Or a thousand others that were similar. It's telling us something about both governing systems...and people. Especially large groups of people when taken collectively. The only new element is the tech/communication...but even without it, it feels like we've been in this movie before.
I read "They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-1945" last year and it's quite something to read their perspectives and reflect on all this.
I keep thinking about this one guy, just thinking along the lines "even if my suspicions were ever confirmed, what could I do? I'm not some great man like a political leader or from a wealthy family... I'm just a regular person and I have to go to work and keep my job to feed my family..."
which is why people really have to do the sort of normal accessible activism that is still available to us. Show up at rallies, call your electeds or volunteer in a local race, organize your tenant organization, adopt a picket line etc. Because you dont need to be a leader to do any of that.
This quote from They Thought They Were Free really strikes me and now I totally understand.
And right now, today, I feel that… My son needs a roof over his head and food to eat, but he also needs to grow up in a country that’s at least as good as the one his father did.
The use, and abuse, of contemporary mass media seems like a common denominator here.