Guest Shot - Rebranding

by Heinz Brummel

Heinz Brummel is a Minneapolis-based artist and intellectual activist.

Hidden in farm country and only 30 kilometers out of the major city Munich, I visited Dachau this year. Finally.... at the age of 62. It is something I always felt I needed to do as a man born to parents raised under the "Hakenkreuz" of the Third Reich. My ancestors' history...my own "blood and soil" is dark and complicated to say the least. 

Part of every young person's schooling in Germany is to visit such a camp. Initiation. Introduction to the shadow side. It is a painful enlightening inoculation. Never again! Some of these "Lagers" are considered holy places now. Sacred sites where clenched throat wet eyed silence and dumbfoundedness prevail among all of the modern pilgrims who enter the wrought iron gates tattooed....Arbeit Macht Frei. It was one of the most important and meaningful experiences of my life. It needs to be said that there were many camps like these all over Germany and Europe for the "Unerwunschte"...literally meaning "the unwanted ones ". We only hear about the famous killing machines like Auschwitz in the our history books. But these were the many simple "work" camps hidden all over the country, on farmland, at the village and city limits. "Designed" for the doctors, musicians, farmers, artists, intellectuals, lawyers, gays, Gypsies, the Polish...and Jews. The list goes on. Women had their own special camps. In fact...."home" for anyone who was deemed a threat, non productive, genetic scum and worthless. Any one who wouldn't Seig Heil. One's fate was detention and slave labor until you perished....melted away. Compost. Stardust. The "snowflakes "....all ghosts. 

In light of all of the ugliness that is parading as (how ironic) ACLU endorsed "alt right" freedom of speech and assembly these days....I say bulllshit! Enough.... and never again! 

The philosopher Karl Popper wisely said.....
(1) a tolerant society should be tolerant by default. Adding.....(2) With one exception: it should not tolerate intolerance itself.

For future legal argument.....Do you hear that ACLU? 

Intolerance should NEVER be tolerated under the banner of some intellectual moral relativism disguised as constitutionally allowed freedom of assembly and speech. Especially when the free speech is all about " jack boot squashing" the tolerance that allowed it in the first place. Huh?! 

This knowledge is born out of terrible history. Removing the rose colored glasses now and forever....these sorts of films, images and heart wisdom should become part and parcel of every school's curriculum....required viewing/learning.....for every child/adult in the United States. Sadly.... it certainly seems to be a required refresher course for our new Fuhrer and his hateful minions as well. They might also do well to learn the meaning of the words "empathy and compassion". 

That said, I for one, will never allow the new word "alt-right" to become a part of my lexicon! It is simply a clever rebranding. Like a new deodorant or soda pop. KFC is and always will be Kentucky Fried Chicken. A turd is still a turd whether covered by a white bed sheet or country club golf wear. Warning.... if you associate with poop you will eventually be tainted by the stink yourself. (Time for a "lite" shower.... you old school Republicans). Let's name this ugly socio-political phenomenon for what it really is. Nazism. 

Lastly....in the interest of serious national healing, we finally need to address our own dark history.....the legacy of slavery and the genocide of the Indigenous Peoples. These are still deep and weeping, open wounds that need acknowledgment, genuine contrition and reparations. Care and tender "balming" is required to heal.....not the obscene, salt and dirt of recent days. Nor of the weeks, months, years....and yes....decades of our complex and obviously still painful history.  

Are we capable of that? We simply must be. Shalom.