[she says it like it should be obvious, but maybe it's only that way because of what she's been through. the history of her world, and the history of her family, as well. she trails a finger along the edge of her glass. could be a good time to pull it back from talking about someone Else and instead start talking about things closer to home.]
So my grandparents grew up in the middle of one of the worst fascist regimes that my world's ever seen. And neither of them liked talking about it much, and I never really wanted to know either, you know? But my little sister, Beth, she soaked up information like a sponge. So one time when Oma was over for a visit, she asked her what it was like growing up there.
[there's a level of detachment here that makes it somewhat easier to talk about. it's half-remembered statements, it's the general vibe of the whole conversation. she doesn't remember her grandmother's actual words anymore, not after everything else she's been through in the intervening 15 or 20 years.]
And Oma said that it was just... so clear what the man leading it all was doing. Who he was trying to blame all the country's problems on and what he intended to do about it. He didn't try to hide his intent, he just... took advantage of people who wanted an easy scapegoat to blame everything on. And he hammered that point for years, until... [sigh.]
Until it worked. Until he whipped an entire country into a frenzy that left millions of people dead, because he convinced them that they were all subhuman. And he could do it because he knew how to take a country's fear and direct it all in one place. And the history of my world is full of people like him. I don't think an indifferent, blind god could do something that horrible if it tried.
cw 1940s germany/the holocaust
[she says it like it should be obvious, but maybe it's only that way because of what she's been through. the history of her world, and the history of her family, as well. she trails a finger along the edge of her glass. could be a good time to pull it back from talking about someone Else and instead start talking about things closer to home.]
So my grandparents grew up in the middle of one of the worst fascist regimes that my world's ever seen. And neither of them liked talking about it much, and I never really wanted to know either, you know? But my little sister, Beth, she soaked up information like a sponge. So one time when Oma was over for a visit, she asked her what it was like growing up there.
[there's a level of detachment here that makes it somewhat easier to talk about. it's half-remembered statements, it's the general vibe of the whole conversation. she doesn't remember her grandmother's actual words anymore, not after everything else she's been through in the intervening 15 or 20 years.]
And Oma said that it was just... so clear what the man leading it all was doing. Who he was trying to blame all the country's problems on and what he intended to do about it. He didn't try to hide his intent, he just... took advantage of people who wanted an easy scapegoat to blame everything on. And he hammered that point for years, until... [sigh.]
Until it worked. Until he whipped an entire country into a frenzy that left millions of people dead, because he convinced them that they were all subhuman. And he could do it because he knew how to take a country's fear and direct it all in one place. And the history of my world is full of people like him. I don't think an indifferent, blind god could do something that horrible if it tried.