Appeasement

"To be governed is to have every opinion, every transaction, every movement noted, registered, counted, rated, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, refused, authorized, endorsed, admonished, prevented, reformed, redressed, corrected." Pierre Proudhon - "The General Idea of the Revolution of the 19th Century" (1842)


The derogatory use of the word "appeasement" has arisen from the Bush administration in an attempt to silence those who wish to criticize current strategy on fighting terrorists. The Bush administration has implied those who dissent against the administration's policies are equivalent to Neville Chamberlin appeasement of Hitler's policies.

I believe death and destruction would have happened even if Chamberlain had not reached an agreement with Hitler. What would have stopped Hitler? If there had been more Germans who were willing to appease the German Communist Party, or dissented against the loss of individual freedoms to either evil, instead of submitting to Hitler's fear mongering, Hitler would have never risen to power. It is the Germans who appeased Hitler that should be critized, not Neville Chamberlin.

If the Communist Party had taken over in Germany there would have been death to many Germans, including Hitler, but World War II might not have happened. Both fascism and communism are evil, so to say one is better than the other is foolish. Any country that has tried either has ended up in the dust bin. Still, the ideas of communism and fascism will not die. The ideas are like a virus that can infect a crowd quicker than any known disease and bring misery to any group who thinks they have been vaccinated against the horrors of communism and fascism.

Political leaders do not want resistance from their own people. While criticizing the United States dissenters of the strategy on fighting terrorism, the Bush administration wants its own citizens to be appeasers when it comes to the Bush administration taking away Americans' liberty with unwarranted wiretapping, secret searches, and prohibiting passengers from carrying an ounce of toothpaste onboard an airplane.

Charles Tolleson