Friday, April 20, 2012

First they came...

First they came for the "terrorists",
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a "terrorist".



THE PRESIDENT'S QUOTES ON ISLAM
Then they came for the Muslims,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Muslim.
NYPD spying program aimed at Muslims 
Abject bigotry at the New York Post 
The real criminals in the Tarek Mehanna case
First They Come for the Muslims 
Personalizing civil liberties abuses
Then they came for the protesters, activists and dissenters,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a protester, activivist or dissenter.
Pentagon Rebrands Protest as “Low-Level Terrorism” 
In Modern America, Questioning War Is Considered Terrorism 
Truthers and Terrorists: Questioning 9/11 Is Becoming An Increasingly Dangerous Use of Free Speech
The incoming police state - part II 
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.



The original poem by Martin Niemöller (from: First they came…):
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. 
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. 
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Update 1: 
Federal judge complicity

Update 2: August 11, 2012
I left two comments to Glenn Greenwald's, "Combating Islamophobic violence":
Thursday, Aug 9, 2012 02:51 PM EDT

First they came for the "terrorists"...
Then they came for the Muslims...

------------------------------------------------

Saturday, Aug 11, 2012 01:05 PM EDT
 
Of course, the above comes from the famous poem by Milton Mayer:
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Any hate crime is unforgivable, unconscionable and should be punished as such. It's even more dangerous to society when hatred towards a minority group becomes institutionalized and normalized by the government and the media. From Naomi Wolf's book, "End of America", the first step from morphing from an open society to a closed one is, "Identify a terrifying real or perceived threat." This is exactly what happened in Nazi Germany where six million Jews were hideously, inhumanely and systematically executed. Muslims are now being used as this threat in the US.

I think the best way to remember, honor and respect the Holocaust victims is to prevent it from ever happening again.

Wikipedia: First they came...
Fascist America, in 10 easy steps
Documentary: End of America
Garrison to honor deceased at Holocaust remembrance