I keep stumbling across Nazi accounts on here, and I always wonder if its meant ironically (which is still not great in my book) or if they really identify with and admire Hitler and his party. So I usually end up skimming through the profiles. And can I just take a moment to say WTF.
Look, I understand that there are people out there who dislike my views, and I dislike theirs. I understand I don't have to look at their posts, and they don't have to look at mine. And I understand that-for the most part-they're not actively attacking other races/religions/nationalities. But something about Nazism still boggles my damn mind.
There's a piece on here, like those demotivational posters, that has a picture of Hitler, and underneath it says HITLER a fallen hero. I'm pretty surprised at DA, for yanking down tastefully done nudes, one the basis that it will be found offensive...but that piece, lifting up a man responsible for so many murders, is left here. And the comments, while containing a couple 'WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU!?' posts, is largly positive! In response to one person, who questioned the validity of calling him a hero with the kind of things he did...there was a comment along the lines of 'That was only one thing, he made many other contributions which were forgotten, history is a pack of lies.'
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Look. Hitler did some great things (stay with me, its true). He built the autobahn, an exellent and vastly efficient mode of transportation that we have since modeled in almost every nation. He formed groups to assist families, youth organizations to involve children in the betterment of their country, the VW car to give germans and affordable vehicle. He was committed to keeping Germany safe and sufficient. He engendered strong national pride. Germany's economy began to improve under his rule, and employment increased.
But all of that PALES in comparison to the sheer number of innocents who died at his behest. Those youth organizations instilled fear and hatred based on racial/religious grounds. The groups to assist families did nothing to stop the attacks on the Jews/Gypsies/Handicapped/etc. Hitler was a brilliantly intelligent man, a military genius. And he used it for selfish, evil ends. He convinced an vast number of people (I hate to say majority, or an 'entire nation'. Its untrue, and reflects poorly on Germany) that it was for their own safety that they must lock away the Jews in putrid slums, relocate them to camps, etc. He stood up and told the German people he LOVED them, he would stand with them and protect them.
When a nation, so recently ravished by war, depression, and an economic downturn so severe that feeding oneself could be seen as miraculous, has a man stand up and tell them this...its easy to find oneself nodding. He told them these people had the best jobs. Accountants, doctors, bankers. They were stealing from the hard working Germans! Never is it mentioned that these people ARE Germans. They're just JEWISH Germans. And he locks them away and says Look! You are better fed, and better employed! We are safer, and stronger! I told you it was the Jews! I have saved you!
He doesn't explain what he DID to save them. Though I'm sure some people had a suspicion, I'm sure others were just happy to feed their children and themselves. And by then, I think it was pretty clear what happened if you stood against him.
I'm rambling. The point it, while I usually look past these profiles as the inane blatherings of ignorant people, that comments caught me off guard. It was like saying 'This man killed 70 women because he didn't like their hair....but he's not REALLY evil because one time he gave these kids quarters to buy some gum'. Hitler made advancements we can't ignore. But its much harder to try and rationalize calling him a hero for this list of things, knowing that if we somehow, insanely, disregarded ten bodies per contribution he made...we'd still be left with so MANY millions of innocents dead at his hands.