The original poster is paraphrasing from Pastor Martin Niemoeller. His bio is pasted below, courtesy of jewishvirtuallibrary.com. The quote is pasted first. It is neither over the top, nor is it comedy:
“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”
Martin Niemoeller was a Protestant pastor born January 14, 1892, in Lippstadt, Westphalia. He was a submarine commander in World War I. He was anti-communist and initially supported the Nazis until the church was made subordinate to state authority.
In 1934, he started the Pastors’ Emergency League to defend the church. Hitler became angered by Niemoeller’s rebellious sermons and popularity and had him arrested on July 1, 1937. He was tried the following year and sentenced to seven months in prison and fined.
After his release, Hitler ordered him arrested again. he spent the next seven years in concentration camps in “protective custody.“ He was liberated in 1945 and was elected President of the Protestant church in Hesse and Nassau in 1947. He held the title until 1964. He was also a President of the World Council of Churches in the 1960’s.
Niemoeller was a pacifist who spoke out against nuclear weapons. He is best known for his powerful statement about the failure of Germans to speak out against the Nazis:
“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”
He died in Wiesbaden on March 6, 1984.
When Fascism took over Germany they selectively and one at a time took groups out of the population. Gypsies, Jews, Poles etc. etc. The German citizen said "It's not me and not my fight".
I didn't expect that lesson to be brought home to me in the USA as a general response even on an individual basis.
Holy Cow! People who don't immediately rush into to help crime victims are guilty of the same crimes as the Nazis in the Holocaust!!!!! Where in the world did that comparison come from? That is so far over the top that it is bordering on comedy!