What's worse: Nazi or neo-Nazi?
Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2024 4:08 pm
In the way I'm thinking about it, we're asking what's worse, ignorance or hate? It's impossible for any of us to say what kind of a person we'd be if we lived through Nazi Germany. I'd like to think I would have avoided being a participant in the outcome, but it's really impossible to tell. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. If I were born in Egypt, I'd worship Egyptian gods, I wouldn't be a secularist. But we might still get something out of thinking about it.
Nazi's were part of their time like anyone else is. There were good people who became Nazis. There were bad people within the Allied forces. Some say Winston Churchill himself was a bad person. How could 8 million National Socialists be wrong? How could all of them be bad people?
Neo Nazis are typically bad people, or at least tremendously broken people, from the outset. Neo Nazi's are Nazi's after the fact, after all the bad stuff happened, they say, "wow! Let's run that play again!" And so they actively and specifically try to be "bad people". Now, you hear the story about those who left later on and it goes like, "as a youth, my parents were fighting and I was angry..."
I've mentioned before that my dad was an over-the-top member missionary. He brought a lot of people to church, and some of them changed their lives and stayed a long time. Hate is more manageable than ignorance. A person who is hateful may just need to be loved and problem solved. Ignorance is a totally different animal.
Yes, today's MAGA Republican leaders are mostly bad people. There is a neo-Nazi bent and fascination among far-right Republicans. But I think those numbers are small, they just get all of the attention. There's a lot of hate and anger in the pews, on Facebook, on Rumble, but it's mostly blowing steam, it's not like Neo-Nazis who actually would kill people with pleasure. Many of those were hopeful with Trump but then grew frustrated as Trump is about Trump, not about ethnic cleansing; only passively, as it gets him attention.
Neo-Nazism is about hate, Nazism is about collective stupidity. That doesn't mean 8 or 80 million people must be stupid or evil -- some very good scientists and philosophers were Nazis. Some perhaps were evil, but mainly, they just needed to have one or two blindspots that were ripe for exploitation.
Nazi's were part of their time like anyone else is. There were good people who became Nazis. There were bad people within the Allied forces. Some say Winston Churchill himself was a bad person. How could 8 million National Socialists be wrong? How could all of them be bad people?
Neo Nazis are typically bad people, or at least tremendously broken people, from the outset. Neo Nazi's are Nazi's after the fact, after all the bad stuff happened, they say, "wow! Let's run that play again!" And so they actively and specifically try to be "bad people". Now, you hear the story about those who left later on and it goes like, "as a youth, my parents were fighting and I was angry..."
I've mentioned before that my dad was an over-the-top member missionary. He brought a lot of people to church, and some of them changed their lives and stayed a long time. Hate is more manageable than ignorance. A person who is hateful may just need to be loved and problem solved. Ignorance is a totally different animal.
Yes, today's MAGA Republican leaders are mostly bad people. There is a neo-Nazi bent and fascination among far-right Republicans. But I think those numbers are small, they just get all of the attention. There's a lot of hate and anger in the pews, on Facebook, on Rumble, but it's mostly blowing steam, it's not like Neo-Nazis who actually would kill people with pleasure. Many of those were hopeful with Trump but then grew frustrated as Trump is about Trump, not about ethnic cleansing; only passively, as it gets him attention.
Neo-Nazism is about hate, Nazism is about collective stupidity. That doesn't mean 8 or 80 million people must be stupid or evil -- some very good scientists and philosophers were Nazis. Some perhaps were evil, but mainly, they just needed to have one or two blindspots that were ripe for exploitation.
