Days 28-30 – 52 Books in 52 Weeks

I took a couple of nights off. Herman and Sherman were tired after a long week of work. I did do some reading and research. I looked up what was meant by “Social Democracy” during Hitler’s time. Basically, it’s just socialism. There are a ton of articles out there if you want to do a more in-depth study. I just Googled “Social Democracy Austria” to find stuff.

Anyway, back to Hitler’s Mein Kampf. I’m up to page 90 (out of 690 pages). It’s pretty much the same stuff page after page. His hatred for Jews, democracy, politicians, Austria’s Parliament, etc are spewed out in very vile language. He uses words such as “degenerates,” “idiots,” “ingrates,” and worse to describe those with whom he has issues… which is just about everyone.

He describes his reasoning behind his goals as his “instinct of national self-preservation.” Or, as I’m calling it: patriotism gone wild.

He blathers on for pages about the problems with democracy, but at times, he makes some interesting statements. For example, on page 85-86, he talks about how the press is instrumental in propaganda (and viciously blames the Jews for this) and “how short a time it took this great evil power within the state to create a certain opinion even where it meant totally falsifying profound desires and views… while… vital problems fell a prey to public oblivion or rather were simply filched from the memory and consciousness of the masses.”

When looking at America today, I can see this happening. Mainstream media has much more influence on what people are led to believe despite facts that might prove otherwise. Think about how quickly the press turned public opinion against Bush. First they just attacked his policies, but as elections drew near, far left liberals began attacking the man. It took only months before it seemed like everyone was bashing the man (note: I said “the man” not “his policies).

Pick any topic: gay marriage, healthcare reform, the economy, and if the mainstream media outlets favor a particular view – you can be sure it will be the topic at the water cooler the next week and will continue until either the media has convinced the public that their view is the correct one, or people wake up, see the truth and begin to complain, in which case, the media will switch topics.

On this point of the press controlling the minds of the population, I think Hitler was right on – at least in today’s society. The fact that he also continues, albeit subtly in the last several pages, to push his belief that views should be indoctrinated in children through their schooling is troubling.

Hitler may have been insane; he was definitely an evil, murderous man, but he knew how to sway public opinion, and I believe there are some factions in the world today who are more prominent than we care to admit, who are following the dictator’s playbook in order to achieve their goals: goals to benefit themselves, not their country or the world.