This Tool Used to Shut Down Verbal Opposition

To The Editor:
Want to know how the Nazi government browbeat Austria into willing submission? Kitty Werthmann, a live witness, testifies how it all worked. You can watch her entire testimony at The South Dakota Family Policy Council Web site: www.sdfamily.org/Kitty+Werthmann.
Werthmann had a relative that owned a little, yet successful restaurant. The newly-elected Nazi regime sent officials to private businesses to “improve” their safety compliance. They told her relative, “Replace your square tables with round tables. People could get hurt on those square edges.”
The restaurant complied, yet that was not the end of the orders. That restaurant and other private businesses were driven to close their doors. Only large businesses survived. Ultimately we are so used to being ordered around that we have forgotten how to say no.
We are Americans. For example, a person picks up a shell on the beach and is confronted for hurting the ecosystem. Instead of averting their eyes and shamefully acknowledging guilt, they need to demand the official’s name, position and contact information. Only then drop the conch shell, contact legislators and demand action.
Even if they lose – wouldn’t if feel good? People throughout history dealt with bully tyrants. It wasn’t pretty. Many lost their lives defending their freedoms.
In 1979, as an exchange student in Cologne, Germany, I frequently argued with a German teenager that I knew. Frustrated, she finally blurted out at me, “You Americans – you don’t know what it is like. You just say whatever you think without fear of getting in trouble.” I was stunned. West Germany was a free country. It hit me years later. She was talking about political correctness.
Search for the video interviews of former KGB agent, Yuri Bezmonov. He spoke quite scientifically about political correctness. He explained how Communists used this tool, their tool, to shut down verbal opposition in free-speech countries.
Have any feisty grandparents that you remember?
My grandfather, a farmer, literally grew up in the old West. Cursing was his poetry; fistfights his sport, and bars his social activity. But he dealt honestly, worked hard into his old age, and fiercely protected his wife, children and grandchildren. One day my elderly grandpa got into an old fashioned fistfight with a man 20 years his junior over this man cursing in front of my brother. The man sued Grandpa to pay for his broken glasses.
My brother testified, describing every detail down to the man saying an expletive to Grandpa. “Wait a minute!” This western judge peered down at the plaintiff. “Did you say that to this boy?”
“Yes, your honor,” nodded the plaintiff.
“Buy your own damn glasses!” The gavel slammed down, case closed.
My point is that this was not all that long ago when judges upheld the right to defend your family. That generation of Americans stood up for themselves. Picture their reaction to a pencil pusher demanding they change their tables for safety’s sake. I envision more than words being thrown at him.
Be strong. Those before us risked all for our freedoms. Protect their sacrifices so those who come after us may inherit the same liberties.
CATHY DRISCOLL
Villas