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Letter From Jeremy
Letter From Jeremy
We need to talk
For the last 10 years I haven’t discussed politics or Millions of lives were lost in World War II because of the
beliefs with you, as I realize these discussions can be false and destructive ideas of Facism. I have always
difficult. Maybe I should have spoken up earlier? I been intrigued and troubled by how facism could lead
would have rather had a discussion around the average German and Italian citicizens to blindly follow
campfire or kitchen table in the past months but the the racist and destructive policies of Hitler and
border is closed and I don’t know when we will have Mussolini. If enough citizens resisted by using logical
the opportunity to pick this up in person. I hope this will reasoning, conversation, and action - I wonder how
re-open a conversation, which can take place now much violence could have been avoided? I believe in
while we are physically distant but also when we are the power of reason to arrive at true beliefs and that
able to be together. As I expect you are, I am troubled those beliefs are not based on hatred and division but
by the current state of American politics. I care about love and respect for others. I’m not calling anyone
you and your country, we are family and our “facist”. Facism is a social and political movement which
similarities are greater than our differences. Rational aims to
and thoughtful discourse is a foundation of our divide a
democratic societies and is how we can overcome the population in
division or percieved division that is present today. order for a
The issues in this letter are personal to me, less than strong leader
eighty years ago in Europe facists were systematically to take over
murdering millions of Jews, including, members of my and demand absolute loyalty. In this letter, I will define
family. My grandfather was fortunate to survive but had facism; provide examples of facism from history and
to change our family name, had his law licence present day; show why it hurts us all; and give ideas of
revoked, and fled his home country of Austria just how we can stop it. Please read this letter, think about it,
because of his race, he was a Jew. He fought facism and feel free to respond with your own thoughts in DM,
by helping others esape Austria, and then joined the email to [email protected], or give me a call
British Special Operations Executive to fight alongside 604-788-8548. I propose 4 ground rules for reading this
Americans and others liberating Europe from Facism. letter and thinking about beliefs and politics:
Re-imagining facism as a social and political ideology can help us recognize it as a series of false
beliefs as opposed to a strict comparator between a political movement today and Nazism.
Sowing Division
Facism uses division and fear as a wedge to divide We recognized the suffering of the Syrian people and
people and entrench power. The focus of these their intrinsic value as human beings, regardless of
divisions is race, political differences, and religion. racial and religious differences. Trump has called
Nazis blamed the Jews and Communists for corrupting countries “shitholes”; suggested many Mexican
their pure German race and society. In India today, immigrants are rapists and gangsters; and called the
Hindu Nationalists blame the minority Muslim Coronavirus, the “kung-flu”. Dehumanizing those
population for their problems. In his campaign and different than us normalizes and encourages: family
throughout his presidency, Trump has similarly sown separation policies which leave children alone in cages
division. He entered the political limelight by creating at the Southern border; inaction, disinterest, and denial
false rumours that President Obama was a non-citizen when unarmed Black Americans are killed at a
and Muslim (race and religion). He has placed blame disproportionately higher number than whites by police;
on non-white immigrants (race); liberals (political and armed militia confronting protestors seeking racial
differences), and muslims (religion and race). Division justice. Division by political beliefs: Trump has
by race: When faced with the Syrian refugee crisis the called peaceful protestors “terrorists” while
Trump administration introduced the “Muslim ban” sending Federal law enforcement to violently
citing fear of terrorism so refugees could not flee to intervene. During his Fourth of July speech at Mt.
America. Meanwhile in Canada, citizens mobilized Rushmore Trump warned of “far-left facism”,
(including our church) with the support of the Canadian projecting the darkest aspects of his own
Government to welcome Syrian refugees, with movement on his political opponents without any
precautions but not fear. basis in logic or reason, as should be clear after
* learning the definition of facism.
Division by religion: Historically, whether through the Spanish Inquisition by Christians or the imposition of Sharia Law by Muslims,
imposing religion through the State is problematic. That is why America’s First Amendment is so important. It protects freedom of
religion and the separation of Church and State, equally protecting all religions. The seperation
of Church and State should not be confused with an attack on Christianity. Politicians and religious
leaders use fear of an attack on Christianity to gain power without any logical basis. For
example, Trump recently said the Democratic ticket would “hurt God” and Franklin Graham
posts weekly about the danger to American Christians from different beliefs. This is not a new
strategy. In 2012, James Dobson of Focus on the Family wrote a fictional “letter from Obama’s
America” in which he similarly preyed on some Christians’ fears, suggesting voting for Obama would
result in terrorist attacks in American cities, pornography pushed in front of children, inner-city crime
gone wild because of lack of gun ownership, home schooling banned, Christian publishers forced out
of business, Israel nuked, power blackouts because of environmental restrictions, brave Christian
resisters jailed by a liberal Supreme court, and Christian families emigrating to Australia and New
Zealand etc.. Christianity is not under attack. Also, many Christians do not support Trump or the
Republican Party. Thus State protection is only being urged for one interpetation of scripture and Christian values. All of these divisions
are manufactured to entrench power and not based in objective reality. They are hurting us all. Sowing division has increased hate and
emboldened openly facists groups like white natiolists and the alt-right. Hate crimes have increased. Some claim America is moving
towards civil war. Why? These false divisions must be rejected! In a recent Facebook exchange, I was asked whether my relationship
with my American family was “precarious” because of my differeny beliefs. I was encouraged by your responses which rejected that
notion. The open exchange of ideas is a foundation of freedom and democracy which must be defended by rejecting the sowing of
division whether based on race, political belief, religion or other differences.
Attacking Truth
The media serves an important function sustaining
democracy as it protects the people by independantly
reporting on political corruption and oppression of minority
groups - allowing dissenting voices to be heard. False
information or “fake news” undermines truth and democracy. The proper approach to take is that of an intelligent skeptic.
It is not harmful to start from a place of skepticism of what you
Under facist and totalitarian regimes, the free press is targeted. are told. If you have a hypothesis that is different from what is
However, that does not always come in the form of censorship. reported or understood:
In Fascist Italy, Mussolini's regime undermined the
independent media by questioning all “truth”. In Iris Origo’s A 1) consider the evidence. If you believe the world is flat or
Chill in the Air, An Italian War Diary, 1939-1940, she notes the masks don’t slow the spread of Coronavirus, what proof
facists unceasing radio propaganda cancelled the effect of all exists?
news to the point one man said “the radio has made fools of us
all”. In today’s America, the Trump administration has 2) Place the burden of proving the alternate hypothesis on
relentlessly accused the press of “fake news” while constantly yourself as a challenger to the status quo and not on the
spreading or implicitly accepting false information itself. upholders of the established hypotheses.
Social Media exacerbates the spread of false information as it 3) Have courage to accept when you are wrong rather than
is designed to engage us to like and share catchy headlines letting your wishes be the basis for your perceived reality. Just
aiming to keep us online to gain advertising revenue regardless because you don’t want to follow stay at home orders which
of the truth of the information we are viewing. If there is ‘no are in place around the World, does not mean the Democratic
truth’, users can believe or disbelieve anything they read. party has exagerated the Coronavirus to make Donald Trump
look bad. Do not fall into the trap of confirmation bias, for
The belief in ‘no truth’ is false and harmful. There is truth and example, believing a story that is removed from Social Media
that truth is essential to combat totalitarianism and facism. for containing false information confirms your belief in a cover
Much of what you read in the media is true. However, not up of truth.
everything is. Some useful tips to recognize false information
include: checking the publisher's credibility and what sources
and citations are used in their story; asking if the piece is
opinion or fact; using logical reasoning tools to determine
whether the author is properly interpreting the facts, looking at
things like timing and quality of analysis.
Whether you want something to be true or whether it supports 4) Have basic trust in people and take things at face value,
your pre-conciveved belief about an event or the world has no there is more often than not, no hidden sinister agenda at play.
bearing on the truth of the information. Using this approach is freeing because it enables you to: let
go of anger and frustration at the perceived conspirators; to
As a correlation to false information, conspiracy theories which graciously object to the false beliefs of others as well as your
attempt to explain events in the world have also own; and to accept the limits to what is known/knowable at a
increased. Events like the Coronavirus pandemic can make it point in time about uncertain events like the Coronavirus.
difficult to figure out what to believe because we feel uncertain,
anxious, and fearful about the state of the world.
Recognizing Common
Either/or: This is a conclusion that oversimplifies the argument by
reducing it to only two sides or choices. Example:
Logical Falacies
We can either stop using cars or destroy the earth.
In this example, the two choices are presented as the only options,
Fallacies are common errors in reasoning that undermine the logic of yet the author ignores a range of choices in between such as
arguments. Fallacies can be either illegitimate arguments or irrelevant points, developing cleaner technology, car-sharing systems for necessities
and are often identified because they lack evidence that supports their claim. and emergencies, or better community planning to discourage daily
Avoid these common fallacies in your own arguments and watch for them in driving.
the arguments of others as another way to combat false information.
Ad hominem: This is an attack on the character of a person rather
I have summarized some of common logical falacies but read more about than his or her opinions or arguments. Example:
them: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/
logic_in_argumentative_writing/fallacies.html Green Peace's strategies aren't effective because they are all dirty,
lazy hippies.
Slippery Slope: This is a conclusion based on the premise that if A happens,
then eventually through a series of small steps, through B, C,..., X, Y, Z will In this example, the author doesn't even name particular strategies
happen, too, basically equating A and Z. So, if we don't want Z to occur, A Green Peace has suggested, much less evaluate those strategies
must not be allowed to occur either. Example: on their merits. Instead, the author attacks the characters of the
individuals in the group.
If we ban Hummers because they are bad for the environment eventually the
government will ban all cars, so we should not ban Hummers. Ad populum/Bandwagon Appeal: This is an appeal that presents
what most people, or a group of people think, in order to persuade
In this example, the author is equating banning Hummers with banning all one to think the same way. Getting on the bandwagon is one such
cars, which is not the same thing. instance of an ad populum appeal.
In this example, the author is basing his evaluation of the entire course on only In this example, the author equates being a "true American," a
the first day, which is notoriously boring and full of housekeeping tasks for concept that people want to be associated with, particularly in a time
most courses. To make a fair and reasonable evaluation the author must of war, with allowing people to buy any vehicle they want even
attend not one but several classes, and possibly even examine the textbook, though there is no inherent connection between the two.
talk to the professor, or talk to others who have previously finished the course
in order to have sufficient evidence to base a conclusion on. Red Herring: This is a diversionary tactic that avoids the key issues,
often by avoiding opposing arguments rather than addressing them.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc: This is a conclusion that assumes that if 'A' Example:
occurred after 'B' then 'B' must have caused 'A.' Example:
The level of mercury in seafood may be unsafe, but what will fishers
I drank bottled water and now I am sick, so the water must have made me do to support their families?
sick.
In this example, the author switches the discussion away from the
In this example, the author assumes that if one event chronologically follows safety of the food and talks instead about an economic issue, the
another the first event must have caused the second. But the illness could livelihood of those catching fish. While one issue may affect the
have been caused by the burrito the night before, a flu bug that had been other it does not mean we should ignore possible safety issues
working on the body for days, or a chemical spill across campus. There is no because of possible economic consequences to a few individuals.
reason, without more evidence, to assume the water caused the person to be
sick. Straw Man: This move oversimplifies an opponent's viewpoint and
then attacks that hollow argument.
Genetic Fallacy: This conclusion is based on an argument that the origins of
a person, idea, institute, or theory determine its character, nature, or worth. People who don't support the proposed state minimum wage
Example: increase hate the poor.
The Volkswagen Beetle is an evil car because it was originally designed by In this example, the author attributes the worst possible motive to an
Hitler's army. opponent's position. In reality, however, the opposition probably has
more complex and sympathetic arguments to support their point. By
In this example the author is equating the character of a car with the character not addressing those arguments, the author is not treating the
of the people who built the car. However, the two are not inherently related. opposition with respect or refuting their position.
Love a concerned family member, friend, and neighbour (spelled the Canadian way),
Jeremy