You sound like a crazy person to normies for even trying to tell them how crazy republicans are.
reubencpiplupyay on
There’s a common attitude, particularly among those who see themselves as savvy, that people who express evil or crazy positions don’t really believe it. Maybe it’s just a distraction. But one of the things about this sub is that we tend to have the attitude that evil and crazy people, including those that are powerful, really do believe most of the things they say. This article takes the same position, arguing that modern fascists really do believe in what they say about “white extinction” and all that other bullshit. And then it argues that if one actually believes all that, then the necessity of certain atrocities follows logically. Because beliefs about the world compel actions. And if you have certain beliefs, then even very repugnant actions can become obligatory.
I found this to be quite a thought-provoking section:
>As much as anything, I think considering fascism purely as a creature of emotion can mislead us as to just how dangerous it is. Emotions are fickle, transient. I might hurt someone in anger, but then stop if they plead with me. However, if I believe that someone will always be a threat to me, that their pleading for mercy is lies, that as soon as I stop attacking they’ll kill my family, then I won’t stop. If I have an insect infestation in my house, I will keep killing them for as long as it takes to solve the problem because of my beliefs about the moral value of their lives relative to my own. And you would too. You—nice, liberal, tolerant, open-minded, respectful—would, in the right circumstances, close the gas chamber doors.
>It’s not a pleasant thought, but it’s also nothing we didn’t already know. It should caution, but not unduly trouble us. Yes, you could be a Nazi. But that is just to say if you were a different person you would indeed be a different person. The takeaway shouldn’t be abstract angst about the soul of man, but a more mundane realisation that ideas matter.
>The worst fascist crimes can often be framed as a profound mystery: ‘how did ordinary people support such evil?’ Without in any way trivializing the harm done, I find this reaction a little overwrought. What fascists do, or attempt to do, follows clearly and straightforwardly from their beliefs.
>Put differently, imagine if the above key narratives were actually true. What actions, in that hypothetical, would become necessary?
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You sound like a crazy person to normies for even trying to tell them how crazy republicans are.
There’s a common attitude, particularly among those who see themselves as savvy, that people who express evil or crazy positions don’t really believe it. Maybe it’s just a distraction. But one of the things about this sub is that we tend to have the attitude that evil and crazy people, including those that are powerful, really do believe most of the things they say. This article takes the same position, arguing that modern fascists really do believe in what they say about “white extinction” and all that other bullshit. And then it argues that if one actually believes all that, then the necessity of certain atrocities follows logically. Because beliefs about the world compel actions. And if you have certain beliefs, then even very repugnant actions can become obligatory.
I found this to be quite a thought-provoking section:
>As much as anything, I think considering fascism purely as a creature of emotion can mislead us as to just how dangerous it is. Emotions are fickle, transient. I might hurt someone in anger, but then stop if they plead with me. However, if I believe that someone will always be a threat to me, that their pleading for mercy is lies, that as soon as I stop attacking they’ll kill my family, then I won’t stop. If I have an insect infestation in my house, I will keep killing them for as long as it takes to solve the problem because of my beliefs about the moral value of their lives relative to my own. And you would too. You—nice, liberal, tolerant, open-minded, respectful—would, in the right circumstances, close the gas chamber doors.
>It’s not a pleasant thought, but it’s also nothing we didn’t already know. It should caution, but not unduly trouble us. Yes, you could be a Nazi. But that is just to say if you were a different person you would indeed be a different person. The takeaway shouldn’t be abstract angst about the soul of man, but a more mundane realisation that ideas matter.
>The worst fascist crimes can often be framed as a profound mystery: ‘how did ordinary people support such evil?’ Without in any way trivializing the harm done, I find this reaction a little overwrought. What fascists do, or attempt to do, follows clearly and straightforwardly from their beliefs.
>Put differently, imagine if the above key narratives were actually true. What actions, in that hypothetical, would become necessary?