Humanity is once again living in troubled, divisive and dangerous times

By Lethbridge Herald on January 31, 2025.

Al Beeber – Leave It To Beeber

It’s time to start remembering some history

“God loves me, same god loves you

Same god loved Hitler and 6 million Jews

Must be a con who won’t come down from the mount

We do a death dance he does a body count.”

While those lyrics from a Headstones song called “Heart of Darkness” refer to addiction – “Seduced by the bottle and the warmth of a syringe …”- the words are starting to resonate with me when I look at the dark cloud of intolerance that is swiftly enveloping the world.

The Nazi-esque salute by Elon Musk, the swift removal of migrants by Donald Trump and his deeply concerning efforts to “buy” Greenland as well as his comments about Canada becoming a 51st state of the United States should have all people who believe in humanity worried.

We’ve seen in the past the rise of political leaders swept to power by popular support who use that power for nefarious means.

During the week that we solemnly acknowledged International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday, we are reminded of the circumstances that led to the genocide of the Jewish people and so many others because of their political beliefs, their nationality, their sexuality and their mental capacity.

And we have reason to fear the circumstances that led to such evil being unleashed upon mankind could possibly happen again because we have not learned from the past.

We are living in dangerous and divisive times. We are living in an era when friends are now possibly enemies, when the peace and freedoms we in this country have been privileged to enjoy now are suddenly facing the cloud of doubt because of the increasing rise of intolerance.

Anti-semitism is nothing new, it’s pathetically existed for eons and it is rising. But intolerance of all kinds is increasing and not just in the United States, we see it everywhere around the globe as the diseased ideologies of the extreme right rear their ugly head once again.

History has shown too often at the expense of too many lives that extremist policies do no good and result in horrific harm. Communism was an unmitigated failure, which like Nazism, cost millions of innocent lives as it was imposed upon. And it still wreaks havoc upon people in this world whose right to live their lives on their own terms have been squashed by the extremist leaders of their nations.

The threat of American tariffs may not be a military threat against Canada but the economic impacts can have horrible consequences as well. But those who blindly support the new American leader are oblivious to the fact – or are afraid to stand up to him – that any economic action against Canada will hurt that country as well.

What is the point of this American aggression? Why is Elon Musk giving Nazi salutes? Who in America is going to stand up against it, who in Canada, Denmark or anywhere else can? Why is Tesla still selling cars when its owner is telling a campaign rally of a far right rally in Germany, “I think you really are the best hope for Germany” and that there is “frankly too much of a focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that.”

We as human beings cannot afford to move beyond the memory of the horrific cruelty of the Nazi regime that overran Europe and killed millions upon millions of people including those six million Jews. We cannot or history may very well repeat itself.

We need to stand up against oppression of all kinds, extremism from both sides of the political spectrum, or we are doomed to suffer the injustices and the misery of the past. And that includes we who until now have been protected from the misery inflicted upon residents of so many other countries.

We need to be aware humanity is once again living in a troubled period of our existence. We need to collectively – regardless of the country we call home, regardless of our political views, regardless of our religious views – stand up against oppression in all its forms and in all its ugliness.

Or history will repeat itself.

And we will find ourselves in the position of the narrator of the Headstones song: “I live my life like a terminal patient, I don’t make plans just funeral arrangements.”