From The Avengers (2012)
Loki: Kneel before me. I said, KNEEL!
[Loki stamps his scepter on the ground, causing a shockwave that intimidates the crowd into silence as they all kneel before him]
Loki: Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.
German Old Man: [slowly rises to his feet] Not to men like you.
Loki: [smiling] There are no men like me.
German Old Man: There are *always* men like you.
This scene keeps coming to mind whenever I think of a certain presidential candidate. They are always there… sometimes they stay in the shadows, but sometimes they are up front, in our faces, demanding subservience. This is when they are, in my opinion, the most dangerous. Certainly, the ones in the shadows can do a lot of damage, but it’s the in-your-face charmers. Those are the swindlers, the cheats, the liars, the phonies. They talk a good game, figure out what you think you want and then play to those desires.
Those of us who remember history and observe human behavior (for whatever reasons, mine are curiosity and my writing) notice the signs. Many of us have seen them from early on in this presidential campaign. The pandering, the showiness. The crass behavior.
We just need to keep standing our ground and vow to never kneel before men like them. We must learn from our painful history and recognize the men like them and make sure they never get into positions of power.
Adam Troy-Castro said this on his Facebook:
“Germany’s past is stained by a few great evils, but none as awful as the Holocaust, right? And one thing the country does right is teach the Holocaust in its schools. They discuss it in classes. They put their students in the place of the imprisoned, the exterminated. They make sure no kid gets through school without learning of this one great sin. They have public monuments to the awfulness in multiple major cities.
In short, they know that they cannot let it go, so they own it — thus passing a test failed by many countries, including Japan.
So when Michelle Obama says in her convention speech, “The White House was built by slaves,” speaking truth, she is ONLY treating historical fact with the same deep sense of respect and responsibility that the Germans treat their own nation’s greatest shame. She is pretending that we are as adult and as able to process such horror as a goddamned sixth-grader in Hamburg.
Suck it up.”
This was something I didn’t know, to be honest. As I’ve been working on my practicum, I’ve come to desire more knowledge about history. Here in the states, we tend to not get much beyond “names, dates, and places” which, to be honest, is extremely boring and teaches us nothing. I don’t believe there’s enough in depth learning at all levels. I may go into this further later…. I think some massive changes need to happen to our education here.
~P the Dragon (who is exhausted and in pain)
The Great Penguini Speaketh 