I taped the CBS miniseries The Rise of Evil so that my mother and I can watch it with the commercials fast-forwarded. (Maybe that way she’ll stay awake.) But non-blogger ‘myrln’ did watch it, and this is what he has to say about it:
To those who didn’t see the Hitler mini-series, I say, Too bad. Were I a blogger, I would say to all who didn’t, Why not? Too much like ancient history? Well, that plays right into the hands of Dumbya and Gang. The fact is, CBS deserved support for getting this program done and on the air, but it couldn’t attract major advertisers and settled for PSAs and mail order ads mostly. Business, I guess, didn’t want to risk offending Zionists who condemned the program (tho’ major Jewish leaders who previewed it gave it the highest praise), or didn’t want to risk offending the current administration(?).
Anyone who didn’t see it but cares and knows history can/does repeat itself needs to buy/rent it when it’s released into general distribution. Why? Because while it’s not directly analogous to 2003 America, it’s familiar enough to be unnerving. How? Let me
count the ways.
— Hitler’s relentless drive to consolidate the power in the Chancellor while at the same time usurping congressional (Reichstag) powers.
— Reluctance of media to report on Brown-shirt thuggery for fear of offending Hitler. As one reporter/editor says, “No one wants to read about anything they could do something about. It’s as if we’ve gone stupid or blind.” (Seem familiar?) And when he does get something in print, his home and wife are threatened, the paper smoke-bombed, and eventually, he is taken into “protective custody” and ultimately sent to the early camps, one of the first at Dachau, where he is finally killed. His wife is never told of his death, only receives a package with his bloodied, broken glasses.
— Movie news (’30s equivalent of tv news) becomes rah-rah propaganda for Hitler and the National Socialist Party (Nazis). (Sound familiar?)
— His subversion of democratic process to empower his party and move toward chancellorship by having his party consistently walk out of Reichstag and thus force new elections. (Well…that sounds like Texas.)
— Then he secretly orders the Reichstag building burned and afterward claims, “The terorists have opened fire, and we will fire back.” (Sound familiar??)
— To fight the alleged terrorists, he engineers new procedures: all legislative matters will be handled by the administration as well as communications etc. under what he called the Enabling Act. “Any refusal to go along would be regarded as opposition,” he said, making clear the implication that “opposition” was equivalent of terrorism or treason. (Sound familiar?)
The final impression was one of Nazi Germany’s echoes in history becoming voices again in our current age in our own country. Not exact parallels, as I said, but so unnervingly familiar. Right down to when he’s take full control of the country and the final moments of “Deutschland Uber Alles” filling the air over pictures Krystalnacht, and the camps, and of bodies from the camps stacked like cordwood (those same ones I saw in movietone news after WWII ended). Somehow, I heard simultaneously in my head the almost ubiquitous “God Bless America” just under the other melody.
All too close for comfort. CBS deserves a medal, or at least praise, for doing the miniseries.
I notice that lots of people are reluctant to make the comparison between Hitler and Bush. But, isn’t it obvious???