You know why we Germans are so pedantic about data protection? Someone around 90 years ago went through all records available, selected people with certain criteria, with the help of IBM, and then killed them all.

We don't want to be on any list.

And now the US Gov and Musk are trying to get access to all data they have about every person and put them into a big fat DB and run AI over it.

I am afraid what they will do with that.

@bitboxer With the help of IBM? Do you have a source for that?
IBM and the Holocaust - Wikipedia

@bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave
The truth of the matter is that US big business and some very wealthy people all supported Hilter and fascism

@SaanichGuy

And let's not forget that US media, i.e. the New York Times, were initially quite enthusiatic about Hitler.

Something that's rarely talked about.

@bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave

@proscience @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave and that early Hitlers attorneys thought the systemic discrimination in the US is too crass.
@proscience @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave but a matter of historical record nonetheless.

@proscience @SaanichGuy

The Unhealthy Alliances of Industry and #Fascism

(1/n)

#History does not repeat itself, but it surely does rhyme:

In the #WeimarRepubluc, it was the heavy-industry and media mogul #Hugenberg that did pave the way for #Hitler and the #NationalSocialists:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/113987420992520717

Whereas the millionaires' involvement in national politics was quite haphazard in 1920s '30s #Germany, it has been a a Chinese-style, really long-range...

@bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave

The Unhealthy Alliances of Industry and #Fascism

(2/n)

...planning in the #US:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/112598555451884508

Whereas the #FederalistSociety and the #KochBrothers have been a perennial force, #PeterThiel and #ElonMusk have had a lot of influence in recent years, as we all know.

The #TrumpCoup has been in the making for decades:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/114670353869544765

...and I contend that German-led #US #Fascism was never effectively dealt with is one,...

@proscience @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave

@SaanichGuy @bitboxer @MrLaCave @fenkt are you speaking in the past or present tense?
@SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave (Economic) liberals ALWAYS support fascism. Fascism is the ultimate form of neoliberalism.
@ZoidbergForPresident @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave it would really be great at this point in time to have a more lucid and intricate analysis of fascism than this
@pleadthefif @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave History showed that already. And is currently repeating itself. Wake up.
Mussolini on the Corporate State

A Google(tm) search on January 12, 2005 turned up some 5,000 hits on the following quote: “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.” — Benito Mussolini It is generally attributed to an article written by Mussolini in the 1932 Enciclopedia Italiana with the assistance of Giovanni Gentile, the editor. The quote, however, does not appear in the Enciclopedia Italiana in the original Italian.

Political Research Associates

@ZoidbergForPresident @pleadthefif @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave

Liberalism is the road to fascism and neoliberalism is the motorway equivalent?

@SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave I will never be thankful enough to US for helping my country (Italy) to get rid of fascists. Yet I have to say that the fight against racism was all but the target of USA in the '40s. The Republican Constitution of 1948 swept away all form of racism from Italy's law. Other European countries did the same. USA had to wait the '60s for declaring racial segregation a crime.

@zooropa

If you read the black American writers (and musicians) - Wright, Baldwin, etc - that washed up in Paris after the war, the experience they describe is escape from the burden of US systemic prejudice and discrimination. Baldwin was also gay. They spent a lot of time with Sartre and DeBeauvoir - and at the First International Congress of Negro Writers & Artists in Paris in 1956 Wright was the only speaker to complain about the near absence of black women writers. There were very direct, personal lines from the post-war experience of liberation in Europe to the black civil rights, 'women's lib' and gay liberation movements in the US in the 60s.

@SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave

@zooropa @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt Now the US is helping fascists like Meloni or the AfD to come back...
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/elon-musk-fascism-europe
Elon Musk Craves Return of Fascism Across Europe | Common Dreams

The world's richest person seeks a descent into deep political crisis so reactionary forces can prevail again—just as they did in the 1930s.

Common Dreams
@SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave maybe you are right.
But, as far as I can see, Musk and Trump are way nearer to what I call fascism than Meloni has never been.
@zooropa @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave Isn't Meloni now also a fascist or at least extremely right-wing?
@leobm @zooropa @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave "She’s often cast as a pragmatist, yet her planned constitutional rewrite and attacks on media challenge the narrative of a benign moderate turn."
https://jacobin.com/2024/06/giorgia-meloni-democracy-media-authoritarianism
Hailed Abroad, Giorgia Meloni Undermines Democracy at Home

The EU election showed how much the EU establishment has accepted far-right Italian premier Giorgia Meloni. She’s often cast as a pragmatist, yet her planned constitutional rewrite and attacks on media challenge the narrative of a benign moderate turn.

@leobm @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave
Yes she is far right and anti communist/socialist but, at least she publicy addressed fascism as 'evil' more than once. She's a EU/Ukraine supporter and on the "anti Putin" side. Very different from (just for saying) Victor Orban. There are other italian leaders (Salvini) in her same side that are closer to Putin, Trump and Orban.

@leobm
She calls her movement neofascist.

@zooropa @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave

@HistoPol @leobm @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave
When she was in her teen, she followed neo fascists organizations but now no. She simply can't. She avoided 'fascism' carefully since a long time. She even addressed fascism as 'evil'.
The fascist party is banned from italian politics and it's a formal crime as casted in the 1948 constitution.
She's far right. Ultra conservative. But in the very moment she would say the words 'I'm fascist' or pay homage to Mussolini, she would be charged.

@zooropa

#ITpol
👉From #Mussolini to #Meloni
Has fascism survived in #Italy?👈

(1/n)

I understand your point of view.

I've see alcoholics doing succesful rehabs. I've never seen a really reformed fascist.
A leopard cannot change its spots.
#Meloni is just a lot more intelligent than, say #Trump.
Her spots will become a lot more evident, as she and her party consolidate power, just like Trump in his 2nd term.
This is my forecast, *if* Meloni...

@leobm @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave

#ITpol
👉From Mussolini to MeloniHas fascism survived in Italy?👈

(2/n)

...manages to survive the rapids of #Italian #Politics.

Doing a quick research of German-language press (SZ, NZZ, DW,) I'd say I've done too much marketing to accept a real difference b/w #NeoFascist and "#PostFascist."

Picking the #DW for lack of paywalls:

"From #Mussolini to #Meloni
Has #fascism survived in #Italy?"

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/italien-faschismus-mussolini-meloni-100.html

"#Italy...

@zooropa @leobm @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave

Von Mussolini bis Meloni: Hat der Faschismus in Italien überlebt?

Italien wird von der ultrarechten Giorgia Meloni regiert. Vom historischen Mussolini-Faschismus distanziert sie sich, doch ihre Kritiker glauben ihr nicht.

Deutschlandfunk

#ITpol
👉From #Mussolini to #Meloni
Has #fascism survived in #Italy?👈

(3/3)

...is ruled by the 👉ultra-right #GiorgiaMeloni. She is also known as a post-fascist.👈 She distances herself from the historical Mussolini fascism. But👉 her critics don't believe her👈... "

//

@zooropa @leobm @SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave

@SaanichGuy @bitboxer @fenkt @MrLaCave

and 1 million in new yorks bundt meeting at the Garden.....

IBM - Wikipedia

@floe @MrLaCave @bitboxer Thanks, this will be my next rabbit hole
@MrLaCave @floe @bitboxer good. Wait til you read about Hugo Boss, Mercedes, Bayer and Fanta!
@wonofone @MrLaCave @floe @bitboxer Those I knew already, IBM was indeed new to me. In general all Ultra Rich in Germany have a dark history #taxtherich
@MrLaCave @wonofone @floe @bitboxer
Because of technicians having a big role in keeping the concentration camps open and the selection for killing, after the war the VDI set up the engineer's creed (Bekenntnis des Ingenieurs).
https://x.com/tbsprs/status/1046444444122255361?lang=bg&mx=2
(sorry for the X link, VDI only has the newest version online)
tbsprs (@tbsprs) в X

Bekenntnis des Ingenieurs (VDI 1950) aus https://t.co/l23zg1SFFK #FIfFKon18 @FIfFKon @FIfF_de @PrivacyWeekBLN @chaosupdates

X (formerly Twitter)
@WiseWoman @MrLaCave @wonofone @floe @bitboxer Thanks, if you don't want to link to xshitter replace X with Xcancel
https://xcancel.com/

@MrLaCave @wonofone @floe @bitboxer a common dark joke is:

Company: "There is a gap in your CV for 3 years . What did you do during that time?"
Candidate: "I found a gap in your company history from 1933-1945, what did you do during that time?"

@MrLaCave @wonofone @floe @bitboxer not only the ultra rich. There are a lot of small and medium size companies older than 100 years owned by the families.

@gekko3k @wonofone @MrLaCave @floe @bitboxer

Coca-Cola GmbH couldn't get the ingredients for Coca Cola because of trade embargoes so they invented Fanta.

@wonofone @MrLaCave @floe @bitboxer don’t forget BASF, who ran a chemical factory at Auschwitz.

@wonofone @MrLaCave @floe @bitboxer oof I was about to mention Mercedes.

Walking through Dauchau and seeing the Mercedes logo...

@MrLaCave @bitboxer

It is quite well known; IBM provided the computation solutions to manage the lists of people to send off to concentration camps.

@per_sonne

And they provided the tech support for those machines, so when the nazis wanted to know stuff like: can we create a category for say; religion

They where the ones that explained how.

Also they continued to supply parts for those machines even after the US entered the war via a subsidiary company in switzerland.

@MrLaCave @bitboxer

@MrLaCave @bitboxer common historical knowledge. Were you not taught this part in school?
@csgraves @MrLaCave @bitboxer No, in Germany we learned only about IG Farben and the big Car Companies like BMW which provided Armoury https://troet.cafe/@MrLaCave/114025453259063340
MrLaCave :verified_coffee:   (@MrLaCave@troet.cafe)

@wonofone@mastodon.world @MrLaCave @floe@hci.social @bitboxer@mastodon.social Those I knew already, IBM was indeed new to me. In general all Ultra Rich in Germany have a dark history #taxtherich

troet.cafe - Mastodon
@MrLaCave @bitboxer oh my goodness, you're about to learn about the fucking evil history of IBM. I don't envy you.
MrLaCave :verified_coffee:   (@MrLaCave@troet.cafe)

@wonofone@mastodon.world @MrLaCave @floe@hci.social @bitboxer@mastodon.social Those I knew already, IBM was indeed new to me. In general all Ultra Rich in Germany have a dark history #taxtherich

troet.cafe - Mastodon
@MrLaCave @bitboxer it's so insanely depressing, but it also drives home the point: Captialism is NOT our friend. Ugly, ruthless, and always in bed with nazis.
@MrLaCave @bitboxer “IBM and the Holocaust” is the recommended reading on the topic.
IBM and the Holocaust

IBM & the Holocaust tells of IBM's strategic alliance w…

Goodreads