And people may accuse me of being an alarmist or cheapening the memory of what the Nazis did. What I would remind them is that Nazism is not in any way an especially unique ideology. Ideologies that are similar to Nazism can emerge in any sufficiently racist society that is facing a crisis of capitalism. That is the scariest part of it all.
No country is immune to dictatorship and genocide, and indeed dictatorship and genocide has been the norm throughout human history.
In addition, I would remind them that the Nazis started small. They began as the radical racists and antisemites who ranted passionately about the "subhumans" who wanted to destroy the "master race", and spoke of the weakness of parliamentary democracy. Then they gained power, started throwing their political opponents into camps, and it all went downhill from there, forming a positive feedback loop that led to genocide.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-great-depression
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-racism-an-overview
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/political-prisoners
@ErikvanStraten @seachanger "never again" means condemning the fascists when they rise again, not insisting that neofascism is an impossibly and accusing anyone who dares speak up as offending the "real victims of fascism". It's completely counterproductive. Fascism is not an event, it is an ideology and a playbook that must be understood in order to prevent it from succeeding. To honor the spirit of "Never Again", we should speak out. Just as I condemn Trumpism and AfD, I condemn the ruling coalition of the Israeli government, especially its most radicaly racist members.
@ErikvanStraten @seachanger "never again" means condemning the fascists when they rise again, not insisting that neofascism is an impossibly and accusing anyone who dares speak up as offending the "real victims of fascism". It's completely counterproductive. Fascism is not an event, it is an ideology and a playbook that must be understood in order to prevent it from succeeding. To honor the spirit of "Never Again", we should speak out. Just as I condemn Trumpism and AfD, I condemn the ruling coalition...