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Opinion

Remembering History Is Like A Vaccine For Dangerous Idiocy

I’m an extremely voracious reader. In fact, that’s really the only thing I’ll brag about. Not my music (although I do…subtle plug time…have a new CD just released), because no matter how long you’ve been playing, there will always be someone better than you. No, what I will brag about is that I’m one of the best read people you’ll ever meet.

The reason I say that is because I’ve met and have had discussions with college professors who have not read some of the material I have. I’m quite well read in history, philosophy, theology and politics. I’m familiar with Schopenhauer, Spinoza, Kant, Neitzsche and Wittgenstein. In history, I’ve read everything Solzhenitsyn has had published, have an extensive collection of WWII and Holocaust history, and in theology, along with the works of C.S. Lewis, I’m familiar with the work of Alfred Edersheim, a 19th Century Jewish Christian theologian. Currently, I’m half way through Thomas Sowell’s just published A Conflict of Visions.

So, I know right about now you’re probably saying to yourself, “DeGroff, who gives a rat’s furry little derriere about your reading habits?” Well, reading has always been incredibly important to me. It’s fundamental to the ability to learn. That’s why I found a recent incident extremely disturbing.

The Left’s penchant for revisionist history was on full display recently when the Association for Library Service to Children renamed the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award to now be known as The Children’s Literary Legacy Award. Although this award was established in 1954, it just now seems that our current crop of liberal activists have discovered that the “Little House” books contain, in their words, “…stereotypical and reductive depictions of Native Americans and people of color.” I guess historical accuracy for that time period is now forbidden.

Never mind that the Battle of Little Big Horn happened during the life time of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Native Americans (or “Indians” as they were called…) as well as freed slaves are obviously something we should keep out of our history because it makes us look bad or something.

Here’s what to consider. While that era of American history was anything but perfect when it came to human rights issues, why remove any mention of what life was really like?

What the Left is providing for us by this action is a great example of history repeating itself. Follow this time line and you’ll see what I mean:
January 1933…Adolph Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
February 27, 1933…the German parliament building, the Reichstag, was burned down by arson. A
Dutch communist named Marinas van der Lubbe was blamed. This enabled Hitler to enact The
Reichstag Fire Decree
which was used to suspend civil liberties.
April, 1933… Law for The Restoration of the Professional and Civil Services was enacted, which was used to begin barring Jews from public life.
May, 1933…mass book burnings began; all literature that was regarded as anti-German or pro-Jewish
was destroyed in public bonfires.
July, 1933…all naturalized German Jews were stripped of citizenship
Sept. 15, 1935….the Nuremberg Laws were passed. These laws were used to officially make Jews
unable to hold any kind of job, intermarry with Germans and own certain types of property.

Also during this time frame, roving bands of Brown Shirt thug storm troopers, the Sturmabteilung, were the actual paramilitary units of the Nazi Party. Not only did they harass Jews, they also went after anyone who dissented from the party line or criticized the regime. And, remember that within six months of Hitler coming to power, the first concentration camps were functioning, although these were primarily for political prisoners and homosexuals. The death camps weren’t operational until the 1940s.

Compare/contrast this with some of the events under Obama. While Obama had pledged to get rid of the Patriot Act that was signed into law right after 9/11 during the Bush Administration, he instead signed a renewal of it in 2011. By 2013, Obama was defending the NSA’s mass surveillance of American citizens. It was during this time that Fox News reporter James Rosen was named as a “criminal co-conspirator” under the Espionage Act of 1917 when his phone records were subpoenaed.

While some of this may seem kind of subtle and not of imminent concern to the average American, the Obama Administration had the desire, as did Hitler, to quash any dissent.

I don’t feel it’s much of a stretch to say that with Obama’s use of the IRS, the FBI, the Department of Justice under Eric Holder and even the EPA, more than one attempt was made to clamp down on not only his political rivals, but everyday Americans as well. Liberals felt emboldened to try anything no matter how radical while Obama was in power. They definitely thought that they had an absolute lock on the rest of country for the next eight years and maybe beyond when Clinton was running for President.

That didn’t turn out so well for them, did it? And so, we’ve arrived at 2018 with Donald Trump as President and the libs can’t stand it. While THEY call US Nazis, they’re the ones who are taking a page out of National Socialist history from the 1930s. They’ve created their own “brown shirts” with Antifa and BLM. They’ve burned and rioted. They’ve barred conservatives from public speaking. They’ve chased families of government officials out of restaurants and now they’re going after American classic literature. It’s just a short jump to book burnings next.

All this background is no longer being taught. That’s why reading on your own is so important. Hitler didn’t just come to power overnight. He became politically active right after WWI. It took over a decade for him to rise to power and just six short year later he started WWII. But this part of history, along with books that generations of children have read, is now being suppressed.

Along with possible future book burnings, will reading and studying on your own be monitored and eventually outlawed as well? Very few people read Hitler’s Mein Kampf, his political manifesto. Had more done so, the path from book burnings to Auschwitz might not have happened.

When you try to change history, delete history, or downright forbid history, it’s darker narratives are no longer known…. until they start to repeat themselves.

MORE SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION
Since I’ve already mentioned that the SALT CD featuring John Schlitt on vocals is now released, here is how to order both hard copies and digital downloads of the entire project:
Hard copies can be obtained through: rottweilerrecords.bigcartel.com/product/john-degroff-salt-cd
Digital copes: johndegroff.bandcamp.com

For more information, including a special offer we’re working on, feel free to also check out the following Facebook pages.
Facebook.com/DeGroffProjects
Facebook.com/ghfrocks
Facebook.com/Petraband (…and it’s here you’ll find the lyric video for the project’s single, Runnin’)

Hey, thank you in advance everyone for your support.

Image: CC0 Creative Commons; https://pixabay.com/en/bench-grass-man-person-reading-1853961/

John DeGroff

John DeGroff is the original bass player for the Christian rock band Petra. He currently plays for the band GHF which is comprised of other original members from Petra. DeGroff has extensive experience as a freelance music journalist and newspaper reporter as well as an on-line music reviewer. He is a member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and lives in Warsaw, Indiana where he is employed as a care giver for mentally challenged adults.

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