By: Lisa M. Hayes – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
Formally titled “Leading Minister” or “Chief Minister” (Leitender Minister).
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. He was one of Adolf Hitler’s close associates and most devoted followers and was known for his skills in public speaking and his deep, virulent antisemitism, which was evident in his publicly voiced views. He advocated progressively harsher discrimination, including the extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust.
I think in modern terms we would say among other things Goebbels was Hitler’s press person. He played the German media, or what was left of it, like a finely tuned instrument to stir up propaganda. Everyone recognized his face because he made certain of it.
So, I’d like you to imagine being a restaurant owner and what you’d do if Goebbels walked in and sat down at one of your tables. I know that is an inflammatory and confronting thought but ponder it anyway.
I used to be very uncomfortable with the comparisons between Nazi Germany and modern-day U.S. politics. I thought it was a quick and easy shot. Now I’m growing increasingly uneasy that we’re not uncomfortable enough. That analogy has been tossed out so many times it’s started to lose its sting. We may very well be witnessing history replay itself on our watch. Given today’s SCOTUS ruling upholding the travel ban and the crisis at the border putting children in cages, it seems more than a mellow dramatic storyline.
So, if I was a restaurant owner, obviously, I wouldn’t serve Goebbels. You probably wouldn’t either. I wouldn’t eat in a restaurant that did. Would you?
And for the record, I wouldn’t serve the world’s most potent daughter of the patriarchy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders either.
Recently White House staffers publicly complained it was hard for them to date in D.C. They whined that the moment people found out they worked in the inner sanctum of Trump they were met with angry vitriol from potential matches. Even when they didn’t lead with what should be an attractive resume point, in the age of Google, your true identity is only a few clicks away. And you know, that makes sense. Would you date Goebbels??? Would you date someone who worked in the inner realm of the Nazi elite?
I saw a post yesterday on Facebook from a liberal friend regarding Sarah Sanders suggesting as humans we should do better. She suggested that humans should be more loving to humans. It’s just her job to spew that anger, hate, and those lies, right??
Maybe it is her job. However, she’s the message bringer of one of the most dangerous regimes in the history of the world. To the best of our knowledge, she’s not being held against her will in that building. Sarah Sanders routinely berates the press and discredits their work. She is carrying the torch of an Alt-right pandering President who is remaking both U.S. and world politics with an agenda for profit and whiteness.
So, yes, she is doing her job.
And so was Goebbels.
Civility is a thing that matters in society.
However, when civility becomes an excuse for passively entertaining evil we risk losing everything we know about our civilization. Sometimes love says no.
Once long ago, there was a young evangelist/anarchist who walked into a market (temple court) and in a fit of rage tore it apart. He drove out all the buyers and everyone who was selling things. He left the place in shambles and walked out unapologetic. It wasn’t civil. (Matthew 21:12-13)
Would you serve Sarah Sanders?
I think I know what Jesus would do.
More by Lisa:
This Is Not Who We Are – Except It Is and It Always Has Been
Lisa M. Hayes, Senior Editor of Confluence Daily.
Confluence Daily is the one place where everything comes together. The one-stop for daily news for women.
