“Wir Kleine Leute, We Little People.”

    A wave of indignation was born when the Trump Presidency hardened its treatment towards the migration problem. The sleeping majority awoke from its idle slumber of conformity or “minding my own business” and critiqued or condemned the separation of children from their parents in the United States.
The power of videos showing crying kids was more powerful than an empathy tied to common decency and sense. Some senior republicans also came out and made statements about the cruelty of such separations, Donald Trump tried to displace blame by pointing to the democrats. He has know signed an executive order which prohibits families being torn apart…they will now be locked together.

Few voices defended this posture, though they tried. As with the survivors of Florida’s school shooting, some vocal supporters of the Conservative party tried to discredit the victims. The crying children were actors was mentioned by that Mexican loving pundit Ann Coulter. Not even in my most deluded drug and alcohol induced trance could I have invented something of the sort keeping a straight face. The nature and the facts of this event speaks for itself and loud. Many compared the camps for the children with the holocaust, and though similarities do exist, the later aimed at mass extermination that only the power of technology can provide.

These comparisons led me to delve into the Germany of the world wars again, a topic I somehow always find myself going back to.
 

“They thought they were free: The Germans”, a book by Milton Mayer in which he interviews people which lived in Hitler’s Germany, everyday 9 to 5 sorts of fellows, or what politicians call: “YOU THE PEOPLE” when they desire something from the masses.
A janitor, office manager, baker, high school teacher, cabinet maker, soldier, bill collector, Police Officer were some of the occupations.

The revelation of the interviews is astounding. Most of them

have vivid recollection of that period as one of the happiest of their lives. The Weimar Republic had suffered greatly from unfair demands by the Treaty of Versailles but the blunt of the blow befall the masses of the country. By the period of Hitlers chancellery, Germany had already embarked on growth, and Germany was fully employed and housing conditions had improved.

The interviews when faced with questions of darker topics responded with comments as: “I never noticed”, or “that the only Jews taken to camps were traitors to Germany”. And their answers were not stained with political or ideological postures, or blood-thirst, but something which is just as deadly: The need for the automatic continuation of ordinary life, that force which hinders any forceful and lively action against horror.
Even as the rope tightened around the necks of german citizens, with lesser freedoms and loss of dignity, they did not react as the threat required.

The desire for normality is strong, it blinds and deafens. Documents illustrate that when some Nazi officers stood outside Jewish shops, many Jews were merely offended, not worried or anxious, just offended. 

When the hammer of justice fell, many Germans defense, especially in the Wehrmacht was that they were just following orders. I couldn't avoid thinking if ICE personnel felt the same or if they would spout that when future generations judge them about their role in the mistreatment of immigrant children.
Curiously, in the United States, no political leader demanded civil disobedience, just tweets or speeches, but not s single one asked for a boycott of the law and/or ICE.

Laws are an agreement that is meant to be followed. But what if the law is cruel and unjust? Many philosophers have pondered about this paradox. Should it still be observed? Or if it renounced its status as a law and hence must not be obeyed?
“I'm just doing my job” can be one of the vilest statements ever uttered by a human being during its lifetime.

Cool Hand Luke(1967) a film with Paul Newman in which, he plays the title role. A prisoner who is not happy with life (existentially) and the status quo; a natural rebel. In the middle of the film he receives news that his mother has passed away. Without having done anything, the warden puts him in solitary confinement because “prisoners do stupid things when their mothers die”. The officer who is locking Luke in solitary, ashamed, says: Sorry Luke, just doing my job…” Cool Hand Luke replies: “Calling it your job don’t make it right.”

Blindly obeying orders is the part that startles me the most, for it can lead to paths whose outcome ends up terrible for a section of a society. History shows that when governments do horrific things, most citizens focus on their own lives and the “sights which meet them in their daily rounds”. It is hard to demand ethical resistance from somebody who struggles to make ends meet and works more than 10 hours a day. Their mind is focused on something else. And we don’t have to go to such extremes, upper middle class and beyond also enjoy leisure and can avoid “intense” topics during their free or spare time.

Humans also suffer from dependency in relationships of “power” or “prestige”, be it a teacher, cleric, guru, leader, if he or she said so, we follow without using or own judgement to question or analyze. Our love or dependency on authority, or admiration makes us oblivious to facts. As children we take our parents words as law, ever when we are silenced when we make a “lethal” question about something and are met with an answer: “because it is”. Few grow out of this habit, I’ve met many university students, taught some, even PHDs from public, state, foreign universities, and most don’t practice self criticism, especially when dealing about beliefs and ideology. I guess we are afraid to “kill our gods and teachers”. I believe I am cursed because I have murdered so many gurus and gods (metaphorically).

At the end of the day, tyrants cannot get away with a lot if the masses don’t cooperate or remain still. It is essential for more active participation and civil disobedience. As Mexican philosopher Ignacio Bazan states: “I always quote Socrates: the unjust law must be followed and we must strive to change it -including civil disobedience- if you don’t do the latter you can’t stop following it”.