COMMENT POSTED TO A COLUMN IN THE GUARDIAN BY PAUL MASON
Paul, if you are aware of even one week in human history
when the world was not awash with hatred, please let me know.
We are nothing but chimpanzees with larger brains, and, as
we know, modern studies of those cute and appealing creatures have demonstrated
them as being quite vicious and murderous.
I don't know what Mein
Kampf returning to Germany has to do with anything serious or dangerous,
but just bringing it up and associating it with some other larger events demonstrates
bias.
This is a tedious, antiquated book which would not even be
understood by many today. There is no magical mumbo-jumbo in this book to
capture people’s minds.
It is a threat to no one except in some imaginations.
But ignorance very much is a threat to all of us.
The book is of interest to scholars and historians, so why
shouldn't it be available?
Indeed, in Hitler's day, the book became a kind of social
token, much like the Bible, with nice
editions being presented as gifts on marriages or birthdays.
Virtually no one ever read it then, just as few read the Bible today.
And, if you want a written record of bloodshed, injustice
and hatred, you would have a mighty hard time doing better than the Old
Testament.
It was Hitler's strange brooding personality and gift for
fiery live speech that gave him any appeal, but we should always remember he
never got more than 37% of the vote in free elections.
He was appointed Chancellor by the ancient President von
Hindenburg trying to save his county from chaos in the streets.
After that, Hitler seized power through a series of dark
operations, such as the Reichstag Fire, which together amounted to a coup.
Why had the streets of Germany become such a mess that
Hindenburg, an old school German officer, appointed someone he genuinely didn't
like?
Because the fine, liberal-spirited government, known as the
Weimar Republic, which arose in Germany after WWI was allowed to fall to pieces
by Western interests. It wasn't helped in its many serious problems.
We see such patterns today, but not in the places you may
think. We see it in Syria where a tolerant and reasonably fair government is
under savage attack by foreigner-subsidized lunatics.
We see it in Libya where America and others decided to
destroy a man who once ran his state reasonably well.
We see it in Egypt where absolute government has returned.
We see it in Iraq, a once prosperous country with a growing
middle class which undoubtedly would have become democratic eventually, left to
its own devices.
None of these events were normal and a result of internal
forces.
They all involve external interference and manipulation, the
chief players being the United States and its associates in the region.
