Big George v Mad Mike

I have a joke for you. George Santayana and Mike Godwin walk into a bar. Santayana takes a seat, rubs his head and looks at the bartender. "I'll have whatever it was that I had last night". He chuckles. "After all, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". The bartender nods and pours a double whisky. Godwin sits down next to him, sighs, and orders a glass of water. "I'd have a beer, but I've been here less that two minutes and I can already tell this conversation is going to end with someone being compared to Hitler".

Godwin and Santayana are the creators of two of the most beloved philosophical 'laws' on the internet. They are both pretty sound, as far as vague one or two line laws go. And yet, they cannot both be right. If we take George at his word, then eventually the wheel will turn full circle, comparisons gain validity and Mike will be stood at the bar supping his pint of water in a scene reminiscent of a 1920s Munich beer hall, desperately trying to think up a much needed caveat. I will say, I'm with George. Repetition doesn't mean 'the same as'. It is to say that key characteristics (political, social, economical, security, media) align and set the world on fire. Given that the world largely turns on the whims of human emotion, I can't see how it would be any other way.

What to do? I'm not sure there is much to be done, if truth be told. We live in a world where, in the west at least, bigots, conspiracy theorists and billionaire nutjobs have formed a winning coalition. They wish to lead us in a particular direction, and it is an obviously dark and historically familiar direction. Can they be prevented from taking the world to their desired destination? I hope so. But I am not as positive as I was a decade ago. And I was fairly pessimistic then. I look at some of the folk around me and see little hope for any immediate improvement in the situation. 

I will say this, in honour of George and in spite of Mike, and I say it with all sincerity and no histrionics: if we could take all the folk who voted for Trump or Reform UK in 2024 (and in 2029), and plant them  in 1930s Germany,  every single one of them - man, woman and internet bot - would be parroting the NSDAP talking points, bad mouthing Jews and throwing the occasional roman salute.

Every single one of them. Godwin be damned.