Monday, July 26, 2010

Who Goes Nazi?

From Bookworm, via The Anchoress, CWCID Instapundit, is this piece from Dorothy Thompson from 1941, Who Goes Nazi?
It is an interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game to play at a large gathering of one’s acquaintances: to speculate who in a showdown would go Nazi. By now, I think I know. I have gone through the experience many times–in Germany, in Austria, and in France. I have come to know the types: the born Nazis, the Nazis whom democracy itself has created, the certain-to-be fellow-travelers. And I also know those who never, under any conceivable circumstances, would become Nazis.

4 comments:

Texan99 said...

I'm hoping you'll write more about this. It's appearing all over the place, but I'd especially like to hear your take.

Anna said...

Wow quite the essay. I think I am a "Bill".

One thing that does stick in my mind though - when our grandkids look back at 2010 like we look back at 1940, will they look at "liberalism/progressivism", whatever you want to call it, as we look at Nazism or jim crow, like a horribly misguided damaging worldview that we don't subscribe to anymore and no one will admit to believing?

I have done my fair share of pretending to be more liberal than I am in order to "get along" because I do live in New England after all (and not NH either). Will I look back and regret not being a more flamboyant conservative and not trying to convert more people? I know there are Germans who feel the same way about Nazism.

Time will tell.

David Foster said...

There's a post and discussion thread on this at Chicago Boyz.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Texan - will do. I'm shortening at this point.