When Nazis come to town

More people should be selfish.

I recently watched Welcome to Leith, a 2015 documentary about white supremacist Craig Cobb's attempt to take over a tiny village by persuading others of his ilk to move there. The native villagers resist him. The film’s an interesting time capsule from just seven years ago, before "Nazi" became a brush to paint all Trump supporters.

Leith, North Dakota had one African-American among the two dozen residents, and was otherwise white. Little is said of the reasons behind local resistance to the Nazis, but no explanation is necessary. They were likely raised to believe, "As Americans, we ended slavery, we defeated Hitler, we passed civil rights laws. White supremacists have no place here."  The reaction of these good Americans to Nazis was naturally revulsion and fear.

The filmmakers were able to follow characters on both sides of the conflict, so we get a glimpse of some of the motivations of Cobb and his friends. One thing is clear: it's pointless to try to change the minds of Nazis.

I thought about the famous line: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” It doesn't matter who said it first, what's important is that many people believe it, and it inspires them to fight the evils of the world. What we forget is that bad people think they're good, and they think they ought to do something.

Thus, one who believes Jews are evil and blacks are inferior might dedicate his life to the protection of his own kind. The more he's hated, the bolder he becomes; for those pursuing a righteous cause, persecution is validation. 

It brings up this thought: I wish Nazis and all forms of white supremacists were selfish. I wish they didn't try to improve society or the world on their terms, but just went about their business and kept their opinions to themselves: "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die."

That might be good advice for the rest of us as well. 

After all, it wasn't the Nazis who created the largest prison population and largest military budget in the world, it was mainstream "good" people who, fearing evil would triumph, decided to ban the vices of their neighbors and overthrow governments abroad.

Maybe there's be less evil in the nation and world if more good people did nothing.

James Leroy Wilson writes from Nebraska. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. If you enjoy his articles, subscribe and exchange value for value. You may contact James for your writing, editing, and research needs: jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com. Permission to reprint is granted with attribution.

For sports-only content, subscribe to The MVP Chase.