Beating Martin - On a

Beating Martin - On a local email politics discussion group, I asked a local liberal "exactly what liberties have you, or anyone, lost due to the Patriot Act".

He responded with Martin Niemöller's famous aphorism:

First they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out ­
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists
And I did not speak out ­
Because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out ­
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me ­
And there was no-one left
To speak out for me.

Of course, Niemöller wrote this when citizens had to choose between life and death - a Nazi firing squad or surrender to moral turpitude.

In this context, of course, it's analogous to the activists who overuse the term "Genocide" or "Fascist", invoking them whenever they feel the need to play a moral trump card. The left - especially that part of the left that thought libertarians were a bunch of paranoid Freepers during the nineties, but have become stiff-necked Madisonians since January 2001 - trots out Niemöller whenever they're stumped for a genuine response to that question.

So, as my personal service to the American left, I'd like to give you this - my update of Niemöller:

"First they came for the Branch Davidians, and I didn't speak out, because
they were nutbars."

"Then, they came to blow up the Jews, and I didn't speak out, because everyone tells me Israel is the REAL terrorist"

"Then they came for the Iraqi and Iranian and Sudanese and Syrian citizen who'd fallen into disfavor with his or her government - and I didn't speak out because hey, we're not the world's policeman, are we?"

"Then they came for the refugees from North Korea, but I didn't speak out, because that'd be siding with the Bush Administration.

"Then they came for the people who had killed 3,000 of my countrymen. And I stood up and said "hey, visualize world peace, maaaan".

Circulate it to your liberal, newfound-libertarian friends.

You're welcome.

Posted by Mitch at September 18, 2003 12:47 PM