If you live in America today, wave the US flag, and support the troops and “law enforcement,” I have unhappy news for you.
If you had lived in Nazi Germany you would have almost definitely been an enthusiastic Nazi.
If you lived in a Muslim country today, you would almost certainly be Muslim (which is totally unrelated to whether you would be an Islamic loser).
You hop on the bandwagon too easily and go along without thinking about what you are doing.
Only those who resist the dominant “culture” in America have a credible chance to have been a truly decent person in Nazi Germany or a non-Muslim in a predominantly Muslim country today.
If you are a flag waving, troop loving, cop supporting American in 2017, you simply don’t have what it takes to resist the appeal of the bandwagon.
Some people believe that the name of the man in the photo who refused to give the Nazi salute was August Landmesser. Some people believe that his name was Gustav Wegert. I lean towards the man being Gustav Wegert.
Whoever he was, I thank him for his service.
Whoever he was be he Landmesser, Wegert, or someone else, for all I know he may have been a Communist. Just saying. Suppose he opposed the National Socialist but wanted to impose a Communist regime in the place of the National Socialists, would you still thank him for his service? This is something to consider because it is possible. Take Guy Fawkes as an example. Many people claim that Guy Fawkes was an Anarchist. He was not. Fawkes opposed the English government because he was Catholic and wanted Catholic leaders to hold the reigns of political power in England. He… Read more »
Any time someone goes against the crowd in a way that is risking his own life while violating no one, so publicly, he is doing something praiseworthy at least in that moment. He is showing others it can be done. Resistance isn’t futile (even if you resist for horrible reasons). What he does in the next moment has to be weighed separately. What is in his heart or mind is also a separate issue.
I am reminded of Alexander Hamilton who was opposed to British tyranny but was enthusiastic about replacing the Articles of Confederation with a central state. He was opposed to British taxation but thought that it was ok for the US government to tax whiskey which btw was used as money in Western PA at the time and perhaps elsewhere in the country.