A Rumor and a Lesson on Tyranny
This morning I hopped on to Bluesky to get information on last night’s election from the Canadians who I follow. Yes, social media has become a fountain for misinformation, disinformation, and extremism. It also amplifies dissatisfaction with one’s situation, whether it be personal, professional, or societal. Checking on my Canadian friends, for example, I once again experienced Democracy Envy.
In Little Brick Township, “bend the knee” journalist David W receives incriminating photos of rival Patricio.
I also saw what turned out to be an unfounded rumor — that Amazon would start including in its pricing the extra amount attributed to the new tariffs imposed by the regime. The amounts and their targets are ever-changing, but they do promise disruptions and higher prices, especially for products coming from China. And a huge share of the goods sold on Amazon come from China!
Because I prefer to support my local brick-and-mortar businesses, I buy very little from Amazon, so I moved on. But then I saw in The New York Times — not a fountain for misinformation, disinformation, and extremism, even though the constant bad news can be distressing — that the White House has attacked Amazon and its owner, Jeff Bezos for displaying the costs of the tariffs to consumers. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt promised consequences. Bezos’s company has denied that they’re doing this, and a quick check of the site shows that Amazon is telling the truth. Nonetheless, Amazon — a private company — has become a government target.
Leaving aside the unfounded nature of the accusation and the fact that this is government interference with the free market, this incident shows what happens with people bend the knee to tyrants and enable them to gain power. Bezos bent one knee when he ordered the Washington Post to kill an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris for the November 2024 election. He bent the other knee when he gave Trump a million dollars for the inauguration party. At this point, he’s rolled over onto his back and shown his belly to the alpha dog.
With the help of friends, from left, Adam V, Hipster, and Newsie/Raúl, Patricio plots to fight back.
And it didn’t save him. A rumor put him and his businesses into the crosshairs of a tyrant. The truth is, no amount of surrender to a tyrant is enough. As someone said in an online post, “Fascism takes what it wants.” Unless you’re the one with all the power, the one with all the power has the ability — and in his mind, the right — to take whatever you have for any reason or for no reason at all except that you have what he wants. If he needs justification for his expropriation, an unfounded rumor is enough.
A year ago, my mother recommended a book that her book club was reading, Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressman Taylor. It came out in 1938 and achieved some note then, with Germany under the rule of Adolf Hitler and Europe moving toward war.
The novel consists of letters between Max, a Jewish art dealer living in San Francisco, and Martin, his non-Jewish business partner who has moved back to Germany as Hitler is coming to power. At first, Martin finds Hitler’s bombastic rhetoric concerning, but he supports the dictator in the belief that Hitler is improving the economy and making Germany a great power. For Martin, that also comes to mean cleansing the country of undesirables, causing the partnership between him and Max to break apart. As he begins to justify the sacrifice of the Jewish people, Martin asks Max not to write him again. When Max’s sister is trapped in Berlin and Martin refuses to help her, Max takes his revenge. An appropriate revenge, and a warning that no one, not even the most loyal to a despotic regime, is safe.
At 64 pages, Address Unknown is a fast read but one that will make you think for a long time afterward. It’s appropriate for teens and adults, and an illuminating story for our present time.
