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/u/helmutye describes the stupid truth of dictatorships
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Ehhh I really don't like this "Actually Nazis were really stupid!" not out of a sense of historicity or nitpicking but because it often gets leveraged to explain why modern fascists aren't actually that much of a problem or that scary.

We can have a nuanced view wherein the Nazis did actually manage to push a wide range of military developments that eventually formed the foundation of the majority of modern military organization to this day while also understanding that their absolutely insane beliefs coupled with the ideological DNA of fascism (hypermasculinity, obsession with power and violence, etc) led them to make a series of extremely poor choices out of ideological fervor that were not rooted in a realistic understanding of the world they were in.

Both of those things can be true and it's dangerous to fall to one side or the other because both sides contain within the seeds of misreading the lessons we need to be taking from that period in history.

This is kind of oversimplified and I don't love it.

Downplaying the capability of an authoritarian system doesn't usually serve you very well in the long run.

The Nazis were hilariously corrupt (Hitler was secretly paying bribes to tons of people from the public treasury to buy their loyalty) and cripplingly stupid (they refused to engage with entire branches of science for ideological reasons and wasted countless resources on the most ridiculous weapons and pet projects because Hitler came up with them).

This is true but it's worth remembering that securing the loyalty of key supporters is a common strategy in virtually every form of government. It's usually not as direct as outright graft but governments usually develop legal avenues to allow a state or a leader's key supporters to enrich and protect themselves. That's not unique to a dictatorship.

The stupid projects thing is a fair point but it's worth remembering that insane projects was a common feature throughout the war. The British had some absolutely bonkers ideas that they developed including the famous Project Habakkuk, AKA the aircraft carrier made out of ice. It's fair to note, however, that these were generally not the brainchild of one person nor did these projects usually live or die based on the whims of a single person.

And this is crucial as we head into a world where these sorts of dictatorial movements are becoming more popular. A lot of people kind of get off on being aligned with the "bad guys", because they imagine that they will become part of this coldly ruthless organization that, while it is brutal to enemies, it will ultimately make society more orderly and efficiently or whatever, and they fancy themselves as "stronger" because they're willing to make the hard choice to sacrifice others for the greater good.

Not really. Most people that align with fascist movements do so because it brings some kind of benefit to them, be that ideological or material. The Nazis were good for certain people and feeding into the belief structures of others. Fascism is syncretic and can adapt itself to appeal to anyone.

What this is talking about is an appeal to the feeling of power and the Nazis could certainly generate that feeling in enough people to where they can garner support.

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4 months ago