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I lament what is happening with science and research. But articles consisting of only Hitler and Stalin comparisons persuade just about no one and is not the t

I lament what is happening with science and research. But articles consisting of only Hitler and Stalin comparisons persuade just about no one and is not the type of discourse I expect from HN. I also agree with you. A more recent look is much more relevant and insightful than the linked article.

fuzzfactor 1y ago
That's the part that gets me too. You shouldn't need to bring up those tired regimes even if you're trying to emphasize unrecognized analogies. Especially when you've got a 92-year-old Soviet with a first-hand account, that speaks for itself without any further name-dropping.
piva00 1y ago
Why wouldn't they persuade no one? Just because we know how their history ended doesn't mean their beginnings can't be repeated, cycles of the same bullshit appear in history and they often rhyme with one another. Do you think Stalin and Hitler as we know were the same Stalin and Hitler as experienced in the 1920s-1930s? If you shed the baggage, can't parallels be drawn to the modern era? Authoritarianism of the 2020s looks quite different from the 1920s, the 2020s have the Competitive Authoritarianism flavour of it, it's different, it will attack institutions in different ways than simply shutting them down and imprisoning members, it's more subtle, more disperse, but still has the same underlying traits. Comparisons are apt, even if just as a reminder of how things historically evolved from the pre-authoritarian phase into a full-blown one, remembering to trace that is as convincing now as it was in the 1950s...
unethical_ban 1y ago
Why? Is it bothersome because it's perceived to be an overused comparison? If the comparison works, it works. Lessons can be learned from history, even if adjusted for changes in technology and society.
deleted 1y ago
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JumpCrisscross 1y ago
> articles consisting of only Hitler and Stalin comparisons persuade just about no one I think the point is we may be past persuasion. The damage is done. My takeaway from these articles is to pay attention to and invest more in China.
laughingcurve 1y ago
Lysenkoism destroyed the sciences for USSR. Stalin picked the crony himself. If your problem is “I don’t like people using bad men as comparison points” maybe you can point to someone who was a good person but still intentionally went out of their way to stymie or destroy the sciences. It’s pretty hard to do that because I can’t think of one. William Jennings Bryan ? Anthony Comstock ? William Proxmire ? And even those folks are not considered good by most or many

fuzzfactor 1y ago

That's the part that gets me too. You shouldn't need to bring up those tired regimes even if you're trying to emphasize unrecognized analogies. Especially when you've got a 92-year-old Soviet with a first-hand account, that speaks for itself without any further name-dropping.

piva00 1y ago

Why wouldn't they persuade no one? Just because we know how their history ended doesn't mean their beginnings can't be repeated, cycles of the same bullshit appear in history and they often rhyme with one another. Do you think Stalin and Hitler as we know were the same Stalin and Hitler as experienced in the 1920s-1930s? If you shed the baggage, can't parallels be drawn to the modern era? Authoritarianism of the 2020s looks quite different from the 1920s, the 2020s have the Competitive Authoritarianism flavour of it, it's different, it will attack institutions in different ways than simply shutting them down and imprisoning members, it's more subtle, more disperse, but still has the same underlying traits. Comparisons are apt, even if just as a reminder of how things historically evolved from the pre-authoritarian phase into a full-blown one, remembering to trace that is as convincing now as it was in the 1950s...

unethical_ban 1y ago

Why? Is it bothersome because it's perceived to be an overused comparison? If the comparison works, it works. Lessons can be learned from history, even if adjusted for changes in technology and society.

deleted 1y ago

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JumpCrisscross 1y ago

> articles consisting of only Hitler and Stalin comparisons persuade just about no one I think the point is we may be past persuasion. The damage is done. My takeaway from these articles is to pay attention to and invest more in China.

laughingcurve 1y ago

Lysenkoism destroyed the sciences for USSR. Stalin picked the crony himself. If your problem is “I don’t like people using bad men as comparison points” maybe you can point to someone who was a good person but still intentionally went out of their way to stymie or destroy the sciences. It’s pretty hard to do that because I can’t think of one. William Jennings Bryan ? Anthony Comstock ? William Proxmire ? And even those folks are not considered good by most or many