But Then It Was Too Late

Guest Author Uncategorized

This is from the always worth reading Kaye Lee at The Australian Independent Media – I hope she will forgive me for reblogging without her express permission (and I note that several Pubkateers have commented already).

(Image Credit: Daily Fumes)

An excerpt from They Thought They Were Free – The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer:

What no one seemed to notice was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in civilian defense, or even to vote. All this has little, really nothing, to do with knowing one is governing.

What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.

This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.

The dictatorship, and the whole process of its coming into being, was above all diverting. It provided an excuse not to think for people who did not want to think anyway. I do not speak of your ‘little men,’ your baker and so on; I speak of my colleagues and myself, learned men, mind you. Most of us did not want to think about fundamental things and never had. There was no need to. Nazism gave us some dreadful, fundamental things to think about—we were decent people—and kept us so busy with continuous changes and ‘crises’ and so fascinated, yes, fascinated, by the machinations of the ‘national enemies,’ without and within, that we had no time to think about these dreadful things that were growing, little by little, all around us. Unconsciously, I suppose, we were grateful. Who wants to think?

To live in this process is absolutely not to be able to notice it—please try to believe me—unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us had ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, ‘regretted,’ that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these ‘little measures’ that no ‘patriotic German’ could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head.

How is this to be avoided, among ordinary men, even highly educated ordinary men? Frankly, I do not know. I do not see, even now. Many, many times since it all happened I have pondered that pair of great maxims, Principiis obsta and Finem respice—‘Resist the beginnings’ and ‘Consider the end.’ But one must foresee the end in order to resist, or even see, the beginnings. One must foresee the end clearly and certainly and how is this to be done, by ordinary men or even by extraordinary men? Things might have. And everyone counts on that might.

Your ‘little men,’ your Nazi friends, were not against National Socialism in principle. Men like me, who were, are the greater offenders, not because we knew better (that would be too much to say) but because we sensed better. Pastor Niemöller spoke for the thousands and thousands of men like me when he spoke (too modestly of himself) and said that, when the Nazis attacked the Communists, he was a little uneasy, but, after all, he was not a Communist, and so he did nothing; and then they attacked the Socialists, and he was a little uneasier, but, still, he was not a Socialist, and he did nothing; and then the schools, the press, the Jews, and so on, and he was always uneasier, but still he did nothing. And then they attacked the Church, and he was a Churchman, and he did something—but then it was too late.

You see, one doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.

Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, ‘everyone’ is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You know, in France or Italy there would be slogans against the government painted on walls and fences; in Germany, outside the great cities, perhaps, there is not even this. In the university community, in your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or ‘You’re an alarmist.’

And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic. You are left with your close friends, who are, naturally, people who have always thought as you have.

Now, in small gatherings of your oldest friends, you feel that you are talking to yourselves, that you are isolated from the reality of things. This weakens your confidence still further and serves as a further deterrent to—to what? It is clearer all the time that, if you are going to do anything, you must make an occasion to do it, and then you are obviously a troublemaker. So you wait, and you wait.

But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.

And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.

You have gone almost all the way yourself. Life is a continuing process, a flow, not a succession of acts and events at all. It has flowed to a new level, carrying you with it, without any effort on your part. On this new level you live, you have been living more comfortably every day, with new morals, new principles. You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined.

Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven’t done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing). You remember those early meetings of your department in the university when, if one had stood, others would have stood, perhaps, but no one stood. A small matter, a matter of hiring this man or that, and you hired this one rather than that. You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair.

Note: Thanks to mars08 for this chilling reminder

958 thoughts on “But Then It Was Too Late”

  1. foreverjanice

    Kaffee,
    Since the conservatives are generally a racist lot, it amazes me that HoJo is admired so much

    True but HoJo has three big things going for him. firstly he is very rich. secondly as a non Anglo type he knows his place. Tony Abbott when coaching HoJo at rugger bugger training decked HoJo. He accepted this and learnt where he really stands. Thirdly and very importantly his complexion colour is of an acceptable hue.

  2. Kaffee,
    I agree with you re Coonan’s hair/makeup. She has been doing a mutton dressed up as lamb for years but the older she gets the more she looks like a transvestite dolled up for a gay mardigras.

  5. foreverjanice

    a transvestite dolled up for a gay mardigras

    You expressed it perfectly. Thank you . That is the phrase that will come to mind whenever I see her.

  8. Ms Coonan has always been trashy. Decades ago she used to be a regular on an ABC thing, maybe it was Monday Conference, maybe not. Back then she had frizzy, teased bleached hair and favoured heavy black eyeliner in rings around her eyes. As my nan use to say, she looked like she should have been hanging around Palmer Street. Older Sydneysiders will understand, the rest of youse can use your imagination.

    Coonan kept the black panda eyes until quite recently, althought she did tone down the big hair.. I’ve often wondered if Peta Credlin copied her panda eyes from Coonan, she used to work for her.

  10. There is a story about Ms Coonan’s days as a law student at Sydney Uni and her starring role in the annual Law Revue – which required the wearing of breast plates.

    Allegedly, a couple of galvanised metal rubbish bin lids were pressed into service …

  11. BLIMEY!

    What I am just watching on 7.30 doesn’t look too good for Abbott’s favourite Immigration/Defense & anything else that fits, Minister!

    But don’t get too excited. This mob are well versed in covering their backsides and anything else that needs to be covered.

    If all else fails, their MSM minders make sure that no blame ever finds its way in their direction!

    In another universe, Morrison, Abbott & the rest of the rabble would be on their way to madame Guillotine by now.

  12. Oops, I exaggerated a little:

    The University of Sydney’s law revue must have been quite something in 1970. Among the organisers were David Marr (LLB ’71) and Nicholas Cowdery (BA ’68, LLB ’71), who went on to achieve prominence for other talents. And one of its stars was a feisty blonde called Helen Lloyd (LLB ’71). The audience roared when Lloyd took to the stage on a motorbike, loudly singing a patriotic tune while wrapped in the Australian flag. She also wore a helmet, in the style of Britannia, and two Holden hubcaps as breastplates.

    Click to access 2006-spring-profile.pdf

  13. Tara Moss reveals disturbing details about the murder on Manus

    Journalist, author, television presenter and former model Tara Moss, has today revealed information she received from a contact of hers who, in a disturbing turn of events, can no longer be reached for confirmation that he is okay.

    In a chilling re-telling of Reza Berati’s final moments, she describes what was told to her shortly after it occurred. Maintaining her decency and integrity, she first waited for confirmation of the details before speaking out:

    “I have been struggling with the ethics of sharing this information, but now, as the info I was given has been corroborated elsewhere, I feel I must: One of my long standing crime research contacts informed me of what happened on Manus Island, shortly after it happened. He is currently stationed there and worked on the now deceased Mr Reza Berati for 20 minutes before he passed. He described Mr Berati as an ‘exemplary human being’ showing ‘all the hallmarks’ of someone who would be ‘an asset to any community’. My contact, who wished to remain anonymous because they all sign confidentiality contracts, gave me a full run down on the events, before the details became public: the ’20+ shots fired’ (not ‘a couple’ as previously claimed). The spent shells. The evacuation of staff (but not asylum seekers) before the violence began. The fact that people from outside came in and opened fire on the people there. The fact that it happened deep within the compound where people were trapped, far from the entry gate. All of his info has proved true so far. Every last detail. And though he is stationed there, and can’t speak publicly, he wanted me to know that many of the staff there are excellent, highly-qualified expat Australians doing the best they can in bad conditions, but that Manus Island detention centre should be shut down as unsafe. Since this conversation, my contact has been unreachable and I have not been able to get any further info or to find out if he is okay.”

    http://leesalittle.com/2014/02/24/tara-moss-reveals-disturbing-details-about-the-murder-on-manus/

  16. One of my favourite bits of trivia is that the first electric chair (for the purpose of executions) was invented by a dentist.

  17. Fiona, I clicked on your link expecting to see Coonan wearing those EH Holden hubcaps and was shattered to see…………………………………..

    Well, nothing much at all!

    I can guarantee that that would have made my night.

  20. Fiona was right about Coonan and the hubcaps. I’ve heard that story many times, and it’s always about Helen. She made quite an impression on the young Nicholas Cowdery-

    Click to access 2006-spring-profile.pdf

    Crikey told the same story, with a picture.
    http://www.crikey.com.au/2006/09/21/nice-hubcaps-senator/?wpmp_switcher=mobile

    and a mention in the SMH –
    http://www.smh.com.au/news/letters/everlasting-growth–a-lottery-with-very-poor-odds/2006/09/18/1158431642737.html?page=5

  22. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-24/no-evidence-that-wind-farms-cause-health-problems-nhmrc/5280790

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-24/no-resolution-in-dispute-between-liberals-and-nationals-over-th/5280598

  24. That story about “Hub caps” raises my opinion of her by heaps. What went wrong after that ? Shoulda seen my effort in wetsuit , flippers, bishops Mitre complete with tap connected to a bag of beer inside from which I poured myself a pint. Ahhh happy idiot student days.

  26. If Ms Coonan went Liebral, that would kill any sense of humour. Not very sexy or fun, is our average Aussie conservative. They make the Cromwell seem a barrel of laughs.

  27. The tired old ‘We didn’t say that, you just thought we did’ excuse is trotted out again, this time by Bookshelves Brandis on the hand over of cabinet documents.

    On Monday night the shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said Brandis needed to explain his earlier claims that no documents had been handed over. Dreyfus said the public had heard “three different positions from the government on the same day”.

    Brandis told Sky News the opposition had confused “the two issues of whether the documents would be supplied and whether the documents would be made public”.
    Brandis told Sky News the opposition had confused “the two issues of whether the documents would be supplied and whether the documents would be made public”

  28. Fiona

    He is best described by the public school boy terms ‘prig’ and ‘snot’ . Surprisingly being a ‘snot’ at my school 12,000 miles and centuries away had the same meaning.

    Slang A person regarded as annoying, arrogant, or impertinent.

    1350–1400; Middle English snotte; compare Old English gesnot, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch snotte, Dan snot

  30. Fiona,

    Not quite sure if they are EH hubcaps or HQ ones from that photo.

    Going by the size of them, probably more likely HQ! 😉 They are smaller than EH ones! 😉

  31. Brandis, like Bish’ sen’. , like Pyne, like Dutton, like Mesma, like Hockey, like Abbott….is just another fake!….little knowledge, a lot of bluff and huge overburden of buffoonery….the lot of them..rubbish.

  35. I can’t say anything about the effigy getting the cut, as I was quite indignant about the treatment of PMJG. So you will find I am quickly muting my snickers, as I do not want to be a hypocrite.

  36. Fiona,

    Perhaps somewhere in the middle, eh?

    Or maybe the whole thing was nothing but an illusion and there was nothing there to start with! 😉

  38. Scorps,
    Given that fellow law students described the then Miss Lloyd as “buxom” and “statuesque”, I’m sure there was something under those hubcaps.

  40. 5 minute into Q and A and that fuck knuckle Tony Jones is already trying to blame the ALP for the Manus Island disaster.
    Jobes should justPiss off to newscorp already instead if using my taxes to polish the liberal/ Abbott turd.

  41. Fiona,

    [ I’m sure there was something under those hubcaps ]

    Kerry Packer said that I had a look and there was nothing there!

    I gotta leave it to KP. If anyone would know, he would have! 😉

  43. I stupidly thought I might give Q&A a go tonight – Albo, Ged Kearny – but a couple of seconds of Jamie Briggs brought me to my senses. Some frack-knuckle keeps saying the little twerp is future PM material. On what planet?

  45. Hey, click onto Q&A.

    The Rabble are really grabbing onto anything that that can now.

    Lots of Libs in the audience which makes it quite a humorous piece tonight.

    Tony Jones looking more and more idiotic every week now.

    Pity somebody in the ABC couldn’t tap him on the shoulder & let him know how idiotic he comes across.

    TJ giving Palmer plenty of rope tonight.

    Don’t think the Libs will be too impressed!

  48. Tony Jones seems to be too stupid to realise that he is not only observed by those watching the program that he is the moderator etc for, but that he is also being observed and commented upon buy a heap of bloggers that the people who control the media output of the MSM cannot control.

    Worse still, he is working his butt off trying to defend the indefensible…………………

  49. Fiona,
    If I remember correctly it was you that suggested the picture for my gravatar. I just cropped it down.
    So, thankyou. I like it too.

  50. Not only that, I do not have one skeric of sympathy for the likes of TJ that are gutless bastards that would do whatever to ensure their pay cheques keep coming and would follow whatever line that they thought would give them the most benefit.

    If Labor come good in the next election. then I hope the first thing they do is give him his pink slip!

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