Contemplating awareness… I took a stab at that the other day, here in the Daily Post, with a column on ‘Great Leadership’.
Awareness – or, let’s say, perception – results from the manner in which we take in, and process, what we’re hearing, seeing and reading. And with everything in the news these days, you can go nuts, trying to get a handle on current events.
Awareness begins, it seems to me, when you get old enough to overhear what adults are talking about, even when they think you’re not listening.
As a youngster hearing conversations in our household, I became aware of troubling global events that had occurred, several years, previously, during World War II. There was talk about Fascists and Fascism, and about the radical-right dictators in Europe… Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. The Italian politician, Mussolini, led the National Fascist Party. Mussolini inspired other totalitarian rulers, including the dictator, Hitler, who led the Nazi Party in Germany. As a youngster, I began associating the two dictators with World War II crimes against humanity.
Socialism – that, too – I became aware of, when I was a kid, from hearing about Joseph Stalin, who led the Communist Party in the old Soviet Union. While there are differences between Socialism and Communism, people, sometimes, tend to associate the one with the other.
I’m not sure if the term, ‘radical right,’ was being used, back then, to describe politicians in the Mussolini and Hitler regimes, but those two despotic leaders were ultra-conservative, just as Stalin and his minions might have been labeled as radical-left Socialists.
Occasionally, starting a couple of years ago, I’ve written about Republicans branding Democrats as radical Socialists. I don’t recall hearing much, if anything, about the Dems branding Republicans as radical Fascists.
Various Democrats might lean left, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re radical lefties or radical Socialists. Just as right-leaning Republicans may not be radical-right Fascists. Politicians in both political parties may, very well, be moderate, middle of the roaders.
So, let’s see if we understand this.
Labeling Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders — even AOC — as Socialists or Commies? That’s a stretch, thinking they could be Joseph Stalin wannabes. Especially President-Elect Biden, who’s been a moderate Democrat during his decades in government. Really now, can you picture any these Democrats slaughtering folks they don’t see eye-to-eye with, or planning a coup d’etat?
The same goes for various Republicans — even a Ted Cruz, a Lindsey Graham, or a Ron Johnson — to name a few. Leaning right and being Conservative doesn’t necessarily mean they’re Fascist Mussolini or Hitler wannabes.
But having said this, there was that troubling, Trump photo-op, described in the media as Mr. Trump’s “Mussolini moment,” when, after his release from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center for COVID treatment, he stood on the White House balcony for several minutes, standing at attention and jutting out his jaw, almost exactly as I recall Mussolini doing in TV newsreels, years ago.
And there’s also that nagging news about President Trump resisting the peaceful transfer of power from his administration to the incoming Biden administration. And, lately, he’s been getting rid of folks on his own team for alleged disloyalty. Thankfully, he’s only firing them, like he fired people on that reality show he appeared on, years ago.
There’s that… and not more… hopefully!
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.