First they came...

First they came for the Communists, according to Pastor Martin Niemoller's short poem about Nazi genocide in Germany, and German complicity in the face of Nazi eugenics. Niemoller himself was never quiet about Nazi crimes, in fact it was only his high connections to influential and wealthy investors that saved him until 1939, after which he was imprisoned, eventually at Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. He survived to be a leading voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people after WWII. His quote is well known and is often a model of describing the phenomenon of social chaos, as it often begins with specific and targeted fear and hatred which soon escalates out of control. Other versions change specific terms and replace them with terms from other contexts.

Table of contents

1 Original 1.1 "Hackers" 1.2 Intellectual Property Parody

Original

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.

- by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

"Hackers"

First they came for the hackers.
But I never did anything illegal with my computer,
so I didn't speak up.
Then they came for the pornographers.
But I thought there was too much smut on the Internet anyway,
so I didn't speak up.
Then they came for the anonymous remailers.
But a lot of nasty stuff gets sent from anon.penet.fi,
so I didn't speak up.
Then they came for the encryption users.
But I could never figure out how to work PGP anyway,
so I didn't speak up.
Then they came for me.
And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

-- Alara Rogers

Intellectual Property Parody

First they came for the space-shifters,
and I did not speak,
because I don't own a Diamond Rio.
Then they came for the DeCSS sites,
and I did not speak,
because I don't watch DVDs on a Linux box.
Then they came for Sean Fanning,
and I did not speak,
because I figured I'd just use Gnutella.
Then they came for my VCR.
Sorry, MPAA.
I'm writing my Congressman -- and I'm not alone yet.

-- anonymous (with apologies to Martin Niemoller)