So, the Germans are putting me on trial for my thoughtcrimes, and, apparently, I’ve already been found guilty and sentenced. Bear with me and I’ll try to explain.
The Berlin District Court has issued a so-called “penalty order” or “order of punishment,” in which I am advised that I am now officially a criminal in Germany, for tweeting two Tweets. According to my attorney, a trial will now be scheduled, at which my attorney will argue the case before the judge that just issued the “order of punishment.” At this trial, the judge will listen attentively to the arguments my attorney has already made in writing, consider them carefully, and find me guilty, again. Then the judge will reaffirm the “order of punishment.”
Go ahead, read that paragraph again.
After my Kafkaesque trial has concluded, my attorney will file a series of appeals, which will fail, at which point I will have to decide whether to pay a fine of 3,600 Euros or go to German prison for 60 days.
This process will take months, if not years, and will cost me God knows how much money in attorney’s fees, court costs, and then the €3,600 fine. Yes, I’m going to pay the fine. I am not going to German prison for 60 days. Life is too short, and I am getting older, and it wouldn’t really accomplish anything except making a narcissistic spectacle of myself.
However, what will accomplish something (I don’t know how much, but something) is if I see the whole process through to the end, and shine as much light on it as I possibly can, because my case is just one of many such cases, and the real story here is not about me, it is about the crackdown on political dissent that is being carried out, not just here in Germany, but also in other countries all throughout the West.
There are not many outlets reporting this story, not outlets with any significant reach. If you are reading this column, you’re probably aware of various alternative media outlets that are, but most of these outlets are quarantined off where “normal” people never have to see them, and are delegitimized as “unreliable sources” and purveyors of “misinformation,” and so on.
There are a few bigger sources covering the story, which are also increasingly being branded “illegitimate,” Matt Taibbi’s Racket News, Michael Shellenberger’s Public, Glenn Greenwald’s Locals operations, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few more, forgive me.
The point is, unless you’re a charter member of the “science-denying, conspiracy-theorizing, hate-speech-speaking, anti-vaxxing, misinforming left-or-right extremist” club — i.e., people who read weird “malinformationist” publications like The Grayzone, OffGuardian, ZeroHedge, Dissident Voice, and Unlimited Hangout, and who are planning to vote for Bobby Kennedy, or, God help them, Donald Trump — you probably have no idea what I mean when I refer to “the crackdown on dissent” … or you do, and you think it’s just hunky-dory.
I won’t mince words. The folks who think it’s hunky-dory are totalitarians. They’re fascists. They applaud the crackdown on dissent. They applaud the criminalization of dissent. They applaud the censorship of political speech, of any speech they do not agree with. They want their political opponents in prison. They want everyone who disagrees with them punished. They want people who offend them cancelled. They want anyone who refuses to conform to their official ideology erased.
I have been calling these people “totalitarians” and “fascists” for a number of years now. I do not enjoy doing that. I’m not doing it gratuitously. Some of these people were my friends. I’m doing that, calling these people “fascists,” and comparing the nascent totalitarianism that is erupting all throughout the West to other, earlier totalitarian systems, like Stalinism (sorry, Marxist friends), and, yes, to fucking Nazi Germany, because, despite the fact that there are numerous differences, a lot of it is textbook totalitarianism. Naked textbook totalitarianism. There isn’t another, nicer word for it … or for those who are enthusiastically embracing it.
I’m not going to present the evidence for that assertion again. I have done that ad nauseam, much of it in my latest book, which is banned by Amazon in several countries, and which bears a warning on other Amazon sites to “visit the WHO, the CDC,” or your local national health authority, “for the latest information on Covid-19 and vaccines” before you consider buying it, and the cover art of which is about to make me an official “hate criminal,” with a criminal record.
That’s right, as I explained at greater length in a previous column, the pretext for this so-called “hate crime” prosecution is two Tweets I tweeted almost exactly one year ago of the cover art of that very same book, which just happens to document the rollout of the “New Normal” (i.e., the new totalitarianism) in 2020 and 2021.
Here are the two Tweets that constitute my “hate crimes.”
The one on the left reads, “The masks are ideological-conformity symbols. That is all they are. That is all they have ever been. Stop acting like they have ever been anything else, or get used to wearing them.” The one on the right is a quote by Karl Lauterbach, the Minister of Health of Germany. It reads “The masks always send out a signal.” The image is the cover art of my book.
Say what you want about me and my writing. I can be “provocative,” and some of my political satire is bombastically over-the-top, but, as Matt Taibbi put it in a recent Racket News piece …
“No amount of drugs exist that if consumed would allow a rational person to conclude that the writing of C.J. Hopkins furthers ‘the aims of a former National Socialist Organization.’ Agree with him or not, and I increasingly do, he used his imagery to compare the sweeping declarations of emergency power that were common around the world during the pandemic (and were particularly authoritarian in Germany) to Nazi tactics.”
And that is what I am being accused of, and “punished” for doing, by the German authorities, i.e., “furthering the aims of a National Socialist Organization” … basically, promoting Nazism, for tweeting those two Tweets above.
There is no complex legal issue here. Yes, swastikas are banned in Germany if you’re a Nazi or promoting Nazism or Fascism, but they are permitted for the purposes of “civic education, countering anti-constitutional activities, art, science, research and education, coverage of historic and current events,” and similar purposes, according to German law. Do you seriously believe that the German hate-crime police and the prosecutor and the judge do not understand that? Of course they understand that. They’re not complete imbeciles. They know the charges are just a pretext. And they know we know the charges are just a pretext. They do not care. They do not have to. They don’t even have to pretend to be following the rule of law. Not anymore. Because they know the majority of the masses are with them.
The point of prosecutions like this (and much more serious and significant prosecutions, like that of Julian Assange, for example) is to send a message. The naked disregard for the rule of law, the blatant absurdity of the charges, the open contempt for democratic principles, is all part of the message. It’s not a message about the law. It’s a message about power. Who has it, and who doesn’t. And what happens to those who refuse to bow down to it.
The message is not intended for me, or for more important figures like Julian Assange, or the many other less well-known dissidents that are being made examples of currently. We’re just the medium that conveys the message. We’re the delivery service. The message is for you.
I’m pretty sure you’re getting the message. The question is … how are you going to respond?
I do not mean by “storming” your capitol. Please do not go out and get yourself shot. I mean, are you going to help shine a light on where we are headed? Because it’s pretty fucking dark. Folks are offering to send me money to help with my legal costs, and I’m extremely grateful, because I’m going to need it (and here’s how to do that), but what I think we need to do is a little harder, and costs more, and is much more important.
We need to talk to the totalitarians … yes, the ones who wanted to put us in camps. If we can’t get through to them, we’re probably screwed. And there is a window of opportunity to do that now. It’s not 2020 or 2021. The mass hysteria has worn off for a lot of people. I know, not all of them, but for some of them, a lot of them. Some of them are finally reachable.
Take a chance, talk to them, the ones you know, or used to know. Try to get through to them. Not the bug-eyed, fanatical, foaming-at-the-mouth types who can’t wait for the return of the “emergency measures.” The other ones … you know the ones I mean. The ones who want out. You can see it in their eyes. Take a chance. Talk to these people. Totalitarianism, fascism, it is not an identity. It’s a mindset. No one is born a fascist. People can be deprogrammed. Some of them can. And, at this point, we need all the help we can get.
So, if you’re one of the kind and generous folks who have been asking what you can do to help and offering to send me money, sure, go ahead and send me the money — thank you, I’ve been overwhelmed by your messages, and I’m sorry that I can’t personally respond to all of them — but also consider what I’m suggesting, if you can possibly bring yourself to do it. If you can’t, I completely understand. Trust me, I am still just as angry as you are. I am hurt. I feel betrayed and abandoned. I have a feeling that some of you feel that way too. So I know what I’m asking when I ask you to talk to the New Normal totalitarians, the ones who might be reachable.
If you can’t yet, don’t. But if you’re able to, try.
Don’t try to convince them that you were right and they were wrong. Just shine a light on the road we’re on. Try to get them to recognize where we’re headed. Regardless of who was right and who was wrong about whatever, we are all going down this road together.
Personally, I’d rather not ride it all the way to the end and face what is down there this time.
###
CJ Hopkins
August 24, 2023
DISCLAIMER: The preceding essay is entirely the work of our in-house satirist and self-appointed political pundit, CJ Hopkins, and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Consent Factory, Inc., or its staff, or any of its agents, subsidiaries, or assigns. If, for whatever inexplicable reason, you appreciate Mr. Hopkins’ work and would like to support it, please go to his Substack page, or his Patreon page, or send a contribution to his PayPal account, so that maybe he’ll stop coming around our offices trying to hit our employees up for money. Alternatively, you could purchase his satirical dystopian sci-fi novel, Zone 23, or Volumes I, II, and III of his Consent Factory Essays, or any of his subversive stage plays, which won some awards in Great Britain and Australia. If you do not appreciate Mr. Hopkins’ work and would like to write him an abusive email, feel free to contact him directly.
Consent Factory, Inc. 
I dunno … if you did the time, you could focus on writing a book. Perhaps call it “Mein Kampf” and put that mask on the cover. You might find yourself running Germany in a few years.
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BTW, asking for donations might give you gift-tax issues. I’d gladly pay for an autographed copy of your current book.
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I hope things work out for you. Humanity is slowly starting to realize government is simply the most successful of the criminal gangs.
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“government is simply the most successful of the criminal gangs”
I love this and it’s completely true…sadly we’re in quite a conundrum as a species, as without government we have anarchy, which results in government eventually.
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So, if I understand this right, it illegal to do anything that furthers ‘the aims of a former National Socialist Organization.’
It’s also very bad to show any of that organization’s symbols.
But to enforce those rules, the methods of that organization are being enthusiastically adopted.
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Since the former organization – which I shall studiously refrain from naming lest if cause offence – strongly disapproved of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I feel sure that our goodly authorities can have no objection to his name and his work being mentioned.
Dietrich Bonhöffer’s “On Stupidity” (“Von der Dummheit”) explains a lot.
https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Von_der_Dummheit
English translation: https://nsjonline.com/article/2021/12/bonhoeffer-on-stupidity/
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease.
“Against stupidity we are defenseless.
“Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed — in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical — and when facts are irrefutable, they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack…
“Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that 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.
“It would even seem that this is virtually a sociological-psychological law. The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other.
“The process at work here is not that particular human capacities, for instance, the intellect, suddenly atrophy or fail. Instead, it seems that under the overwhelming impact of rising power, humans are deprived of their inner independence, and, more or less consciously, give up establishing an autonomous position toward the emerging circumstances.
“The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil”.
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Those, such as you, who have poked their heads out of the foxholes, have done a huge service to the rest of us. Your example has shown us what they have in store for us as well, if we are willing to observe your situation honestly. Most people won’t see that or will cognitively refuse to accept it. But for the rest of us, you have reminded us of the kind of world we live in.
Your point is well made, that we must reach the people who are capable of responding to reason. Unfortunately, the emotional and crowd-herding tools being employed by our enemies serve to reduce peoples’ ability to think and reason. I fear that we are only offering a light in the darkness for people scattered here and there, rather than an impetus for fundamental change. But we must do what we can do, and the rest of it will happen or not happen, according to the order and the whims of the cosmos. Take care of yourself; your strong conscience has led you to do more than your share already.
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I would classify it as terminal stupidity when you complain about totalitarian suppression of speech, but then vote for the exact people – Trump’s opponents – who are suppressing speech, as well as many other totalitarian acts.
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I’ve enjoyed reading your enlightening and entertaining work since I first came upon it in O-G, probably around 2020, and look forward to reading more.
However, one thing circulating in my mind, is the thought that for years you have been prophesying in anticipation, and describing, more and more vividly, the horrific features and characteristics of the approaching monster, which I also saw.
You’ve seen history repeating itself and reported it is us, no different than the last time.
Now, after all that poking, prodding and mocking of the thing you’ve been describing, finally, us, it reaches out, grabs you by the throat and proves you right, what do you do?
Retreat.
Something doesn’t sit right, I’m having a bit of difficulty reconciling it.
Suddenly, your confident bravado seems a little hollow to me now.
Had you faced the consequences of the reality you’ve exposed, and been swallowed by it, I think you, your writing, we, your readers, and quite possibly, your fellow inmates, would have benefitted – and from whom you would also have benefitted.
I don’t begrudge you or your decision, I would probably have done the same, unless I had no choice, as I believe the majority would.
But you aren’t the majority.
You are exceptional.
It noticed.
It stared you down.
You blinked.
Is that your best advice to the rest of us?
They told you to shut up.
In not so many words.
Will you offend again?
Yell and scream about them nasties now, all you want.
Now, I think I’d rather hear from the inmates, especially survivors.
That’s the advice we need to trust now, that we can’t get from you, only from experience.
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So are you saying he should go to jail instead of paying the fine? What would not blinking look like?
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I, too, am a Satirist, a “Guerilla Suicide Satireorist,” with verifiable publications in both publiic and private collections.
As for CJ, I think that he ought to do whatever he decides is best for himself, is what I think, as should we all.
Not blinking would look like this, and I relate it to everyone, from direct experience, if you’d care to listen.
CJ has wielded, whirled and hurled copious jibes at the beast, harrassing, mocking, pointing, poking and laughing at its approach.
Warning us, and doing it so well, finally succeeded in aggravating it.
Similarly, early in 2020, I engaged in a deliberate, solitary act of “guerilla suicide satireorism,” in order to stand up for myself and to determine the exact conditions of reality, and, being both completely unknown and without support, paid the price for that confrontation.
Never arrested (one exception: protesting the invasion of Iraq), no criminal record or history, I was put under surveillance, and, preemptively arrested, without warrant, by and undercover and uniformed operatives of the “Street Gang Squad,” in the lobby of my apartment building, late into the night.
The intent had been to storm my apartment under and authorized “night raid.”
The only thing that saved me from that fate was my appetite — on impulse, I left the building to grab some take out, and was grabbed ony return.
I was not permitted a phone call, no one even knew I was kidnapped.
My appartment was searched in my absence, property and equipment was confiscated, some permanently, some returned damaged, harddrive copied, phone taken (for six months).
I was handcuffed, taken in a crusier to a local jail, mugshot, fingerprinted, put in a barred cell, held overnight — listening to a woman screaming like an trapped animal — all night, given a Secret Zoom trial the following day, then sent to prison for three days on charges of threatening and harrassment.
Do you think I don’t understand the language, or how to use it, legally?
Next, I was transported, again, in handcuffs, in a van, in the middle of the night, to a modern prison, where, upon admission with about a dozen others, I was, first, strip searched, then left to a cell which I shared with a (initially), naked, 22 year old, 6’+tall, athletically built Haitian, Andre, who went by the nick’ “Atlas,” whom I definitely looked up to.
Great guy.
Spent three days, uninterrupted — COVID RESTRICTIONS, no release from cells — bunking with him, an open toilet, a sink, and a small window that looked out to a field, surrounded by 12-foot high, chainlink fence, topped with coils of razor wire.
I was released three days later, at midnight, in the middle of nowhere, with my cohort.
They laughed when I graded it a “Two Cockroach” hotel.
I was lucky, they had originally intended to dump me in a nearby, archaic “Four Cockroach” hotel.
Less than a month after my imprisonment, in the same facility, another 22-year old black man, an hour away from release, was beaten to death by fellow inmates with the guards encouragement.
I found the warrant on my bed, when I got home, four days later, in total, like another slap in the face.
All this, followed by 6-months of court proceedings, resulting not in a criminal conviction but a conditional discharge.
Two months after my ordeal, my ears bled for about 20 days.
My mind has been completely disrupted to this day.
The sheer brutality of the experience has injured mind, particularly the prison emptiness of the prison environment.
However, it was the inmates that most impressed me.
I returned home on a ride I paid for and shared with this fine fellow.
What I can’t express is what I want you to know about.
What I can’t express, is what I want CJ to understand and to know.
That’s sort of what blinking looks like, and everybody who’s nobody ought to know it, and, unfortunately, this is the best I can tell it.
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My apologies for the typos. Working by phone.
Hope it didn’t disrupt flow and comprehension too badly.
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I have followed you through the pandemic. I lived in Germany for over 18 years. I always said that many if not most Germans carry within them the spirit of totalitarianism, or fascism. There are two components here, one is the mindless trust of authority and the other is a feeling superiority against other nations. They will deny this if asked or exposed, but deep inside they are. One ludicrous example was Thilo Sarrazin, which misused science to justify that some “races” are more worthy than others for labor immigration. I remember being outraged by portray given by the media of Sarrazin, but Sarrazin paled what came with Covid. Most Germans can be nice people most of the time even having dormant nazi spirits within. When covid came, well, we all came to see why from all countries in the world, nazism occurred in Germany. Last year we had the opportunity to leave Germany, even though the Covid thing was ending, we went to the United States, and altough we had a very nice life in Germany, I am happy I do not live there anymore. I dont now if I will stay here but I know am not going to come to Germany.
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You’ve been spreading 100 year old Nazi propaganda for years now. Fuck you. Go to jail, you bargain-bin Julius Streicher.
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