For those familiar with his dilemma and writing see below link. Evidently Germany never did give up her totalitarian ways….
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Not having thoroughly read and analyzed the entire ZH article it is still possible to empathize with those who wish to expose ‘stuff’. But the German people are highly sensitive to the sort of ‘message’, or ‘thoughts’ the unthinking man is attempting to convey. His words, not mine, are “I won’t mince words.” I would argue that is precisely the tactic that could and should be followed in a public setting.
One of my goals for this audience is to one day start a Thread titled, ‘A Most Dangerous Book’, about a book by a different title that was written in 70AD by Tacitus, a well-known Roman novelist / historian in his day. In the days of the Roman Empire writers had to be highly careful, even sly about what they said in public, or in the books they published.
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Good book. I’ve read it.
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I was thinking, maybe one should not equate the doings of a countries justice system with the land and her people. As an European I sometimes catch myself thinking what a boon on the world it would be, if America befall the same as Atlantis.
I regret it soon after because I know enough wonderful Americans and although I have never been there, I am sure it is quite beautiful.
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Perhaps the book cover caught the attention of some nasty bureaucrat who saw an opportunity further their career and a promotion. Every country has those types.
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I’ve always believed a nation’s culture inclines it toward or against authoritarianism. History seems to show German culture can tolerate authoritarianism more than some other national cultures in the Western world. Sadly, the relatively less authoritarian national cultures have been embracing authoritarian rule more and more in recent years.
Of course, this is a generalization about how a country, in the aggregate, responds to authoritarian government – no generalization applies to every individual.
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This is obviously a selective prosecution – lawfare against political dissidents or political rivals, which seems to be a trend in the Western world these days.
To anyone who appreciates Hopkins’s work: Consider donating to his legal defense fund if you are able (there’s a link in his article). I made a tiny donation – let’s see if the payment processor, YouKnowWhoPal, freezes my account . . . There’s also the option of direct bank transfer or supporting him via Substack.
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Russia is also in that same ‘mode’ perhaps due to its long rule by ‘kings’. The amazing part is how they overcame the rule of the Soviet system, mostly by way of ignoring the dictates of that system. The process of internal disintegration within the Soviet Union more or less resulted in the end of the existence of its federal government as a sovereign state. In the end it resulted in 15 constituent ‘republics’ gaining full independence by the end of 1991. The Ukraine gained its Independence by agreeing to return all of the nuclear missiles based in the country to the Russians.
Remember the old, old story perhaps by Machiavelli, of the boy who cried out one day as the King paraded by? “The king has no clothes on!”
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Suppression of political dissidence is the norm in human history, and it still is in most parts of the world – with or without a pretense of the rule of law or some judicial process. The Western world has been the only place, to my knowledge, that has ever been an exception to this general rule to any meaningful degree. Hence my singling out the Western world for critique. If we eliminate the rule of law in the West (and we’re getting close), it’s lost everywhere, and who knows if/when it will come back.
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That is possibly a good place to begin, or perhaps restart the discussion again, since the ‘New World’ aka the Americas, plus many other areas, were not ‘revealed, or widely accepted’ in the Old World prior to certain dates in their history. As you already know we have had these discussions before, and there has been some good info offered in both the old Forum and new Forum discussions, as you already know.
As you wrote, “Suppression of political dissidence is the norm in human history,” then it also begs the question of religious suppression, since that has also been a major theme.
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If humans have a foot in two realms, the physical and the non-physical it maybe reasonable to deduct humanity as a whole falls under what is mostly called “natural law” due to our nature, but also to a law humanity needs for our other part.
Law of that other part (I feel) was / is found in America and unique to the world, although now under attack and in decline. I suppose infecting especially the West and specifically the USA with materialism was primordial to subdue and get rid once and for all of the Constitution of the United States.
That unique Constitution of the United States should have been extended to the rest of the world in some form or another preferably improved upon, insted we see the reverse.
In that I agree with Fiatlux, if the “exception loses” the road to totalianism opens far and wide.
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Here is just one more example of why so much ‘mischief’ seems to originate from one country:
"A German court has sentenced one of its own judges to prison for ruling against the government’s mask mandates.
In 2021, Judge Christian Dettmar struck down a local government ordinance that required schoolchildren to wear masks in the German state of Thuringia. The case made headlines across Germany. Judge Dettmar is now set to lose his legal career and pension and receive a two-year suspended prison sentence for allegedly “perverting the law.”
The Americas were ‘colonized, or perhaps invaded’ by folks from England, and soon followed by folks from other European countries. The word ‘invaded’ is intentional because there were many, many dozens of native peoples who already occupied the land. Those tribes established their own territorial boundaries by way of treaties, which were never broken, or at least they were very seldom violated. The natives did not till the ground very much at all because they were mostly hunter - gathers.
The Europeans who settled the Americas wished and hoped for a better life. They even embodied it in law, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Perhaps their downfall was being unable to fend for themselves, and so a booming trade route was established with the nations they had left, but they also had to pay taxes for that trade. Soon enough the taxes began to increase, and as usual the wars followed.
This is an over-simplification of what happened, and there have been many lengthy books written about the history.
Ummm…the “settlers or invaders” declaration smacks of self-deception belief. All are equal but only by excluding the natives. Speaking of land grabs….
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Reminds one of this from Animal Farm – “All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.” I believe that may have been directed mostly at the aristocrats, or at the least more so than it did of the ‘common’ people.