Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was a genocide long before October 7th.
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Trump just offered to take over Gaza and clean it up for Israel and kick out alla Palestinians. Is it a genocide now?
They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
381–390 of 536 posts
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#382"The Germans" is an absolutely jaw dropping read, a series of interviews with average German citizens and low-level nazi party members, conducted a decade or so after the war, by an American Jewish journalist. It shows, in first hand accounts, the banality of evil and how easily it can prevail if people do nothing. It is an account of modern tyranny and everyday collaboration. The parallels in the feeling of what's h…
i don't even want to give people that benefit at this point. used to think that it was education, circumstances, outside forces, culture, etc. like "if only" we had XYZ then we can prevent this. at this point i just want to call it "stupidity". not even a left vs right thing. there exists a subset of the population that cannot and will not be educated or have the ability to reason on a certain level to make things wo…
Stupidity is when one fails to genuinely see things from some other perspective than their own.
It is not that hard to do, and does not prevent from taking a side eventually, but it helps one to realize that the distance to someone else taking a radially oposite approach is usualy not that large.
Unfortunately, this kind of mind gymnastic is rarely encouraged because it goes against the creation of stronger social circles I guess.
So, all that to say: don't give up. Cynicism is like a drug that feels right at the begining but that will damage a brain eventually.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#383The "oh we need to educate" stage is well passed. What I dont understand is what the democrats and constitutionalists are doing? Where are they? Trump only cares for loyalty and power. Hes also really thin skinned, so what mystifies me is how he's let Musk take all that power from him? Why aren't the "opposition" hammering the point that Musk is/has effectively usurped Trump? If I wanted to eject Musk's control over…
they are. search for it. If their response isnt strong enough, I highly reccomend forumlating your own, and add to the voices pushing against it.
> search for it.
I mean that's the key point right? if its not getting through then the medium of delivery is not working.
Why are appointments not being delayed? There are many logistical hurdles that can be put up to get a better outcome for the _country_, but it appears they are not being used.
it seems that people are more concerned with getting fund-raising for the next election, which seems a bit premature, given that the dollar might not be the currency in 4 years time.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#384Earlier quoted context omitted.
> there exists a subset of the population that cannot and will not be educated or have the ability to reason on a certain level to make things work. I have absolutely no evidence to support this (but I would welcome any for or against it), but I have a loose theory that there is pretty much always a subset of people who are physiologically predisposed to be driven by a fear response more than the average person, and…
This is pretty much the premise of Bob Altemeyer's work: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Altemeyer His book The Authoritarians is the one that most elaborates on it, so works that cite or respond to it would probably be exactly what you're looking for.
Thank you! This really helps to have an initial breadcrumb into the idea. I can scrutinize it further.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#385Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#386Earlier quoted context omitted.
> there exists a subset of the population that cannot and will not be educated or have the ability to reason on a certain level to make things work I'm sceptical of that. I tend to suspect that Michael Gove's "the people have had enough of experts" thing was _kind_ of correct; there's a deep strain of anti-expert feeling throughout, at least, the West at the moment. (I don't think this is quite the same as traditiona…
Fwiw, my experience from growing up in deep red America was that anti-intellectualism was staggeringly strong there. People would actually define their beliefs in opposition to those of people they perceived to be 'smart'. The way that I always understood this was that if they had a disagreement with someone 'smarter' than them, and they operated in good faith, they would lose ~98% of the time. This doesn't feel good…
Thanks for sharing this. I've been slowly coming to this conclusion, though I haven't lived in a red state since I was 16.
Your description fits our current world, IMO, far better than every other narrative I've seen. Some of those narratives feel good and fit OK, but they fall apart at the edges. The idea fits with why Hilary Clinton was so hated, better than anything.
On a personal level, I've become much more wary about seeming smarter. When I help and engage I try to do it in a way that doesn't threaten. I'm quick to say when I don't know something. I offer to help "figure it out" with others rather than preach.
Another comment somewhere in these threads talks about how social media has accelerated our problems by 10 or 100x. I think that's true for this, too.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#387Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hey, if I told you I happened to be an expert in this field, hypothetically, and I said this was a vast oversimplificaiton, would you be willing to listen to an expert? Or do you not trust experts at this point time?
> Or do you not trust experts at this point time? I work alongside highly skilled experts in my job and I've never heard them say anything remotely like this when someone disagrees with them, so I'm pretty skeptical that you actually are one. This sounds more like something that a rebellious high-schooler would say
I’m not a foreign policy expert.
The question is if an expert could change your view.
And by your response I suspect the answer is yes.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#388Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or you could switch to a different voting system which allows more than two parties, allowing people to make more nuanced choices? There are even voting systems which are perfectly representative (as a popular vote would be) and ensure all states get a voice (the goal of the electoral college). Say, a bicameral system. One chamber allocating each state a fixed number of voices, ensuring each state has a voice, and a…
sounds perfect, how to change to this system? who should people vote for to make it happen? > In fact, it was actually this system, designed by the US, that the allied countries chose for Germany after World War II. is there any other way to get this system besides a WW III?
> sounds perfect, how to change to this system? who should people vote for to make it happen?
That's another issue with the US system. If you've got only two choices, and one option is straight up "tear it all down", then the entire rest of the political spectrum has to be represented by the democratic party.
The only candidates in recent years that wanted to improve the situation were Obama, Romney, Bernie and now Walz.
I'd say register democrat, become active on the local level, and vote in primaries.
Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)
#389Earlier quoted context omitted.
they are. search for it. If their response isnt strong enough, I highly reccomend forumlating your own, and add to the voices pushing against it.
> search for it. I mean that's the key point right? if its not getting through then the medium of delivery is not working. Why are appointments not being delayed? There are many logistical hurdles that can be put up to get a better outcome for the _country_, but it appears they are not being used. it seems that people are more concerned with getting fund-raising for the next election, which seems a bit premature, giv…
Well, you are in an environment where things aren’t going to be given to you.
So you need to search.
And it’s a Google search, so all things considered, it’s still doable.