Mr. Griffin says, “When people are afraid, they’ll hand over their rights as willingly as they’d hand over pennies for bread. But not until they’ve handed over other people’s rights first.” What was your reaction to that passage?

Book Clubs In Our Midst by Nancy Jensen Discussion
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Mr. Griffin says, “When people are afraid, they’ll hand over their rights as willingly as they’d hand over pennies for bread. But not until they’ve handed over other people’s rights first.” What was your reaction to that passage? Can you think of other times in our history that the “systemic repression” Mr. Griffin cites occurred or of systemic oppression occurring now?

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I agree wholeheartedly. It’s a natural, though unfortunate, reaction. I see it in current politics. Fortunately, there are also those who want to protect the other people’s rights. In war time it’s many times harder to find people who are charitable toward the people of the countries we are fighting. After all, our armies are pledged to kill those in the other country’s armies and sadly, civilians are “collateral damage.”

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Right after 9/11, I was in a shopping mall where someone with Middle Eastern characteristics was selling products at a kiosk. The person I was with glared at them, and said, “They just want to take our money to send back to their homeland to build bombs to kill us!” I couldn’t believe it! Not only was it wrong in general, but she was basing the comment solely on the way he looked! I think it’s that kind of attitude that allows some to separate people into “us vs. them.” And I don’t think this has changed; there will always be people who want to label some as “other.” I see it happening now as some populations look at new immigrants - from whatever country - as undeserving.

(OK, rant over…)

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I hear you. It’s like all Asians being mistaken for Chinese after the unfortunate label of Covid as Chinese flu or some such thing.

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Not all people would hand over others’ rights. We have seen this with the Underground Railroad. We saw the Poles welcome Ukrainians into their country when the war started. It depends on many factors. I think that fear is a hard emotion to overcome when you are also in danger.

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I think in fearful or trying situations, there is often a tendency to try and shift blame. We often conjure up explanations that make such situations other people’s fault. So we want to punish them for causing the problem by taking away the rights or powers that we think caused the problem. When that doesn’t work we turn to someone who shares our views but has more power than we do, and cede our power to this “friend.” I see this in the current political situation, where we begin by blaming “the other” and then turn to a percieved powerful person to solve the problem.

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That is such a strong, thoughtful quote. Fear is very powerful. We want to protect ourselves and our family first. I find that it takes an effort and an empathy to others to try to be aware and speak up if others are at risk. I try to be open minded but also to speak up, but it is not easy and trying to do it a respectful, informative, kind and yet being clear that you are not support of the action/words of others is not acceptable. I am sure many of us recently struggled during the holiday of when to speak up and when to remain quiet.

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I agree that there were times in our history, not only the Underground Railroad, including support for women’s rights, labor, and civil rights movements in the past, and LGBTQ and immigrants in the present.

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