Omens

Sometimes I wonder if truth is stranger than fiction, or vice versa. I’m currently watching a show called Outrageous. Based on a true story, it follows the lives of six sisters from a seemingly well-off (but almost impoverished) British noble family, the Mitfords. The series opens in the early 1930s, at the family’s massive estate in the countryside outside of London.

I’m currently at the part where two of the sisters, influenced by the civil unrest in the UK, and swayed by the dark, delicious thought of revolution, become entranced by Sir Oswald Moseley. Mosely is a womanizing charismatic man who is a hard-core fascist, a devoted leader of the Blackshirts, a huge fan of Mussolini, and last but certainly not least, a staunch supporter of everything Hitler stands for. The older sister leaves her well-to-do husband, and latches herself to Oswald, or Tom, as he calls himself. She supports him and his party despite his inability to be loyal to her. The younger sister has become so obsessed with Hitler himself, that as soon as she turns 18, she convinces her parents, the Lord and Lady Redesdale, to send her to a German finishing school where she manages to catch the eye of the Fuhrer himself and gloats about the “wonderful” plan he has in store for the Jews. She penned her opinions in an open letter to Streicher’s paper, Der Stürmer, which read:

“The English have no notion of the Jewish danger. Our worst Jews work only behind the scenes. We think with joy of the day when we will be able to say England for the English! Out with the Jews! Heil Hitler! P.S. please publish my name in full, I want everyone to know I am a Jew hater.”

This infamous letter was reprinted in The London Times and caused a tremendous scandal and a massive crack in the family’s dynamics. Her younger and closest sister is vehement about visiting her sister in Munich; not just to knock some sense into her, but to perhaps get close enough to Hitler and put a bullet in his brain.

Remember that this is a true story.

We’re now just about a hundred years after this took place, and the story could be retold today. Cast in exactly the same locations, but taking place in 2025, instead of the 1930s. And the script could literally be left as is, barring some cultural references and questionable fashion choices.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how these two sisters, so close in age, sharing not just a bedroom and a love of drama, but an identical upbringing, find themselves at opposite ends of the universe in terms of beliefs.

So many people today are talking about very similar rifts within their own tight circles: family members that don’t talk to one another because one side is defending Hamas, and the other is defending Israel. And there’s no compromising between a terror state and a democracy, and so the rifts grow wider.

Watching the series Outrageous brought to mind a different show – this one fiction: the dystopian dark drama (with a bit of sci-fi thrown in to further confuse things) called Man in The High Castle which aired close to a decade ago. This is a short synopsis: Set in the 1960s, it explores an alternate outcome to history if the Axis powers had won World War Two.

What a horrific thought.

The former U.S. is now dominated by the two victorious powers: Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. It was honestly a terrifying thing to watch: New York City draped in swastikas, dissenters shot in the streets, Jews hiding underground – literally opening trap doors in their basement to sneak in on Friday nights in order to light the Shabbat candles before emerging, and continuing to go through life masquerading as a non-Jew. Hiding every Jewish symbol of Judaism: no mezuzot, no kippa, no Star of David necklaces.

Sound familiar?

When I watched it with my husband, we were always debating whether it COULD have happened. I always argued no way. I mean, it certainly makes for an interesting premise, but no chance that THAT would have happened. I did think at the time it was a good thing that this show was on the air. It clearly depicted the cruelty of the Hitler regime, the fear that everyone lived with, and the inability to practice anything that is in the Declaration of Independence: no freedom of speech, no freedom of religion, no freedom to defend oneself. Neighbors were ratting on one another and life was a misery. Every day was a game of Russian roulette whether you lived or died.

Certainly ANYONE watching it would clearly see the benefits of democracy vs fascism, I thought.

Rather naively, as it turned out.

Today, you have American citizens, and European Nationals – who grew up with all the benefits their Republic has to offer – burning their own flags, draping the flag of a terror state all over their streets, schools, and places of business. They are wearing the Hamas headband and keffiyeh with the same confidence that a runway model wears Chanel. Lauding the idea of Sharia law, no less. Have they not seen what happens when you invite the enemy into your home? When they disguise rape as resistance? When dictators start deciding what you can or can’t wear, and when showing a lock of hair can get you executed? When you start stirring up conspiracy theories blaming a tiny minority for all the world’s problems and that Jews are controlling the entire world?

So I wonder what the Jew-haters out there are thinking when they watch these two shows.

Are they wishing that they too had had the “amazing” experience of meeting Hitler like Unity Mitford? That they publicly and fervently wish that The Man in the High Castle was more of a documentary of true events and not a fictional dystopian twisted view of history?

I used to watch these kinds of shows for pure entertainment, and to learn a bit more of historical events I wasn’t aware of. But now, I watch them with a bit of trepidation and fear. They’ve turned from light entertaining on a random Monday evening, to a dark and evil foreboding of things to come.