3 ms·

It is important to note that pre-WW1, Germany was considered to be one of the most sophisticated societies in the world. That's where everyone worth a shit with

It is important to note that pre-WW1, Germany was considered to be one of the most sophisticated societies in the world. That's where everyone worth a shit with a mind wanted to be. It's quite curious how the best were corrupted.

mschuster91 2y ago
That was due to the loss of the war and the followup economic devastation brought by the reparation payments that caused a lot of issues in the economy at large, followed by the 1918 flu pandemic that also caused serious issues (and with 25M dead, even more death than WW1 itself!). One might be tempted to again draw parallels to today's situation in the US, with the US having lost the war in Afghanistan as well as everyone having suffered through years of Covid.
- CamperBob2 2y ago
  One might be tempted to again draw parallels to today's situation in the US, with the US having lost the war in Afghanistan as well as everyone having suffered through years of Covid. Not disputing your point, but what blows me away is just how unapt your comparison is. We didn't 'lose' the war in Afghanistan. We chose not to fight it aggressively and eventually got bored with it, and then Biden let himself get rope-a-doped into following Trump's plan for unwinding it. Whatever, no biggie, we're over it. And COVID was nothing like losing a world war. The very notion is ridiculous. Inflation in the US during COVID reached 12%. Inflation in the Weimar Republic reached 12 digits. And yet we voted like a country with no options left. Like a country that had been destroyed and saddled with the bill by the victors... like a pariah nation full of desperate, starving people with nothing to lose. We fell for the first con man to come along waving a Bible and blaming somebody else. What would things be like in America now if we actually had faced a genuine crisis like Germany's post-WWI downfall? My guess is, we're about to find out... because that's what we just voted for.
  - mschuster91 2y ago
    > And COVID was nothing like losing a world war. I compared Covid with the 1918 Spanish Flu, and that comparison is fair to make - if not by the death count, at the very least by the economic consequences. In fact the economic consequences of Covid are worse than those of the 1918 flu because the world is far more interconnected now than it was back then. > What would things be like in America now if we actually had faced a genuine crisis like Germany's post-WWI downfall? My guess is, we're about to find out... because that's what we just voted for. The thing with inflation is, of course the pre-WW2 inflation was ridiculously higher in numbers. But the consequences in the life of the wide masses - struggling to survive every day or at least every payday - are pretty similar. And that's why people don't necessarily vote "for the 47th", they vote "against who is in power currently" - a pattern we see across the Western world, with some countries falling to the far-right, while in others like Poland or the UK the far-right actually loses. The key thing that makes the US and to a degree the UK unique is that both countries only have a two-party system. The UK got lucky, they got the authoritarians in power while the crisis was ongoing so they elected a democratic alternative, the US got the shorter end of the stick and now has to suffer through the 47th's period instead of having an actually social-democrat, Green or even a moderate Conservative third option.

mschuster91 2y ago

That was due to the loss of the war and the followup economic devastation brought by the reparation payments that caused a lot of issues in the economy at large, followed by the 1918 flu pandemic that also caused serious issues (and with 25M dead, even more death than WW1 itself!). One might be tempted to again draw parallels to today's situation in the US, with the US having lost the war in Afghanistan as well as everyone having suffered through years of Covid.

CamperBob2 2y ago
One might be tempted to again draw parallels to today's situation in the US, with the US having lost the war in Afghanistan as well as everyone having suffered through years of Covid. Not disputing your point, but what blows me away is just how unapt your comparison is. We didn't 'lose' the war in Afghanistan. We chose not to fight it aggressively and eventually got bored with it, and then Biden let himself get rope-a-doped into following Trump's plan for unwinding it. Whatever, no biggie, we're over it. And COVID was nothing like losing a world war. The very notion is ridiculous. Inflation in the US during COVID reached 12%. Inflation in the Weimar Republic reached 12 digits. And yet we voted like a country with no options left. Like a country that had been destroyed and saddled with the bill by the victors... like a pariah nation full of desperate, starving people with nothing to lose. We fell for the first con man to come along waving a Bible and blaming somebody else. What would things be like in America now if we actually had faced a genuine crisis like Germany's post-WWI downfall? My guess is, we're about to find out... because that's what we just voted for.
- mschuster91 2y ago
  > And COVID was nothing like losing a world war. I compared Covid with the 1918 Spanish Flu, and that comparison is fair to make - if not by the death count, at the very least by the economic consequences. In fact the economic consequences of Covid are worse than those of the 1918 flu because the world is far more interconnected now than it was back then. > What would things be like in America now if we actually had faced a genuine crisis like Germany's post-WWI downfall? My guess is, we're about to find out... because that's what we just voted for. The thing with inflation is, of course the pre-WW2 inflation was ridiculously higher in numbers. But the consequences in the life of the wide masses - struggling to survive every day or at least every payday - are pretty similar. And that's why people don't necessarily vote "for the 47th", they vote "against who is in power currently" - a pattern we see across the Western world, with some countries falling to the far-right, while in others like Poland or the UK the far-right actually loses. The key thing that makes the US and to a degree the UK unique is that both countries only have a two-party system. The UK got lucky, they got the authoritarians in power while the crisis was ongoing so they elected a democratic alternative, the US got the shorter end of the stick and now has to suffer through the 47th's period instead of having an actually social-democrat, Green or even a moderate Conservative third option.