Keep calling this out, Steve. Remembering keeps the horrors relevant. “Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.” - Elie Wiesel
Calling Steve Schmidt, calling Steve Schmidt, we await the message of truth in your reports. Thank you for providing Mr. Murrows voice and words to show the truth of Fascism. We can not repeat the atrocities of our mutual past. This version of the republican party wants to regulate thoughts by book banning because their delicate ears can not stand to hear the truth. God help us all. Please vote blue for the survival of our great country before we become our worst nightmares.
In 1980 I visited Dachau. The night before a German friend told me that going would ruin my entire day and to think twice about making the trip. I was 25. I have never forgotten this experience. The feeling as the train got closer to the camp, the heaviness that descended as I entered, walked around, the despair. It is not something you forget. I have often said everyone should visit one of the camps, it changes you.
I enjoyed your respectful appreciation of Edward R. Murrow, Steve. My parents came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War, and the names and personalities of that time and those events were frequently evoked in our home as I was growing up, FDR and Murrow among them. And Auschwitz, and Buchenwald, too, as the likely end-points of the lives of the remnants of my family that never made it out of Eastern Europe; those who failed to emigrate with my grandparents in the wake of the First World War and who were destroyed by fascism. The lived experience of the two generations that preceded me was my introduction to historic anti-Semitism. My first personal encounters with it came from Catholic classmates, children I shared classrooms with, and played with on our suburban elementary school playground, who informed me, with certainty, that they learned from the priest in their after-school religious instruction class that, “the Jews killed Jesus.” Unfortunately, this was official and perfidious Church Doctrine into our own lifetimes. You hear that as a child, and you learn to recognize it every time it reappears, casually or pointedly, blatantly or insidiously, in one form or another, for the rest of your life. It’s meant to delegitimize you, judgment passed by both ignorant and highly educated thugs and bigots, who seek the assent and knowing approval of their own kind, and toward their own ends. Like a social herpes, viral anti-Semitism enters the body and lodges there forever, quiescent or else triggered to re-emerge by design, or circumstances, or malign intent. And this time around, the malign intent is Republican. I wish I could view Kari Lake as an aberration, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and all the rest of them that speak out loud, or in code, but I fear we’ve emerged from one pandemic only to find ourselves in the midst of another, as anti-Semitism rises around the world.
I thank you for your vigilance and your unsparing words, Steve. And for the reminder of Edward R, Murrow, a brave, and decent, and complicated man who picked up the fight where he found it, and stayed with it to the end. And who didn’t let the fascists kill democracy.
Perhaps the most sad part of Steve’s article, is the need to remind Americans about the Holocaust, it’s causes and parallels that can sadly be related to today’s current political and social condition.
The attempts to turn back the clock to an age and time that some Americans believe wa safe and the “Real” America.
The Real America is a country that has grown because of the multitude of contributions made by people who were not born hear. Or born of parents who were not born here. We refuse to recognize our diversity as strength and opportunity. Why?
I think fear has overtaken our view of America as the Land of Opportunity. Opportunity deniers are as bad as election deniers.
Fear and exploitation of fear is the fuel that is running our current path.
I lived in Arizona for 31 years, and knew of Kari Lake as what I saw as a reasonable newscaster. Since I moved away nine years ago, I had no idea how far she has fallen. Perhaps she hasn’t fallen, and she was always this way, we just didn’t see it. I have been shocked to watch this woman who used to deliver the evening news spew crazy stuff. I keep saying what the hell happened in Arizona? Then I remember Ev Mecham. Not to mention sheriff Joe. I guess this is nothing new for Arizona after all!
I once asked you in a tweet if you were going to get involved in helping the Democrats shape their messaging for the 2022 elections. I think your decision to write /call out very explicitly what is happening in our country is very powerful. Thank you for the time you are spending to shine a light on the 3 alarm issues facing every American today, and to educate and open the eyes of so many Americans who have fallen down the rabbit hole of lies, deceit, treachery, and Nazism.
I also thank you for shining your spotlight on the many Democratic candidates around the country who need all of our help in and getting elected.
To mobilize and co-opt a people, a convenient enemy must be manufactured. Throughout history, the Jews have served in this capacity repeatedly. Had my grandfather not foreseen the power and intent of Hitler and failed to flee eastern Europe, I might not be here writing this. Sadly, Trump and the GOP are using us again. Openly, in broad daylight.
Couple that with a news media that, for the most part, stands by and either fosters anti-Semitism or benignly supports it by remaining silent. The day that news organizations were forced to produce profits was the day truth began to be sacrificed for cash. Edward R. Murrow, David Brinkley -- and others who aspired to be in their lofty company -- worked in an environment in which facts mattered more than eye balls or readership. Those days are long gone. 'News' sells. The bloodier, the more confrontational, the more controversial, the better. Were it not the case, there might be other Murrows, other Brinkleys among us. Were it not the case, Trump and the GOP would be widely seen for what they are: criminals and accomplices.
I was born almost 71 years ago to a Christian mother and Jewish father. My mother insisted that I be baptized so that I would have a document proving that I was not Jewish. I never would have dreamed that a time would come again that I might need it, but as schools ban The Diary of Anne Frank and Maus, it is no longer unimaginable. I’ve not had the opportunity to visit the camps, but a trip to the Holocaust Museum in DC left me gasping as I got back outside into the fresh air.
Remember Murrow with London and again during Joe McCarthy but never Vienna. Calling out Lake and her fellow travelers ( possibly a mixed metaphor there) should be straightforward but today it is not. You, Steve, speak in clear tones, but whom else? Who can hold up the mirror on them for all to see? We need an Oscar Wilde Dorian Gray image what can expose the evil found inside. Can see “ how “but not the “ the who” can deliver. Open to suggestions
Keep calling this out, Steve. Remembering keeps the horrors relevant. “Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.” - Elie Wiesel
Calling Steve Schmidt, calling Steve Schmidt, we await the message of truth in your reports. Thank you for providing Mr. Murrows voice and words to show the truth of Fascism. We can not repeat the atrocities of our mutual past. This version of the republican party wants to regulate thoughts by book banning because their delicate ears can not stand to hear the truth. God help us all. Please vote blue for the survival of our great country before we become our worst nightmares.
In 1980 I visited Dachau. The night before a German friend told me that going would ruin my entire day and to think twice about making the trip. I was 25. I have never forgotten this experience. The feeling as the train got closer to the camp, the heaviness that descended as I entered, walked around, the despair. It is not something you forget. I have often said everyone should visit one of the camps, it changes you.
Steve we owe you soooo much for being a North Star and ragging against the evil of MAGA and Republicans.
https://apple.news/A4WE_GW6ySWy8Ua7T0wqtdg
Brian Stelter said, “We must make sure we do not give a platform to those who are lying to our faces.”
Definitely, “Friday reflections: the lie and the truth aren't equal”.
Listening to Edward Morrow gave me absolute chills.
I remember my History books in Secondary school. The pictures. The horrendous sights. I was terrified.
It is absolutely inconceivable to me, how anyone would have the gall to even deny this truth.
Look at “ The Idiot” ( I won’t text his name) who lied about the Children at Sandy Hook.
It is a small scale, that reached the masses.
That hidden in Germany, those lies hidden and not spoken of, on a scale of extermination.
Humans are just the cruelest of Species.
Only through education and truth do we remain Humane.
Thank you. Steve! Brilliant as always. I have tremendous respect for your writing, heart, and truth. You again, have my Vote for President.
I enjoyed your respectful appreciation of Edward R. Murrow, Steve. My parents came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War, and the names and personalities of that time and those events were frequently evoked in our home as I was growing up, FDR and Murrow among them. And Auschwitz, and Buchenwald, too, as the likely end-points of the lives of the remnants of my family that never made it out of Eastern Europe; those who failed to emigrate with my grandparents in the wake of the First World War and who were destroyed by fascism. The lived experience of the two generations that preceded me was my introduction to historic anti-Semitism. My first personal encounters with it came from Catholic classmates, children I shared classrooms with, and played with on our suburban elementary school playground, who informed me, with certainty, that they learned from the priest in their after-school religious instruction class that, “the Jews killed Jesus.” Unfortunately, this was official and perfidious Church Doctrine into our own lifetimes. You hear that as a child, and you learn to recognize it every time it reappears, casually or pointedly, blatantly or insidiously, in one form or another, for the rest of your life. It’s meant to delegitimize you, judgment passed by both ignorant and highly educated thugs and bigots, who seek the assent and knowing approval of their own kind, and toward their own ends. Like a social herpes, viral anti-Semitism enters the body and lodges there forever, quiescent or else triggered to re-emerge by design, or circumstances, or malign intent. And this time around, the malign intent is Republican. I wish I could view Kari Lake as an aberration, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and all the rest of them that speak out loud, or in code, but I fear we’ve emerged from one pandemic only to find ourselves in the midst of another, as anti-Semitism rises around the world.
I thank you for your vigilance and your unsparing words, Steve. And for the reminder of Edward R, Murrow, a brave, and decent, and complicated man who picked up the fight where he found it, and stayed with it to the end. And who didn’t let the fascists kill democracy.
Trust is earned in drops, and lost in buckets. Yes indeed. Appreciate you!
Perhaps the most sad part of Steve’s article, is the need to remind Americans about the Holocaust, it’s causes and parallels that can sadly be related to today’s current political and social condition.
The attempts to turn back the clock to an age and time that some Americans believe wa safe and the “Real” America.
The Real America is a country that has grown because of the multitude of contributions made by people who were not born hear. Or born of parents who were not born here. We refuse to recognize our diversity as strength and opportunity. Why?
I think fear has overtaken our view of America as the Land of Opportunity. Opportunity deniers are as bad as election deniers.
Fear and exploitation of fear is the fuel that is running our current path.
I lived in Arizona for 31 years, and knew of Kari Lake as what I saw as a reasonable newscaster. Since I moved away nine years ago, I had no idea how far she has fallen. Perhaps she hasn’t fallen, and she was always this way, we just didn’t see it. I have been shocked to watch this woman who used to deliver the evening news spew crazy stuff. I keep saying what the hell happened in Arizona? Then I remember Ev Mecham. Not to mention sheriff Joe. I guess this is nothing new for Arizona after all!
I once asked you in a tweet if you were going to get involved in helping the Democrats shape their messaging for the 2022 elections. I think your decision to write /call out very explicitly what is happening in our country is very powerful. Thank you for the time you are spending to shine a light on the 3 alarm issues facing every American today, and to educate and open the eyes of so many Americans who have fallen down the rabbit hole of lies, deceit, treachery, and Nazism.
I also thank you for shining your spotlight on the many Democratic candidates around the country who need all of our help in and getting elected.
To mobilize and co-opt a people, a convenient enemy must be manufactured. Throughout history, the Jews have served in this capacity repeatedly. Had my grandfather not foreseen the power and intent of Hitler and failed to flee eastern Europe, I might not be here writing this. Sadly, Trump and the GOP are using us again. Openly, in broad daylight.
Couple that with a news media that, for the most part, stands by and either fosters anti-Semitism or benignly supports it by remaining silent. The day that news organizations were forced to produce profits was the day truth began to be sacrificed for cash. Edward R. Murrow, David Brinkley -- and others who aspired to be in their lofty company -- worked in an environment in which facts mattered more than eye balls or readership. Those days are long gone. 'News' sells. The bloodier, the more confrontational, the more controversial, the better. Were it not the case, there might be other Murrows, other Brinkleys among us. Were it not the case, Trump and the GOP would be widely seen for what they are: criminals and accomplices.
I was born almost 71 years ago to a Christian mother and Jewish father. My mother insisted that I be baptized so that I would have a document proving that I was not Jewish. I never would have dreamed that a time would come again that I might need it, but as schools ban The Diary of Anne Frank and Maus, it is no longer unimaginable. I’ve not had the opportunity to visit the camps, but a trip to the Holocaust Museum in DC left me gasping as I got back outside into the fresh air.
As always, thank you for your clear eyed views.
This isn’t anywhere near the importance of this article but it does hit the nail on the head… “ She is also a weapons-grade imbecile.”
It’s stunning to me and if our democracy survives what future political science will say about 2000-2024
Remember Murrow with London and again during Joe McCarthy but never Vienna. Calling out Lake and her fellow travelers ( possibly a mixed metaphor there) should be straightforward but today it is not. You, Steve, speak in clear tones, but whom else? Who can hold up the mirror on them for all to see? We need an Oscar Wilde Dorian Gray image what can expose the evil found inside. Can see “ how “but not the “ the who” can deliver. Open to suggestions
FDR was deeply under appreciated as a Wartime Commander in Chief. For a new look see:
FDR At War, Boxed Set: The Mantle of Command, Commander in Chief, and War and Peace
by Nigel Hamilton. Get it at your local Library or purchase from your local bookseller.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0358376548/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_9SV5VFP1V279K8C443XC