FANATICS!!!

fanatic

[ fuh-nat-ik ]noun

1.   a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics.

adjective

2. fanatical.

fanatical

[ fuh-nat-i-kuhl ]

adjective

1. motivated or characterized by an extreme, uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics.

fanaticism

[ fuh-nat-uh-sahyz-uhm ]

noun

1. fanatical character, spirit, or conduct.

All of the above are taken from dictionary.com

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There is this TV show that was aired many moons ago that I adore. A Great Show in my opinion. I have not watched it in several years. A few weeks ago I saw that it was streaming on a free streaming service that I have access to. So I started watching it again, 1 episode a day.

10 days in I ran into this episode that I had forgotten about.

Now this show deals with a LOT of difficult subjects, and it has dealt with different types of Fanaticism throughout it's run in different ways. This show dealt with a very specific type of fanaticism in a very direct and explicate way. It was and is painful for me.

After about 3 minutes I turned the show off, as I had remembered it's content by this point, and did not pick it up again for about 2 weeks. And tonight I bit the bullet and watched it again. Painful. In the episode a young child lost their life because their parents could not see past their fanatical beliefs.

And after watching it I have, again, been reflecting on the current state of these United States. And I find myself deeply troubled by what I have been seeing for a long time now.

We have two sides of our political spectrum. On one side we see a bunch of middle of the road people who have no particular set of ideals who are trying to get along, who are AFRAID of the people who should be their base supporters and try to sideline them constantly, and thus keep getting their asses handed to them by the other side.

And on the other side we have a bunch of fanatics. People who believe that anyone who disagrees with them is not just wrong, that they are Enemies and Traitors who MUST be beaten and destroyed. People who are against anything that infringes on their "Freedom", which is never quite defined and very fungible at best.

And how do I know that these people are Fanatics? Because their leaders are ALWAYS right. Their sources of Information are NEVER to be questioned. Because their "Logic" is always shifting according to the latest pronouncements of the above to make them Right and anyone who disagrees Wrong.

And this reminds me so much of the 1930's in Europe. Much more Hitler's Nazis than Mussolini's Fascists, although they both have the same hallmarks.

And how did these people, and todays Nazis in America known as the Republican Party, twist otherwise sensible people into Slavering Fanatics who would commit atrocities in their name? Several ways:

1. Tell the big lie over and over again. And be aided and abetted by political opposition that is too polite to call out the lies and instead try to converse reasonably about it.
2. Control the flow and content of information to their followers through various outlets. In the old days Newspapers and Radio, today TV and the Internet.
3. Give them an enemy that they can blame for their problems. In the 1930's it was Jews, Liberals, Gays of different stripes, and Untermenschun, today it is the Government, the "Deep State", Liberals, Gay people of all sorts, and still People of Color.
4. Keep yelling the Big Lie and Blaming all of the above and be still aided and abetted by the polite opposition who is afraid to call you out for the Nazis that you are
5. A Perfect recipe for FANATIC Followers

And in case you cannot believe that todays Nazis, AKA Republicans, have committed atrocities, let us name a few:

• The Synagogue shooting of a few years ago for which the shooter has recently been given the death sentence.
• The shooting some years ago of the parishioners of a black church in which he had shown was a response to being fed information showing that they were to blame for his problems. He had been Radicalized by the Propaganda he was fed.
• Pretty much every single Mass Shooting in the last 2 decades can be traced back to the same process of Radicalization as the above.

These are just a few. Look around and see. Or, as I have said to a few people ion my time, prove me wrong. Go ahead.

So here we are today. On one side a bunch of very well meaning people who truly do believe in getting along and compromise and all the other hallmarks of what used to be the American Political System, and the other side who started a process of Divide and Conquer who have been totally swallowed by the beast that they created and can no longer control.

And neither side can see the other anymore. The one side because it is Constitutionally not capable of seeing this as it lost it's own Center a long time ago, and the other who is Constitutionally not capable of seeing those that disagree with them as being Human. They can only see Enemies.

So I am afraid. I am afraid that we are going to see another Civil War. That we are already in it in many ways and have yet to see that. And I believe that this Civil War will be much bloodier.

I am afraid that we are going to see "Reeducation" camps for the Political Opposition. And before you say that could never happen here I advise you to look at how quickly we cheered as they took away a whole bunch of our Freedoms in the name of "Security" in 2001 and 2002. And many other ways and times over the years.

I am afraid. I am afraid for my Country. I am afraid for my Planet. I am afraid for the Human Race. I am afraid.

And I wish that I was not.