This came to me in an email...interesting observation I thought....it will send some of into a slobbering fit, of that I have no doubt!!!
I distinctly remember sitting in seventh-grade history class thinking that there could never be any use for learning history. It wasn't until recently that I realized I was wrong about that assumption.
After all, it seems much easier to understand what's going on in present time by first understanding the past, because the past contains the events and patterns as to how and why we got where we're at today.
In an effort to communicate an idea that is very difficult to talk about, I wrote this letter in the form of a history quiz. The satire is intentional and is meant to lighten up a rather serious subject.
(All six questions have the same answer)
1. Which two world leaders capitalized upon a terrorist act to put their country into an endless wartime climate? Hint: one used the Reichstag fire in 1933 and the other used the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
2. Which two world leaders supported legislation that set aside individual freedoms and liberties for reasons of "national security"? Hint: one supported the "Order of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State" in February 1933 and the other one supported the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act" in October 2001.
3. Which two world leaders invaded a sovereign nation, unprovoked, and then lied about the reason for the attack? Hint: one invaded Poland in 1939, the other invaded Iraq in 2003.
4. Which two world leaders chose the same name to describe the warfare used in their unprovoked invasion? Hint: one called it "Blitzkrieg," the other called it "Shock and Awe." (Same meaning, different language.)
5. Which two world leaders saw fit to refer to their countries with an idiotic nickname? Hint: one chose the "Fatherland," the other picked the equally moronic "Homeland."
6. Which two world leaders used their religious convictions as a justification to carry out what seems best described as a mission of ethnic cleansing? Hint: one was a "Christian" that targeted Jews and the other is a "Christian" that targets Muslims. Additional hints: they both used the word "crusade" in political speeches and they both relied on the Holy Bible to justify their wars.
There is much truth in the saying "history repeats itself."
I have a history book that details the Holocaust of the late '30s/early '40s. It contains hundreds of horrifying photographs ... thousands upon thousands of bodies ... crematory ovens ... gas chambers ... firing squads ... concentration camps. In my opinion, the most spine tingling and horrifying photo in the entire book is one of Adolf Hitler giving a "crusade" speech and tens of thousands of people lined up, literally, as far as the eye can see, to listen and support him.
What do we humans have that enable us to so readily support psychopaths to run our governments? With embarrassment, I admit that I am no exception, as I supported ours in the first election.
[/b]