[thisiscorrect]

This is typical of Americans' understanding of the events leading up to the Second World War. It seems that a lot of the wartime propaganda still holds sway, reducing many to view this part of history as having an almost cartoon-like simplicity.

For example, what Zunger labels point 05.17 "[When the Nazis came to power in Germany], They held angry public rallies which often included violence." This is true. But there's a lie of omission here. These sorts of intense street demonstrations were incredibly common in Weimar Germany (and before that, even), with a lot of street clashing between left-wind and right-wing groups, including paramilitaries. These didn't begin when the Nazis came to power and are not indicative of Nazism per se. Filtering one's view of history through that bias misses many important points that one could apply to the world today.

Nazism was an ideology tied to its particular time and place in history. Redefining it to mean "socialism for members of the nation. And they decide who's in and who's out." is wrongheaded. This definition would seem to apply to any modern nation with social welfare programs and citizenship requirements tied to nationality like Israel or the PRC. Are these countries practicing Nazism or is this definition wrong?

There are some important lessons to learn from that period though. For example: power vacuums get filled quickly. Governments that are derelict in their duty to keep order get challenged by upstart "governments." It's right to ask if one's government is turning a blind eye to "angry public rallies which often included violence" and get worried if that's happening. Sadly I think this has been happening in the USA.

[binbashthefash]

We have literal, open and proud Nazis who wear swastikas, text their mom Hitler pics, and drive their cars into crowds. The concern is warranted.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AugensteinWTOP/status/10699118603...

[nullhack]

We have literal, open and proud Sodomists, who drink gallons of piss, text their 100 butt-buddies monkeypox pics, and drive global viral pandemics. The concern is warranted.

https://twitter.com/iamyesyouareno/status/155081845583793766...

[thisiscorrect]

Nazism can't be forklifted into 2020s USA, _even if_ someone texts his mom Hitler pics. That guy is LARPing, like many do, and killed and injured people in the process. It's awful that this happened but it's still not proof that Nazism is not he cusp of emerging in the US. There are others who are convinced the US is on the brink of a Leninist coup. They are also wrong, since that too can't just be forklifted to another place and era.

It's a strange thing about today: many people want it to be some other time and place and try hard to pretend that it is. It's kind of understandable that much of this centers on WW2, given that a lot of the patriotic mythos in the US comes from that time. Maybe because it's the last time the USA won a major war and got to feel heroic, write history, etc.

[ch4s3]

I also found the point about Nazis keeping quiet to be odd and ahistorical.