In watching the televised Republican National Convention last week, viewers may have been struck by the lack of diversity on display. Few people of color were present. No discernable gays or lesbians. No noticeable disabled, aside from the presence Governor Palin’s publicized special needs child. Their concerns were barely mentioned in passing, if at all, unless you count the references to community organizers who often provide aid to such groups and who Republicans mocked regularly throughout the convention.
More disturbing, the reports that emerged during the RNC of preemptive arrests of peaceful protestors, like in Minority Report, and the arrests of nearly 800 reporters, photographers, and peaceful protestors, suggests that we might be a decade or less from slipping into the horrors of a full blown totalitarian state as did Germany in the mid to late 30s. Certain videos and songs from the late 80s, made popular by the industrial, martial, and neo-classical band Laibach, come to mind when reflecting on the events that transpired during the RNC:
While Laibach absorbs the mannerisms of extreme nationalism, adopting all the seductive trappings and symbols of state power, and exaggerating everything to the edge of parody, totalitarianism is no laughing matter.
Can we be certain the US isn’t on the same journey Germany started in the mid to late 30s?