Last week I was encouraging you to read Madeleine Albright's
Fascism: A Warning. What a relevant, scary, hopeful book. As Albright writes:
Some may view this book and its title as alarmist. Good. We should be awake to the assault on democratic values that has gathered strength in many countries abroad and that is dividing America at home. The temptation is powerful to close our eyes and wait for the worst to pass, but history tells us that for freedom to survive, it must be defended, and that if lies are to stop, they must be exposed.
Armed with the knowledge in this book, and by being aware of what is being done and said by our leaders and their followers, we can stand for the freedoms that we all cherish. We must be willing to take a step back and realize when style is being hawked over substance, and when double-speak rules the message. Albright continues:
Maybe we have grown so accustomed to receiving immediate satisfaction from our devices that we have lost patience with democracy's sluggish pace. Possibly, we have allowed ourselves to be manipulated by hucksters who pledge to deliver the world on a silver platter but have no clue how to make good on their promises. Perhaps we have been letting appearances -- the illusion of decisiveness, the breathless reporting of trivia, the faux drama of reality TV -- deceive and confuse us to the point that we can't recognize what is true, and instead believe with certainty what is not.
Amen to that. Let's all stay awake and vigilant.
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