What Would You Do?

Last night, I watched a movie entitled Defiance, produced in 2008. I had never heard of this movie, but was surfing through what was immediately available for streaming and wanted to see something with Daniel Craig (the most recent James Bond).

The story is based on the true story of the Bielski brothers who lived in Eastern Europe at the time of Nazi occupation. Jews were being rounded up and kept in the ghettoes until any usefulness had vanished, or as more availability of death camps made it possible to transport them to their maker. The Bielskis were Jewish, lived in a rural setting, and though many of their family were killed, they escaped and fled to the forest in hopes of survival. There, they encountered more Jews who had made it out, but had little hope of survival against their human adversaries, starvation, exposure and disease.

What is striking in this movie is the decision of many Jews to face their ultimate plight and remain in the ghetto. Although the rumors run thick of their ultimate fate, there is no hard proof, and thus, many choose to stick it out and hope for the best. Those who decide to escape then faced the decision of whether they were really up to the task of actually taking the life of another human. The vast majority were city people, devout in their faith, peaceful, people who avoided confrontation, and relied on God to protect them. For me, it was an excellent movie, and I’d highly recommend it.

Back in the day when I taught American History, when considering WWII, students would inevitably ask why the Jews didn’t rise us against their captors when it became obvious that terror faced them at the concentration camps. “Why didn’t they rush the guards as a group? If I had been there,” students would say, “I wouldn’t have gone along like a bunch of sheep to the slaughter!” (Or something to that effect.)

I couldn’t help think about what Conservatives in America would do today. Most Conservatives are law-abiding citizens who obey the letter and spirit of the law...even when we think it unfair. We don’t bring attention to ourselves. Getting to any type of protest rally is difficult because we are involved in the industriousness of a career, on tending to the needs of our children, or often ministering to the needs of others. We have great faith in the American system and really have a hard time believing that the growth of socialism we are witnessing right now won’t vanish as a temporary flash-in-the-pan, and matters will correct themselves. They always do, right?

If we’ve attended a protest, such as a Tea Party Rally, we note that they are peaceful, polite, and attended by people that we’d like to have as neighbors. When liberals come and attempt to agitate, we respectfully allow them to intermingle and state their opposition. If the police ask us to move off the street for the sake of traffic, we do so. If shop owners insist on not parking in their private parking lot, we move our cars. We tend to stand along the street, holding up signs which state our sentiments, smile and wave at passing cars - some of which carry occupants spitting, cursing, giving us the one-finger salute, and telling us that we’re a bunch of wackos. At the conclusion, we clean up, and no trash is left.

Have you seen any footage of the demonstrations in Wisconsin? Probably not if you don’t watch FOX. There, protestors have stormed the Capitol, threatened the lives of conservative legislators and prevented them from getting in the building - using intimidation as a means to get their way. The place is strewn with litter. The protestors verbally abuse and suggest that the Governor should be killed. One gets the sense that should anyone voice opposition, they would be summarily beaten by the mob.

Interestingly, it is the members of the Tea Party Movement who Janet Napolitano suggested needed to be on the terrorist watch list as a threat to Homeland Security.

Back to the Jews. Hitler blamed the Jews as being the root of Germany’s economic problems. He led a country trying to emerge out of their Depression into believing that Jews were prosperous due to their parasitic practices against the German people. By eradicating the Jews, Germany would be able to return to prosperity.

President Obama has openly ridiculed the Tea Party Movement. In one speech, he assumed the posture of a conniving, Scrooge-like person and talked about how the members of this movement “wave their little tea bags around.” He never once supported the right to express views based on the First Amendment, nor commended the group for their control and positive role-modeling for others - especially the youth - on how to conduct a peaceful protest. No, he belittled the movement. On the other hand, I haven’t heard him criticize the Wisconsin protests, just as he never spoke out against the thuggery of the SEIU’s actions of intimidating voters to stay away from the polls, and actually assaulting dissenters in the crowds.

So, have you ever projected what you would do, if suddenly, you were singled out as the enemy? The mainstream media is in the liberal camp. Those who are “neutral” are inundated with the message of how negative, divisive, selfish, self-righteous you are (if you are a real Conservative), and the source of the country’s problems. If there is an economic collapse in this country, and I truly believe President Obama wants to collapse capitalism, people will eagerly look to blame a group. If the Liberals get their way and a version of “Fairness in Broadcasting” becomes law, FOX news will disappear in a heartbeat, and we’ll be left with networks who do not question the President.

The Jews had to decide whether they would go down fighting, or continue to act as law-abiding citizens, trusting the government despite the signs of the times, and exercise their faith that God would not allow this to happen to His chosen people. The non-Jews had to choose between actively turning in their Jewish neighbors, pretending they didn’t know what was going on, or hiding and assisting the fugitives. In playing “what if” where would you fit in?