Metal Rat wrote:
shlaifu wrote:
As you may know, the Americans were initially reluctant to oppose the Fascists, as they saw them as a bullwark against communism.
That is weird. Today, Fascism, Nazism particularly, is perceived as the Ultimate Evil!
Take a close look at what exactly is considered that evil to be - as I understand the American viewpoint, it's the totalitarianism, the "unfreedom", the anti-individualist ideology, and of course, the idea that one could rule the world, administratively, instead of indirectly, by being the hub for the world's financial flows, like wall street is today.
In Germany, what they consider to be the evil in Nazism is how mundane it was in its totalitarianism - if you were German, you had your career choices, you had your consumption choices, you grew up "knowing" you were a member of the best people in the world, - as long as you didn't oppose the politics and the racism, you were good. Later, you needed to pledge allegiance by joining the party, to advance in certain careers.
My grandparents grew up in this system. It was totally normal for them to think they are superior to other peoples, by default, and that they were on the right side of history. They had never heard any other story than that one.
Hannah Ahrendt wrote of the trial of Adolf Eichmann, that she was completely disturbed by how normal and boring this guy was, who had managed thr logistics of transporting people into death camps. He went to work in the morning, went home in the evening and loved his children.
The essay is called 'the banality of evil'.
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I can read facial expressions. I did the test.