On Becoming a Tyrant

C.J. Hopkins's Letter from Germany is disturbing in the extreme.

The most dangerous people are the self-righteous, for they do and and say terrible things with the self-assurance that it is for the greater good. Their morals are not informed by serious moral reasoning, but by crude ideology. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote in The Gulag Archipelago:

Ideology — that is what gives evildoing its long- sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others' eyes, so that he won't hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors.

Since 1945, people who think of themselves as “Leftists” in their political worldview have had a strong tendency to think of tyranny as a monopoly of the Third Reich. This association of Tyranny = Third Reich is so strong that many people struggle to comprehend that the exact same tyrannical spirit that animated the Third Reich may, at any given time, manifest itself in a different time and place in a different guise.

This morning I was reminded of this as I read an extraordinary essay titled “Mistakes Were Made” by C.J. Hopkins—an American ex-pat author in Berlin. I was especially appalled by this particular juxtaposition:

The woman on the left is Sarah Bosetti, a popular German author, comedian, and online talk show host. Her statement translates as follows:

The unvaccinated is the appendix, that in the strict sense is not essential for the survival of the entire [social] complex.

When I first saw this on Mr. Hopkins’s post, I thought this statement must have been taken out of context or even fabricated. Surely, I thought, this girl (as dopey as she is) did not make this outrageous statement comparing unvaccinated people to an appendix.

And so I double checked and found a recording of her show on YouTube in which she made the statement, starting at 4:49 on the tape.

Her statement about “the appendix” is part of her broader reflection on the people who are protesting the state’s Covid mandates, especially COVID-19 vaccine.

The people who wish to divide society [with their vaccine refusal] are far to the right and rather far down low.

Her monologue then cuts to a cabaret singer who is singing the words, “In the appendix of society.” She then continues her train of thought:

Exactly. And so an appendix, that in the strict sense is not essential for the survival of the entire [social] complex.

This brings me back to my opening reflections. Frau Bosetti is so smug—so totally lacking in self-awareness and so ignorant of history—that she doesn’t realize that she is using the language of Nazis like Fritz Klein—an infamous camp doctor at Auschwitz.

When asked by Ella Lingens-Reiner how he reconciled his actions with his ethical obligations as a physician, Dr. Klein famously stated:

"My Hippocratic oath tells me to cut a gangrenous appendix out of the human body. The Jews are the gangrenous appendix of mankind. That's why I cut them out.

Frau Bosetti is revolting enough, but then there’s YouTube. While the platform regularly censored Dr. McCullough and me for talking about early treatment modalities for COVID-19, it apparently has no problem with Frau Bosetti’s frank expressions of contempt, dehumanization, and scapegoating.

I highly recommend reading Mr. Hopkins’s essay.