Mastodawn

@georgetakei

To be fair, Germans do have somewhat of an excuse.

A lost war, Treaty of Versailles and what it entailed. Hyperinflation, massive destruction of wealth. Great Depression, which made the US demand back all the loans Germany heavily depended on. You can, in hindsight, somehow understand how, everything taken together, and happening within 15 years, could destabilize a country and provide radicals with a shot.

cqd_sos

@georgetakei

In case you don't know what hyperinflation means, you pay three bucks for a loaf of bread today. 300 bucks next month. 300 thousand six months later. Meaning all your savings, in cash or in a bank account, are gone.

James Cameroun Apr 16

@cqd_sos @georgetakei This is not how Hitler came to power. I mean the nazis were not the only ones adressing these issues and when they actually took over most of those were a thing of the past, so much so that these guys had to go beyond merely taking advantage of what the situation was back then if they were to take the power. While this whole Versailles syndrome helps understand why they had their followers, it doesn't explain what came after.

@ratel @georgetakei

A thing of the past? You do recall when the Great Depression happened, don't you. That's what, in addition to everything else, provided the Nazis with a boost in 1933.

They still didn't get a majority. A deficiency in the system, which gave a half-dead, senile president the authority to appoint a chancellor, plus some clever maneuvering is what then sank the Weimarer Republik.

That, plus a pretext, the Reichstagsbrand, is what allowed Hitler to gain absolute power.

@ratel @georgetakei

All very fast. Smooth. Democracy was gone within a blink of the eye.

@ratel @georgetakei

Also, what a statement to make. Do you really believe a hyperinflation happening in the US, some 10 years ago, would have been forgotten already?

Oh, of course. Hyperinflation in 2015, which destroyed all my savings in the bank, in addition to making me eat shit for a year or two, because I couldn't afford any real food. No problem, long forgotten. Now it's Great Depression, the sun is shining again.

Dave Mangot Apr 17

@cqd_sos @ratel @georgetakei let me get this straight.

The person who said there was an excuse for gas chambers is saying "what a statement to make"?

Make it make sense.

calsnoboarder Apr 17

@cqd_sos @ratel @georgetakei Based on your comments on this thread... it seems you really appreciate the Nazis for climbing out of poverty by killing a few million people. That is admiration I am reading between the lines of your comments right?

Wrong, young snoboarder.

For starters, you have to differentiate between "the Nazis" as in all of Nazi Germany, and "the Nazis" as in the party that made Germany Nazi Germany. The party is what I've been talking about.

And the question was, how could it have been that the party succeeded, eventually, after ten years of trying, and so easily? What were the reasons? Who didn't pay attention, and why?

Maybe everyone was busy snoboarding while they performed their power grab? That could be an explanation.

James Cameroun Apr 17

@cqd_sos @calsnoboarder @georgetakei What I'm saying is it took much more than circumstances for the Nazis to take the power. It's not some mysterious political force born out of history. They liked to portray themselves as being beyond politics, yet they too had to make agreements and bargainings (not to mention dirty tricks) to make their way to power. They kind of considered that they were something else, something special. This was their understanding of things and it shouldn't be ours.

@ratel @calsnoboarder @georgetakei

It took a lot more indeed. It took a figure like Alfred Hugenberg, for example, owner of a media empire not unlike the one Murdoch commands. It took unrest, the constant (street) fighting between the Nazis and the communists.

Nazi, though, means national socialist, and that's what, first and foremost, everyone perceived to be their distinguishing feature. National, but also a working class party. The party of the forgotten man.

Sounds familiar?

James Cameroun Apr 17

@cqd_sos @calsnoboarder @georgetakei "working class party" is exactly what they made sure big business would not mistake them for. They used to tell different bullshit to different people. Which makes their apparent despise for petty politics all the more ridiculous, for they played this little game more than anyone else at the time.

@ratel @calsnoboarder @georgetakei

You mean, like Trump posturing as representative of the forgotten man while giving huge tax breaks to the upper 1%?

calsnoboarder Apr 17

@cqd_sos @ratel @georgetakei I dunno... you sound like you admire their path to "supremacy." Like a bird watcher admiring a shrike for impaling mice on thorns.

"Dunno" is a good start. I feel like we're getting somewhere.

calsnoboarder Apr 17

@cqd_sos @ratel @georgetakei I think everyone else is getting somewhere... if the destination is understanding you are coming across as a fan of the Holocaust... that's really what I get out of most of your comments... sheer, unadulterated admiration.

It saddens me to hear these kinds of words, coming from a cal snoboarder.

Allow me to ask you a question, dear, young snoboarder. Do you know what my profile image is?

Hint: it's a drawing. But by whom?

calsnoboarder Apr 18

@cqd_sos @ratel @georgetakei I don't think it matters. What matters is perception of your comments and that perception (at least for me and others in this thread that read your comments) is that you admire the nazis for killing 6+ million people to get over losing a war and being destitute.

cqd_sos Apr 18

You didn't answer the question, young cal snoboarder.

Besides, sorry for saying so, but what your perception of my comments is doesn't trouble me at all.

calsnoboarder Apr 18

@cqd_sos @ratel @georgetakei which is exactly what a nazi would say...

cqd_sos Apr 18

Many would say that, young cal snoboarder. At some point, sooner or later, you might want to wonder why.

calsnoboarder Apr 19

@cqd_sos @ratel @georgetakei because they are also facists or christian nationalists? As the saying goes, if it sounds like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks (posts) like a duck, it's probably a duck.

I'm surprised to see you ask me questions, young cal snoboarder, while you refuse to answer mine.

You found out what my profile picture is, didn't you. But you prefer to ignore what you've learned, because it doesn't fit your dumb narrative.

The amount of patronizing you're willing to take from me, without any protest, is pretty astounding, by the way. Another item you might want to address, when time permits.

calsnoboarder Apr 19

@cqd_sos @ratel @georgetakei What would be the point in correcting your patronizing answers? Will it change anything? I didn't answer your question the way you wanted, but I did answer it... i wrote that I don't think it matters. I don't mind you patronizing me, calling me young, or making fun of my handle. For me to mind, I would have to give your opinion of me more weight than it deserves. That's it... Nothing mysterious about it.

Did you tell that your teachers in school, too? That their questions don't deserve answers, since answers don't matter anyway?

Because if you did that would at least somewhat explain your peculiar way of conducting a discourse.