How on earth did Nazism spread so rapidly? (70's, Spain, conquer)
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Forget what the video was but apparently people that value order and authority are often easily disgusted. It's not surprising that there was a desire for order in the early 30s. The leaders that implemented order, and the followers that supported them would have undoubtedly influenced each other, while people that valued order less probably were outsiders with a less active role in shaping the changing society. Although disgust was used for good like improving hygiene and vaccinations it also took a very nasty turn as people viewed as different became regarded as scum, dirty and rats.
Fear probably played a factor but I think after a while a lot of people were actually believing crazy stuff. When you have something like the Asch conformity experiments where a significant proportion of people can be convinced something so obviously wrong when everyone around them supports the incorrect answer (ie which line is the same length - and it's very obvious)... Imagine if peer pressure pushes people to gradually accept twisted notions. So lets say everyone you know tell you that they believe some ethnicities are superior, would you eventually believe it yourself if no-one else gives an opposing view? Or even if just a third of your friends feel that way and two thirds are neutral? In theory it's a plausible idea (much more than with Asch experiments), so probably a lot of people will get convinced by their peers. And as more people get convinced, their case becomes more convincing and even the more stubborn types find it difficult to disagree. Once that's been accepted by society you take it one step further... and another step... I think we'd be surprised how this kind of gradual brainwashing can warp people's minds. And all it takes is a little pressure to encourage one point of view and suppress another. One you have people convinced that Jews are like some sort of disgusting disease you don't need the government to tell people something should be done, the people will tell the government themselves.
When you're a starving German worker paying a wheelbarrow-load of money for bread, however, you're not going to lean towards Communism nor Conservatism - you're going to want a change in your economic situation. Hitler's party promised exactly that, with the added prospect of a scapegoat for the country's problems (the Jews) as well as a desire for revenge against those who had created the Versailles Treaty and imposed its unfair conditions upon the German people. As historian/philosopher Jonathan Glover put it, the appeal of Nazism was "deeper" than that of Communism and had an "emotional charge" that Communism lacked - though both offered to improve the German economy, Nazism eventually became "a shared project with deep emotional roots".
Are you talking about our national anthem? Ours???! Show me a link that had that "story" in it. I haven't heard of anything like it at all. Police or other officials don't shoot people just because someone would rather sit for the Star-Spangled Banner.
Sounds like he's talking about India which seems to have passed a law like that although I haven't heard of any killings like he describes.
You all have forgotten about brain washing, the power of suggestions, the deep denial people really live in. Manipulation is not so hard, if they say what people want to hear, fits their agenda, and satisfies their soul. you will find it to be true in all kinds of places, not just underdeveloped oppressed countries.
plus a severe depression was happening in Germany ( and the US )
I believe if FDR had been an evil man, the same could have happened here in the US.
very hard economic times makes people desperate.
Good post. Not correlating FDR to Hitler, but look at many African Americans(desperate people) during the Great Depression(desperate times). Most changed their party in the thirties to that of FDR. Many try to pin the large movement in the 60's but this is inaccurate.
Hitler also played upon current trends; dissatisfaction with the dismal economic situation after WWI in Germany and a very human tendency to want to blame someone for all your problems. Antisemitism was strong in Europe and the Jews were a handy scapegoat.
I think that the Germans might have been comfortable with authority so having someone tell them what to do. They sure got that with Nazism.
When traditionally favored and ruling groups see their privilege erode, they often react by embracing a leader who promises to 'return' the nation to its 'glory' by whatever means necessary. It helps that such groups tend to be enamored of those who rule forcefully. Of course, this is imaginary glory, but the right individuals can often get the people - or at least a sizable portion of it - to hand him the power he claims that he needs to do what he promised.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Troyfan
National socialism combines the attractions of socialism with those of nationalism. It's not hard to understand why it should appear from time to time in different places.
For strategic reasons, Hitler never altered the party planks enacted by party founder Anton Drexler before Hitler arrived on the political scene. But he took pains to privately make clear that the socialist elements weren't to be taken seriously. There's a reason that German business and industry, after all, financed the Nazi rise to power.
Nazi Germany was about as 'socialist' as East Germany (the German Democratic Republic) was 'democratic'. Authoritarian regimes aren't known for their truth in advertising.
Currently in my god forsaken country there is a massive wave of nationalism. A week ago the supreme court forced a new rule that everyone must stand for the national anthem in movie theaters and anyone not standing will be given a week in prison. Since then there have been a wave of incidents. Today 9 people were shot dead(!!!) for not standing in the theater. They got into an argument by the uber nationalist crowd and after getting out of the theater they were murdered in broad daylight.
What do you make of this? Many idiots here are comparing the rise of the right to nazism and believe it or not....many actually idolize Hitler. Which makes me wonder....How did a first world highly educated and advanced nation like Germany fall for the charms of Hitler? What was the catalyst that the entire population simply swayed to his tunes? I mean killing of Jews and other "unwanteds" is hardcore whichever way you look at it...morally wrong and unethical, did no one realize? Look at what happened to them...The entire nation was evaporated.
I believe we're witnessing the growth of something like that right now. History repeats itself. Although it's not exactly the same, and the result won't be the same.
Fear and hate. We saw in the U.S. that many people were more than willing to give up their freedom from being surveilled by Big Brother (the Patriot Act) because they were afraid of terrorists. They mistakenly thought the purpose of not being watched by the govt was that they weren't doing anything wrong, so it didn't matter. That's not what's important about freedom from Big Brother, though, is it?
Hatred for those not like them takes hold, encouraged by a leader. It's a mob mentality by some, and good or weak people doing nothing, that lets the supremacists take over. Good people are shouted down and openly ridiculed, unless you keep silent or go along with hating the groups that are supposed to be hated. The leader is the same and calls ordinary citizens names. The name calling is important. It dehumanizes the "others." And the leader doing it makes it okay for the masses to do it.
People will blindly follow a strong leader who feeds into their fears and hatred, and will give up their freedoms along the way, if they think they'll get what they want in the end: more jobs, better economy, whatever else they may want.
It's a mob mentality taking hold of an entire country, but it requires a Big Brother type of govt for the freedoms to be taken away. A dictatorship or some type of fascist govt with a fascist leader. What type of govt is your country's govt?
When traditionally favored and ruling groups see their privilege erode, they often react by embracing a leader who promises to 'return' the nation to its 'glory' by whatever means necessary. It helps that such groups tend to be enamored of those who rule forcefully. Of course, this is imaginary glory, but the right individuals can often get the people - or at least a sizable portion of it - to hand him the power he claims that he needs to do what he promised.
For strategic reasons, Hitler never altered the party planks enacted by party founder Anton Drexler before Hitler arrived on the political scene. But he took pains to privately make clear that the socialist elements weren't to be taken seriously. There's a reason that German business and industry, after all, financed the Nazi rise to power.
Nazi Germany was about as 'socialist' as East Germany (the German Democratic Republic) was 'democratic'. Authoritarian regimes aren't known for their truth in advertising.
I think Hitler had some real socialist impulses: the Peoples' Car, a massive infrastructure program, youth organizations. Big business was necessary to him to build the things, military and otherwise, he directed them to build. The Nazi party wanted to eliminate unearned income, expand old-age benefits, strengthen the middle class, etc. Some of these were enacted, some weren't. Would they under a different leader? Who knows. Hitler's anti-semitism and war mongering led where it led.
I remember the IBEW contract of the 1970's having a provision that wages would be adjusted if nationalized medicine was enacted. Didn't happen then but that didn't mean people weren't trying for it.
A lot of these things are common to center-left and far-left parties today. Where the Nazis differ most, but not entirely, is in the national part of these programs: they were for Germans (of Germany and Austria) only. No Jews, no foreigners. These elements are not unknown to today's political parties. Those of the right opposing foreigners, those of the left adopting ant-Jewish positions.
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