part of what can become a society’s worst cancer, secret reporting of citizens on one another.
“They are hidden among us.”
This sentence may not be a direct quote from the opera, after all it has been about 30 years since I performed it. It is the gist of a passage from the opera “Die weisse Rose” by Udo Zimmermann, which I performed in 1989, that best describes this secret reporting.
Die weisse Rose, The White Rose, was a publication of pamphlets or “flyers” (Flugblätter) by a group of students during World War II in Munich, Germany which was distributed to make people aware of the damage that the Third Reich and Hitler was doing to Germany. The brother and Sister Hans and Sophie Scholl were executed by the Nazis with a guillotine. They were both completely German, Hans himself had been a flag bearer for his troupe in the Hitler Youth early on. They were highly educated intellectuals in this group, so their writing is quite eloquent.
“They are hidden among us” is referring to normal citizens, regular people who secretly reported to the authorities about anyone who was against the party. My friend said they would always speak very quietly in their house in the evening out of fear one of these people would be listening in while “walking by” their windows.
My friend that they lived in a constant state of angst, fear of being reported and not necessarily for doing anything “wrong” but simply on the suspicion of doing something wrong.
Not only is this a huge issue, but also the ostracization in society is another form of verfolgung. How?
When a society gets to the point that it demonizes another point of view, it is manifested in the ability to succeed in that society. In those days, if you didn’t support “The party” then you didn’t get loans, you were slowly edged out of opportunities, while less qualified zealots would be promoted and supported.
Political affiliation should have no influence on your life in a free society.
So what this guy in the video is doing should be scary to anyone living in America. He is loud and unafraid to flex his aggressive behavior, but far worse are the quiet ones who also would spy and report people.
Make no mistake, the United States is very close to becoming a totalitarian state and the sad thing is, a lot of people want that.
This seduction of the American people has been going on a long time and I have watched it come to pass. I’m not saying that America would ever actually try to murder millions of people, but we already have a history of ethnic cleansing of Native Americans, and the enslavement of africans with the logic that they were not humans but savages or animals. Make no mistake, there is a minority of people in this country who think this way and they aren’t all low socio economic ignorant people either.
But, here is the saddest thing of all. What were they doing that was so wrong? Speaking in a language that isn’t English or American? Is that a crime? Seriously, if doing that is a crime in America then put me in jail. Yeah, I speak German! Now wouldn’t it be ironic for someone speaking in German to be put in jail by people who think that in America only one language should be spoken?
As harmless as it may sound, if you believe that America should only have one language, that in itself qualifies you as a candidate for the Nazi Party because it is that kind of mentality which would be so open to seduction by such a society.
The irony of all of it is, that in all of it’s touting of highly moral ideals, people like this are willing to sacrifice human rights by any means necessary to force people to fall in line. Either get in line or be ostracized and persecuted.
This is the real danger we live in today in America. They are not as hidden as they used to be. They are already among us.