Who Goes Nazi? (1941)
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Who Goes Nazi? (1941)
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Re: Who Goes Nazi? (1941)
#2I always thought that the answer to this question is less important than that it prompts to reader to question themselves on why or why not they would join the Nazis. It's easy to look back through the lens of time and assume that we, good wholesome people, would not become Nazis, but if you're in the moment, what happens?
Re: Who Goes Nazi? (1941)
#3What an incredibly well written article, and quite thought provoking.
Re: Who Goes Nazi? (1941)
#4I love the idea of reading articles from this time period on this topic. This article though, with Mr A/B/C/... was bit much to handle though. Just felt much too speculative.
Re: Who Goes Nazi? (1941)
#5The essence of any totalitarian strategy is to seize some resources, invent a necessarily preposterous myth, then in exchange for demonstrating belief in the myth, re-distribute the resources arbitrarily among a minority of people who are easily replaceable and know it. The secret is to then reward people from the majority for denouncing and replacing members of the minority for not being zealous enough, so that they can elevate themselves through commitment to the myth. This has the self-policing effect of keeping everyone in line.
So long as you can keep those resources coming to your ruling coalition of highly replaceable idiots, you are golden. Read Smith and DeMesquita's "Dictator's Handbook" for details of how this works.
It doesn't matter whether that myth is of a 3000 year reign, the supreme right of a proletariat, the divinity of leader, that my golf handicap includes 11 holes in one, the revolution, or even that my particular tribe or ethnic group is morally superior to your tribe or ethnic group. It's all the same shit.
What people don't talk about is how these assholes seize power. It's through charismatic promises of future rewards to people who think they have nothing. They appeal to the greed and impulsiveness of the poor, it's a straight short con.
The nuanced part is how you get current status quo supporters to switch sides and provide their support to the challenger. They do this with a second message that triggers the middling man's sense of loss aversion. This is just posing a credible prisoners dilemma in which if moderates and supporters defect now, they get to keep their social position, but if they hold out, they will lose everything.
Arguably, this model of political polarization shows how ISIS works, how feminism annexed academia, why Trump is popular, why Occupy failed but why BLM could grow exponentially.
Nazi's were repugnant, but history would show that being repugnant is likely more indicative of political success than failure.
Re: Who Goes Nazi? (1941)
#6The essence of any totalitarian strategy is to seize some resources, invent a necessarily preposterous myth, then in exchange for demonstrating belief in the myth, re-distribute the resources arbitrarily among a minority of people who are easily replaceable and know it. The secret is to then reward people from the majority for denouncing and replacing members of the minority for not being zealous enough, so that they…
What would the resource be in the case of BLM?
Re: Who Goes Nazi? (1941)
#7IIRC, the upper-middle class and the people who admire them. That seemed to be what the article is saying, until I got to the conclusion.
https://www.worldcat.org/title/logic-of-evil-the-social-orig...
Re: Who Goes Nazi? (1941)
#8The essence of any totalitarian strategy is to seize some resources, invent a necessarily preposterous myth, then in exchange for demonstrating belief in the myth, re-distribute the resources arbitrarily among a minority of people who are easily replaceable and know it. The secret is to then reward people from the majority for denouncing and replacing members of the minority for not being zealous enough, so that they…
how feminism annexed academia ... why Occupy failed but why BLM could grow exponentially
No axes to grind here, hmm?
(Hint: there's a huge difference between civil rights movements -- those demanding equal respect -- and the fulminations of the privileged who think life's a zero-sum game and anyone else making up ground means that they're losing out. Alas, you don't seem to get it.)
Re: Who Goes Nazi? (1941)
#9This article is especially interesting, given it was written before the the US entered the war and before the full extent of Nazi atrocities was known.
I'm reminded of C.S Lewis's speech about the Inner Ring (1944): http://www.mit.edu/~hooman/ideas/the_inner_ring.htm
Re: Who Goes Nazi? (1941)
#10The essence of any totalitarian strategy is to seize some resources, invent a necessarily preposterous myth, then in exchange for demonstrating belief in the myth, re-distribute the resources arbitrarily among a minority of people who are easily replaceable and know it. The secret is to then reward people from the majority for denouncing and replacing members of the minority for not being zealous enough, so that they…
Way to shoehorn BLM and feminism (both movements seeking equal rights) into the same frame as ISIS and Trump.