If you're worried about the political climate at the moment, what are your plans for action?

Save money , pay off bills, stockpile supplies. For the past, I would convince Hitler to go back to art school, and I would have told the dean to let him back in on a full ride scholarship.

I think I’ll make a little money sailing, then a little more taking care of my sheep. Then, maybe, watch a movie.

Hindsight is always 20–20. What I do now is vote.

I have no idea what I would have done about Hitler. I hope I would have helped any Jewish friends or other members of minorities who were affected. I really hope I would. However, if my own family would have been put at risk, I can’t say that I would have been prepared to put them in harm’s way. I hope I would not have been blind to what was happening. I don’t think I would have been oblivious because I’m not now, but it’s easy to judge people with hindsight. Really none of us knows how we would react.

I see things happening here with our Aboriginal peoples. I see how Australia is treating asylum seekers and it makes me feel physically sick. I will sign petitions, attend meetings, speak out where I can, but so far, despite many people doing the same, we haven’t made any difference.

When things have been very bad, I’ve thought about leaving Australia and going elsewhere. But where would I go? Look at the world. Which country can really say it doesn’t have any discrimination or racism etc.? I think your country (Germany) is a beacon of light now. As much as many do not like Merkel or her actions in relation to asylum seekers, I find her a breath of fresh air. Some of the Scandinavian countries are held up as great examples of social welfare and egalitarianism, but they all have their problems too.

So I think all we can do is continue to be alert and aware. To not allow ourselves to become too disheartened or to be blinded by the bullshit and to keep resisting, even if it is in very small ways.

I always thought the Purple Pimpernel was a cool guy. A dilettante with a plan can do a lot under the radar. You don’t last too long if you constantly telegraph your anti-establishment moves. That resulted in an express train to the extermination camps or Siberia, or the death camps under Mao. You can’t accomplish much of anything once you’re under arrest.

I am going to continue doing what I’m doing now. I think I’m being about as effective as I can be without losing my mind.

I will continue donating money to organizations that effectively fight back against hate such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU.

I will continue attending protests and rallies. There’s a march in my local area tomorrow in support of DACA recipients that I plan to go to.

I will continue staying informed about all sorts of issues, and doing massive amounts of research about my pet issue. I will continue serving as an aggregator for my friends on my pet issue: I share the TL;DR version of everything I read so that my friends can stay informed without having to spend as much time on Google news every day as I do.

I will continue blogging about my pet issue.

I will go to more sit-ins and other civil disobedience events if it comes down to it, even though they kind of scare the pants off of me.

I’m pretty sure if I saw my country truly turning into Nazi Germany that I would flee. Fight or flight right? The Jews who left Germany are not looked at as deserters. I’m talking about the actual group that is being targeted leaving the country to save their lives.

I’m really thinking about this as I write it and the Von Trapps come to mind. They have a famous movie/musical about them (The Sound of Music) and they left. The father was being pressured by the Nazi government and the family left and eventually wound up in Vermont, US.

In all my examples I’m talking about when things were already in full swing. Jews were already being rounded up, killed, the hate speech was very specific from Hitler. Hitler did not sometimes speak positively about those groups he targeted. This is one difference I see between him and Trump.

So, where would that leave things if lots of people started to leave? Not in a great place I admit.

My plan is to keep trying to calm down the tone, and speak out against hate and violence, and VOTE. Media has such strong influence, and I think we should really consider using Trump’s words to frame him as a minority loving guy when possible. We have the power like in no other time in history to portray people and leaders as we want to. What if the media dwelled on Trump having a Jewish daughter and many Jewish people working with him? The neonazis may not feel so empowered by the President if the constant message on the air waves is that neonazis need to be dealt with, which is exactly what Trump said in years past.

I think protesting is good, but I have a real problem when it turns violent. A woman I know was talking about how she marched and protested many times in her youth (she’s in her 60’s now) and she said back then at the protests she went to that she never worried about people having guns at protests or getting hurt. When I say violence, I include even the torches that were carried by the neonazis in Charlottesville. I think the fire should be seen as a weapon and is unacceptable.

I encourage protestors to get the proper permits so they will be protected.

I also encourage minorities to band together. When I hear one minority not supporting other minorities I tell them how wrong they are. Strength in numbers. Many “white” people might have trouble understanding being the group targeted, but minoritiy groups should understand, and when they don’t I call them out on it.

I saw a Facebook status about antisemitic commentary on the Detroit Free Press website. I wrote that maybe the Free Press should consider taking down the comments. I cited that back when Ford was publishing a periodical that was very antisemitic his argument when finally brought to litigation was that he just owned the paper, and it was the writers not him, who were antisemitic. The Jewish community calls bullshit on that. If the Free Press allows hate speech is it the same thing? These aren’t paid journalists writing it in this case, but are they still responsible in the same way? Or, is it important to allow the speech?

I guess in summary what I am doing is using my words and my vote for now.

I’ve been worried about the political climate in the US for some time now and things have come to a head with the inauguration of Trump. I’m not sure he should be compared with Hitler however. As Frankie Boyle said at the Edinburgh Fringe “Trump’s nothing like Hitler. There’s no way he could write a book”.

Trump was legitimately elected and though he has contempt for government and the institutions of democracy he hasn’t tried to seize power so far however he should be closely watched.

Humour and ridicule are probably the best weapons at present.

Trump is going to either be run out early or put his time in and fade into history as a one term anomaly. I’m deeply concerned about the political polarization right now. I see both the left and right as being regressive and ideological. Anyone with the gall to think for themselves and suggest anything outside of the left or right narrative is labeled a Nazi, communist, misogynist or a snowflake. Unless people learn to respect each other and not let others think for them this is only going to get worse. I plan to continue to be straight and honest even if it goes against the flow. I’m getting more pessimistic about it though. In my personal life I cut ideological people off and surround myself with those who are more sensible and reasonable.