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I grew up being taught that one of the reason that the Nazis were bad was because they wanted to shut down free speech and burn their opponents beloved books, a

I grew up being taught that one of the reason that the Nazis were bad was because they wanted to shut down free speech and burn their opponents beloved books, and I think that I took this lesson to heart. And yet today, you have to be the one on the side of book burning to avoid being labelled a Nazi. You have serious people who seriously claim that a libertarian vision for the Internet is a dictator's fantasy. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/12/elon-musk-internet-twitter https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/12/elon-m... It's hard to understand how reality has shifted so far.

ttfkam 5y ago
If that was the primary reason you were taught regarding why the Nazis were bad, you had a substandard education. Yes, they suppressed speech, which was bad. Yes, they burned books, which was bad. But there are WAY worse things the Nazis did in the 1920s and 1930s before WW2 started that far outweigh lighting some books on fire. Extreme nationalistic fervor, declaring true (Aryan) Germans vs everyone else, for one. Demonizing all other political parties, for another. Treating other humans as expendable toward a "greater goal" such as homosexuals, gypsies, the disabled, etc., for yet another. Singular calls for scapegoating Jews for almost all the nation's ills probably most of all. Sorry, but the book burning was a symptom at best and nowhere near among the worst aspects. Storming a primary seat of government in order to assert political control of the nation? That was the Munich (Beer Hall) Putsch. Our closest analogy was Jan 6 at the Capital, many of whom were so-called "free speech advocates" chanting, "Hang Mike Pence!" for refusing to overturn a national election. After the failed coup, the Nazis switched tactics to using propaganda, racism, and physical intimidation to sway elections to their favor. After gaining political power, putting party loyalists and the racially "pure" into powerful positions rather than appointing purely by merit. With a minority of popular support, the Nazis gamed the system to amass greater and greater power until once they had sufficient power, they stopped all political choice at all. And all of that was BEFORE they annexed Austria, invaded Czechoslovakia, started WW2, and killed millions of civilians let alone combatants. But sure. Apparently burning books was one of the worst parts. The Nazis demanded free speech too… just before they denied it to everyone else.
- logicalmonster 5y ago
  I wrote about one of the reasons that was relevant to the topic at hand. Just about everything you wrote in response to my reasonable and supportable point is a hallucination of my opinion.

ttfkam 5y ago

If that was the primary reason you were taught regarding why the Nazis were bad, you had a substandard education. Yes, they suppressed speech, which was bad. Yes, they burned books, which was bad. But there are WAY worse things the Nazis did in the 1920s and 1930s before WW2 started that far outweigh lighting some books on fire. Extreme nationalistic fervor, declaring true (Aryan) Germans vs everyone else, for one. Demonizing all other political parties, for another. Treating other humans as expendable toward a "greater goal" such as homosexuals, gypsies, the disabled, etc., for yet another. Singular calls for scapegoating Jews for almost all the nation's ills probably most of all. Sorry, but the book burning was a symptom at best and nowhere near among the worst aspects. Storming a primary seat of government in order to assert political control of the nation? That was the Munich (Beer Hall) Putsch. Our closest analogy was Jan 6 at the Capital, many of whom were so-called "free speech advocates" chanting, "Hang Mike Pence!" for refusing to overturn a national election. After the failed coup, the Nazis switched tactics to using propaganda, racism, and physical intimidation to sway elections to their favor. After gaining political power, putting party loyalists and the racially "pure" into powerful positions rather than appointing purely by merit. With a minority of popular support, the Nazis gamed the system to amass greater and greater power until once they had sufficient power, they stopped all political choice at all. And all of that was BEFORE they annexed Austria, invaded Czechoslovakia, started WW2, and killed millions of civilians let alone combatants. But sure. Apparently burning books was one of the worst parts. The Nazis demanded free speech too… just before they denied it to everyone else.

logicalmonster 5y ago
I wrote about one of the reasons that was relevant to the topic at hand. Just about everything you wrote in response to my reasonable and supportable point is a hallucination of my opinion.