The Roots of Extremism
Adolf Hitler. Just speaking his name strikes a chord deep in the gut of anyone with a moral conscience.
The history of Hitler and Nazi Germany has become the model for how an otherwise intelligent and freedom-loving people can be swayed to fascism, and justify the unimaginable. I always loved learning about the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany, because of the lessons the history tells. It is fascinating to me that the Nazis were born from a democratic society. And that striking truth should be taken note of, especially by those who scoff that the term “Nazi” is thrown around so flippantly today. “As if we’re anywhere close to being Nazi Germany!”
It is true that the Hitler parallel is invoked often by all sides of the political spectrum. And the analogy is always scorned by the accused as overly dramatic and then the same accusation thrown right back at the accuser. “The other side is fascist…not us!” However, rather than dismissing comparisons to the Nazis outright, we might actually consider the merit. Just in a little different light.
No, we may not be anywhere close to Nazi Germany, by any means. But if we pay attention, we can see microcosms of the same phenomena that led to its rise. I don’t have such little faith in America, or Americans, that I believe we are a Nazi Germany reincarnate. But it is still concerning that the very seeds of social and political discord that were sown during the infancy of the Nazi era have been solidly planted in our own backyard. Today’s are of a far different time and context but, if nourished, these seeds can take hold just the same and spread the very roots of extremism: undying attachment to ideology in which thoughts and actions become led by fear and hate. If allowed to flourish and grow, the fruits they bear are hypnotic. And, for those under their spell, the world becomes defined through a narrow lens of “us” versus “them”—where anyone on the other side represents pure evil.
It is not dramatic to say that there is a real parallel in what we see happening in America today to the pre-Nazi era. The dark cloud of fascism that enveloped Nazi Germany took hold because enough people clutched violently onto an ideology that had been planted by Adolf Hitler and his movement. The German peoples’ struggles in post-WWI Germany were fertile ground for the seeds of fear, hatred, and division.
More relevant to modern Americans, though, is among the most ideologically frenzied terrorist entities of our time: the Islamic State, otherwise known as ISIS. Their since-killed founder and leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, exploited the fragmented economic and sociopolitical environment of a post-war Iraq and a divided Syria in the midst of revolution in order to create, within only a couple of years, one of the most brutal terrorist armies the world has ever seen. Until America and her allies stepped in, ISIS stopped at nothing to impose its oppressive ideology onto everyone it could—and to kill and torture anyone who opposed it, countrymen or not.
The world has since witnessed more of the same thread. First, in Russia’s bloody invasion against the sovereign democratic nation of Ukraine. Even as Russia’s authoritarian leadership, ironically, claims their goal is to stamp out “fascism” and “Naziism”—while indiscriminately targeting the Ukrainian people. And, ,most recently, the world watched in shock as the radical Islamic movement of Hamas carried out a brutal campaign of terror against innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Nazi Germany and these radical movements of our day represent historic and modern examples of the roots of extremism taking hold inside struggling economic, social, and political landscapes. Standing and fighting for our beliefs and values is held, near-universally, as a fundamental right. Even an imperative. Yet, when we become so enwrapped in defending ideologies, in worshiping the leaders who champion them, and in idolizing symbols created to represent them that we become led solely by fear, anger, and hate—we tread down a dangerous road that is hard to come back from. As we head further down that dark road, everyone and everything that does not stand beside us stands against us. Soon, consumed by our self-righteousness, we justify vulgarity, hate, and violence even against those who bear no responsibility for what we perceive as our oppression or injustice.
Today in America, it is as if the barrier that may have kept the most extreme among us far to the fringes—at least for a time, at one time anyway—is less distinct. The roots of extremism writhing across our nation can be seen in the ugliness played out in our neighborhoods, across our cities, within our government, and througout the online world. An underlying rage is constantly seething, where many are in a state of hyper-aggression and hyper-reaction that is marked by hostility, fueled by hate, and at times culminates in violence.
History, and recent events, show us that it is far easier than we might think for a people and a nation to fall into the clutches of extremism. Just as one spark from an ember is all it takes for a city to burn to the ground, it is up to us, individually and together, to guard against the dark descent into hate-driven ideology, where the sinuous roots of extremism can take hold and enwrap us. If we do not, we may one day realize that we have become the very society and nation that many, now and before us, fought so hard and sacrificed so much to prevent.
Evil exists in this world. That is a truth that will never cease. But there is an even more powerful truth that we must always hold close: We only stop true evil by not becoming it.
—Updated October 16, 2023
