I have come to understand the average German living under Nazism and the average Russian living under communism for another reason: the power of the media to brainwash.
Dennis Prager "As my listeners and readers can hopefully attest, I have been on a lifelong quest to understand human nature and human behavior. I am sad to report that I have learned more in the last few years, particularly in 2020, than in any equivalent period of time.
"One of the biggest revelations concerns a question that has always plagued me: How does one explain the "good German," the term used to describe the average, presumably decent German, who did nothing to hurt Jews but also did nothing to help them and did nothing to undermine the Nazi regime? The same question could be asked about the average Frenchman during the Vichy era, the average Russian under Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev and their successors, and the millions of others who did nothing to help their fellow citizens under oppressive dictatorships.
"These past few years have taught me not to so quickly judge the quiet German, Russian, etc. Of course, I still judge Germans who helped the Nazis and Germans who in any way hurt Jews. But the Germans who did nothing? Not so fast.
"What has changed my thinking has been watching what is happening in America (and Canada and Australia and elsewhere, for that matter)." . . .
" . . .I was wrong. I now understand that mass brainwashing can take place in a nominally free society. The incessant left-wing drumbeat of The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and almost every other major newspaper, plus The Atlantic, The New Yorker, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, all of Hollywood and almost every school from kindergarten through graduate school, has brainwashed at least half of America every bit as effectively as the German, Soviet and Chinese communist press did (and in the latter case, still does). That thousands of schools will teach the lie that is the New York Times' "1619 Project" is one of countless examples." . . .
Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, published by Regnery in May 2019, is "The Rational Bible," a commentary on the book of Genesis. His film, "No Safe Spaces," was released to home entertainment nationwide on September 15, 2020. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com.
Dennis Prager’s profound and disturbing meditation about “good Germans” . . . "Just as sobering as the willingness to abandon liberty is the American people’s willingness to abandon free speech. Rather than fight back against cancel culture, good Americans fall silent or, when BLM threatens, good Americans raise their fists too.
"Prager understands that many Americans have simply been brainwashed. Our media, our educational system, and our corporations (filled with people pumped out by our education system) hate America and Americans. We’re marinated in that hatred. We’ve been primed for decades. The lockdown was the spark. And instead of an explosion of freedom from that spark, we had an implosion of fear and self-loathing.
"Please read Prager’s article. After you read it, you’ll know how we got here but, if you still value freedom, you’ll also be asking yourself how we back out of this existential dead end."
