Have We Learned Nothing from the Dangers of Mass Hysteria?

Mass hysteria.

It's been defined, at least in part, as describing people acting in a manner they normally wouldn't.

Certainly, the argument can be well made that mass hysteria is as old as recorded history; it's also as dangerous, as let's say, a poisonous snake.

This form of hysterical groupthink invariably leads to destruction, even unimaginable death.

Simply put, it's the replacement of rational thought with mob rule.

One would think these explanations of mass hysteria would not be needed in our "sophisticated" 21st century.

But many do know about the mass hysteria of the German people as they were easily led to support the evil and homicidal Adolf Hitler in the 1930’s.

And please, don't ever buy into the big lie that the Germans "didn’t know."

This writer has authored two books on World War II and has conducted extensive research the subjects of Jewry and the German people.

You don’t even need to take my word for it, for history and experience, always the best two teachers, tell a painful, horrific story otherwise.

You bet Germany knew.

• How does one explain a night of broken glass "Kristallnacht" (1938) that tormented thousands of Jews?
• How do you explain the entirety of a nation sudden missing its professional classes?
• How did you explain a country suddenly being drained of six million people, loaded on boxcars and hauled away to the most inhumane deaths, and you say no one notices?!
• How about all the expensive jewelry of the Jewish people suddenly appearing? Or the sudden availability of housing formerly owned by Jews?
• How do you explain the "Nuremberg Laws" which made doing business or fall in love with a someone of the Jewish faith against state law?

The German people knew and only were saved after World War II by the rise of Soviet Communism. And the Cold War.

If I’d been President Harry S. Truman, I would have not been so generous with Germany, especially in the form of the Marshall Plan. I would not have undertaken the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949.  During the era of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, and/or John F. Kennedy, I would have let the Soviets build a wall.

In this writer's view, Germany needed to be punished, and held to account for their war crimes.

They dragged us into unnecessary wars twice.

As a result, we lost hundreds of thousands of young men in uniform.

The best of our nation.

Turning to the mass hysteria of Mao Zedong's so-called "Cultural Revolution" when millions died and did so at the hands of his fanatical followers.

His "kid" followers, in order to destroy the last vestiges of capitalism, went into crazed mob rule.

What Mao did was a classic bait and switch, right out of C.S. Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters."

Mao's collectivist economy was failing.

Tellingly, rather than admit such failure, he sicced his fanatical followers on the older generation. They were were promptly killed.

Presently, we see another group of fanatical followers — mass hysteria — in the Democratic Party as evidenced by their recent convention in Chicago.

Following their hypocritical behavior of "rules for thee, but not for me," they erected not one, not two but three impregnable fences around their convention.

And to add to our mirth, they required identification!

Is this not hypocrisy of the highest order?

Additionally, Democratic convention goers mindlessly cheered when securing the border and tax cuts were mentioned by their nominee.

That's most amusing, because the Democratic Party hasn’t been for tax cuts or secure borders since Jack Kennedy’s time. And that's when walls, think the Berlin Wall, worked.

As was said during another bout of mass hysteria, as declared in Act II of Arthur Miller's play about the Salem Witch Trials, "The Crucible," "No man may longer doubt the powers of the dark are gathered in monstrous attack up on this village."

Certainly, we don't mean Hillary's mythical "village." We mean the mindless and anti intellectualism of the modern Woke left.

Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and the remainder of the mad liberals are undertaking a monstrous attack on America, plain and simple.

Just a few short weeks ago, the crowd wanted her head, figuratively speaking of course, on a platter, but now our current vice president heads, directs, and steers that mass hysteria.

Will humankind ever learn?

Craig Shirley is Chairman of Citizens for the Republic, as well as a Ronald Reagan biographer and presidential historian. He's authored six books on Reagan. He's also written The New York Times bestseller, "December, 1941" and also published the companion book, "April, 1945." He's also the author of "Mary Ball Washington," which won the People’s Choice Award from the Library of Virginia. His book on the 1980 presidential campaign, "Rendezvous with Destiny" was named by The Wall Street Journal as one of the five best campaign books of all time. Shirley is also the author of the newly released bestseller, "The Search for Reagan."
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