It was a paradise camp. That’s what they wanted the Red Cross to believe. It was what the camp creators wanted the world to believe.
In reality it was a concentration camp. And it was no better than any of the other concentration camps which the Nazis had created for the Jews, and other “expendables” that were put on their so-called “sub-human” list, destined for final disposal.
But this particular one was being showcased: “Theresienstadt” concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. The International Red Cross was coming for a visit. The Nazis cleaned up the camp, planted flowers, painted the buildings, and then showcased old and young alike relaxing and enjoying themselves, supposedly having a good ole time. The Nazis even made a film of it, to show how well the Jews were being housed and nicely cared for. It was a mask.
It’s called propaganda.
Why do governments and their leaders go to such great lengths to cover up the truth, to mask reality, to mislead casual observers and deceive intentional prying eyes? They want legitimization and justification to defend their own evil and unconscionable actions. That’s why.
In the start of World War II, when Hitler invaded Poland, he claimed that Polish Germans, or Germans living under Polish rule, were being mistreated, abused, and oppressed, even unwarrantedly slaughtered and killed. This was his justification to invade Poland, a way to make his invasion legit.
This is why Putin’s words and actions are being compared to Hitler’s actions, which led to the outbreak of World War II. Is not Putin doing the same, same tactics, same heated verbal condemnation, with his rhetoric against the Ukrainian government? My cynicism tells me that it is the same. Putin is seeking legitimization and justification for his own unjust and unconscionable actions by pretending that it is the Ukrainian government that is the real threat to peace, not him. It’s an age old tactic. And the more outrageously ridiculous are these tactical assertions, the more loudly and emphatic they are made.
The curious thing to me is that the tactic should be used at all. Any reasonable person that has any common sense can see what is really going on. Putin is the real threat to peace and stability in the region. Putin is the guilty one. He is clearly the aggressor. It is very obvious that he wants to expand Russia’s geopolitical territory and power. But, why the pretense?
Few humans are willing to face, let alone admit, the bold naked truth about themselves with respect to motives and actions and their consequences, whether as great leaders or as minor players in a street-corner gang of thugs.
But here’s the thing. If atheists are correct and there is no God, then Putin has all the right in a godless, secular, purely naturalistic evolutionary survival-of-the-fittest world, to do what he is doing. Go for it! If he and the Russian people can outwit and outsmart other great nations and peoples, and expand his own power as well as increase his peoples’ prosperity while doing so—is this not simply living according to the dictates of evolutionary development—may the strongest, shrewdest, most powerful and successful people survive and grow!
But that’s what makes the façade of legitimacy so puzzling. It reveals the deeper truth of human nature, the evidence that there is a God. We fundamentally believe in truth, justice, goodness, and rightness. A purely naturalistic evolutionary universe has no care of such things. For it has no spirit or consciousness or mindfulness in order to care.
The larger universe of atoms, matter, energy, and molecules and elements, cares little for life as we know it; it would not care if life on earth goes extinct or if this world lasted another billion years or just one more year. The world is, after all, nothing more than the accidental outcome of active nuclear forces at the atomic level.
In that light, what is truth? What is justice? What is love? What are we to make of compassion, or mercy or goodness or beauty, or pain and suffering or loss and defeat? Nothing; absolutely nothing!
Without God, all is fair game and Putin has nothing to lose—to do his best to get the most, and to use any method and means to make it work. He really need not even maintain the façade of pretending to be innocent victim or so-called defender of abused Russians in Ukraine, while doing so. The universe certainly doesn’t care.
Only, we DO care. Why? Because: we humans fundamentally believe in a moral universe. Hence, to claim legitimacy, Putin must at least pretend to be on the side of justice, goodness and truth. As it turns out, we humans function as if the universe does care. That is, we humans effectively function as if there is indeed a moral and righteous God, a God to whom we will all eventually be held accountable. Hence, the life, teachings, and person of Jesus, the Christ, is very much worth your attention!
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