Youth Advocacy
Youth Advocacy
Year 4, Week 08 (250 total reports)
25.03.20245-01.04.2025
REVIEW and ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dr. Jerry Goebel
This week we focus on the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who bravely confronted the Hitler regime and was imprisoned and executed for his efforts. He determined that the underlying cause of Hitler’s support was not malice but stupidity. Indeed, one of my favorite Bonhoeffer quotes is: “The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other.”
Bonhoeffer also told us, "The ultimate question for a responsible man to ask is not how he is to extricate himself from this whole affair, but how the coming generation shall continue to survive and live for Truth." The focus of this blog is help the coming generation to continue to survive and live for truth.
NEW FEATURE: Visual Stories!
Two new releases this week focus on the works of Bonhoeffer, “Bonhoeffer; We Must Ask,” and the ineptitude of this administration, “Fraudulent Sycophants.” Please take a moment to listen, subscribe, and share…
Top Links of the Week
01.04.2025
This Is Not An April Fools' Day Joke
The point of this well-written article is: “Who needs April Fools Day this year?”Just an overview of the first 72 days of this Administration is enough to make our heads swirl; but that was always the intent, always the plan. Steve Bannon and other White House deceivers made this clear even before he was released from prison. Their intent was to “flood the zone,” create “shock and awe,” do so much damage in such a short period of time that the press, Congress, and the courts could not keep up. Truly, the major things we need to focus on are: 1) the intent to undermine global democracy, and 2) the intent to create enough havoc to implement Martial Law (so they can undermine democracy).
31.03.2025
SNL Has Entered the Chat
We need more articles like this from Megan Garber of The Atlantic. And more skits like this from the comedic minds of SNL. “The Chat” referred to here is, of course, Signalgate. The use of an unprotected chat platform to discuss attack plans and state secrets by the incompetent sycophants of President 47’s administration. All the while again revealing that they have no experience and little knowledge of the work they are doing. Their only true qualification for their jobs—they hate who 47 hates. The arts; drama, comedy, and music, may be the best way we can resist in the midst of this administration’s cacophony. While you read up on this article, take a moment to enjoy my new video song, Fraudulent Sycophants.
30.03.2035
Don’t think ‘it can’t happen here’ — it’s already happening
For those of you who voted for this administration (or were too apathetic to turn out…), here’s the regime you asked for. US representatives (ICE) are now arresting people and sending them to prison camps and foreign countries with no due process. This act, now known as “Disappearing,” is a flagrant violation of civil rights and human rights. It is directly from the playbook of fascists everywhere. And, as Robert Reich points out; “If they can ‘disappear’ them, they can disappear you.” This administration has reached a point where they are ignoring the courts, and the Constitution doesn’t matter anymore. Well done, supporters of 47 and his regime. This is exactly what you signed up for.
29.03.2025
America's academic brain drain has begun
As Project 2025 and their President begin closing down science and academics in the US, irreparable damage is being done to the education and research structure. Highly qualified professors and scientists are a hot commodity globally, and they are beginning to leave the US for countries that will allow them to do open research; especially in areas like disease control and climate change. The intent of this administration is clear: thinking people will not vote for an oligarchy, or, as our friend Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “the power of the one needs the stupidity of the other.” This administration intentionally wants to substitute education with indoctrination. It doesn’t want a generation of young people who have the critical ability to think for themselves. It wants a generation of sycophants that will do what they’re told. If that means destroying the intelligence bank of the US forever—they will please them to no end. Keep resisting—they have not won yet!
28.03.2025
The Biggest Scandal of the Second Trump Term Isn’t “Signalgate”
This administration is all about Chaos and Smokescreens. They hope to “flood the zone” with so many catastrophic decisions that people will miss the essence of what they are attempting to do. This article calls that behavior out. This administration is violating constitutional rights and acting like the gestapo, abducting (literally kidnapping) people off the streets for illegal reasons and deporting them without due process. Nothing could be more “Hitler-esque.” Folks, we are witnessing the demise of democracy. Project 2025 and their patsy, President 47, said they were going to do it, and the American people voted for it anyway. Once again, I return to Bonhoeffer’s important words: “How the coming generation shall continue to survive and live for truth.” Will we be among those who say, “I did everything within my means to resist these authoritarians…”
27.03.2025
The SAVE Act’s Impact on Women Voters Isn’t a Coincidence. It’s Voter Suppression.
This critically important article by Beth Lynk, of Ms. Magazine, lays out the hypocrisy and duplicity of this administration (and its patsies, like Speaker Mike Johnson) in seeking to prevent women—and especially impoverished women— from voting. In true Orwellian fashion, they are even calling their bill, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. Lynk points out that the result of this bill (if fast-tracked through Congress this week) would be to prevent “as many as 69 million married women and 3.3 million trans voters from being able to vote because they lack a birth certificate that matches their legal name and another 140 million American citizens who do not have a passport,” including, as Lynk states, “56 percent of Black Americans”. We must keep our eye on the ball; the aim of this administration is to undermine global democracy beginning with the US. They do not want you to vote. They are doing everything they can to prevent you from voting. Picking up from the article about Dietrich Bonhoeffer yesterday, I leave you with this quote: "the ultimate question for a responsible man (person) to ask is not how he is to extricate himself from this whole affair, but how the coming generation shall continue to survive and live for Truth."
26.03.2025
When Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Pastor, Theorized How Stupidity Enabled the Rise of the Nazis (1942)
Bonhoeffer was a theologian, activist, and dissenter during the rise and reign of Hitler. For his beliefs, he was imprisoned and eventually executed, but his words have perhaps never been clearer as indicated in this concise, but critical article about Bonhoeffer’s studies on “stupidity.” An enemy that he said was greater than evil. To understand this regime (the administration of President 47), we must understand stupidity. Perhaps the pivotal quotes in this article by Colin Marshall are, ““Every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or of a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity,” and, “Since such phenomena could hardly arise without blindly obedient masses, it seems that “the power of the one needs the stupidity of the other.” How insightfully true of today’s political situation in the United States.
