Peter Klein
How well do animals take to you? Domesticated animals like cats and dogs may naturally trust you. But it’s unlikely that a squirrel will hop on your shoulder and allow you to hand feed it acorns. To make that possible would require great patience. To do anything requiring that much patience would also require great determination. To be so determined to earn that level of trust with a wild animal would likely require a strong interest in or love of animals.
Do you know who had that kind of patience, determination, interest in and love of animals? Nazis.
When, in the present time someone at a demonstration or in a comments section online refers to someone else as a Nazi, they’re comparing that person to either a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party or German military in the 1930s and ’40s period. At least that’s what most people mean when they use the term. However, some think the term more broadly includes the neo-Nazis that emerged in the 1970s.
Neo-Nazis are members of different groups that had little relation to the Nazis of WWII Germany. They adopted German military symbolism and generally negative views about Jewish people and all things Jewish. Some Neo-Nazis are white-supremicists, but most at least express pride in their white heritage. Many actively discriminate against non-white people and hold negative opinions of them. Their political views vary greatly but are commonly mislabeled as Fascists.
The era of Donald Trump has become notable for increased activity and expression by the political left. Nearly all of the groups involved and the western media are staunchly opposed to the Donald Trump presidency. Opposition to Trump was almost universal among Democrats when he took office and doesn’t appear to have diminished since. in just the first half of 2017 I learned of both “virtue signaling” and “social justice warriors,” both traits exclusively characteristic of people with Leftist or Liberal political views.
Expression of opposition to Trump, the Republican party and conservatism has reached a frenzied level. Groups like Black Lives Matter and the Antifa movement are demonstrating more frequently. The media’s expressions of opposition to Trump have become more vitriolic than anything seen in the past.
Here’s an example from the May 2017 edition of Salon magazine. The article was penned by the Editor himself and began as a very compelling and reasonable assessment of the present day political climate. But then, towards the end, it says about Donald Trump…
“He has already proven to be the most incompetent president any living person has ever seen or will ever see, and his ‘movement’ is nothing more than a transitory movement, a collective fantasy of disgruntled and semi-downtrodden white people who feel unhappy about something but aren’t sure what it is or whom to blame.”
Political op-eds are traditionally subjective and expected to contain a measure of exaggeration or derogatory statements. But claiming Trump is the most incompetent President anyone will ever see is a false statement and merely the author’s prediction. And the author insults everyone that actively supports Donald Trump. The implication is that his supporter’s aspirations are merely a fantasy and they are incapable of even identifying the problems that concern them and the people they disagree with. The author singles out Trump supporters as “white people,” despite most Salon readers being white and the country having a majority white population historically.
The 3rd week of August shows Google search traffic including the word “Nazi” was 400% of the weekly average for the prior year. During the same week the term “Racist” spiked to 150% of average. The other obvious spike occuring in the past year was the week after the Presidential election when it spiked to 200%. The terms “Nazi” and “Racist” have some things in common.
The term “Racist” is a derivative of the word, “Racism.” Invention of the term “Racist” or “Racism” is sometimes attributed to Leon Trotsky, but I think that’s incorrect. The 1902 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary attributes the first use of the word “Racism” to Richard Henry Pratt. He happened to be the father of the Native American boarding school system in America.
There is no term that describes the study of Race or Ethnicity. “Ethnic Studies” is the term that most closely means the study of race. Why not “Raceology?” The term “Anthropology” came long after people had been studying man’s origins. The term is neutral. The term, “Anthropologist” refers to a person who studies Anthropology. So why doesn’t the term, “Racist” refer to a person who studies “Race?” Were that to be true, it would make people more difficult to control.
The modern establishment maintains its power and authority largely through controlling people’s perceptions. Were they to promote the fact that there are differences between the races, it would be more difficult to form the single, supra-national government they seek to create. And, they would lose the magic word they use to label people who stand in the way of their goal, “Racist.”
Interesting article Prof. Tracy. When I was a boy in Grammar school we were taught latin and etymology and at that time I hated those two classes.
Now it gives me a laugh when I hear people use certain words or phrases and I know that they have no idea what their speaking about or the meaning of the things they`re saying. I do correct some and let others slips by. It all about “word play” and double speak these days and folks are too busy wrap-up in emotional narratives to pay attention to what really going on.
As my late father use to say, “Why the hell do you think only 8 people and a bunch of animals were on the ark when the flood came?” Cause everyone else was too busy not paying attention when the rain didn’t stop. It all make sense now.
Well done. People are fed false perceptions of history via Hollywood, television, and textbooks their whole lives. Few know the truth because it takes effort and intellectual honesty to learn it.