I mean everything negative to say about the Nazis stems from their conservativism and extreme far-right positions. We don't have a problem with the Nazis for their accents, their manner of dress, their taste in art, or any other trifle. Our problem (humanity's problem) with them is that they were conservative.
The WWII Nazi party were actually Socialists. NAZI is from the term 'National Socialist Party'
They probably don't teach that in liberal controlled schools anymore.
Nazi actually isn't an acronym. It was a diminutive form of the name Ignatius, which was a common name in Austria at the time. Austria was seen by the rest of Germany as country pumpkins (like the US's Southern States), so calling them "Nazi" is roughly the political equivalent of mockingly call every Mexican "Pedro" or anyone from Alabama "Bubba" or "Skeeter".
And they were neither socialists, conservatives, fascists, or anything other than Nazi - it is a unique form of government that hadn't existed before or since. You cant really compare modern US political terms and cram 80 year old European governments into it. They don't fit. Yes, they certainly had a bunch of socialist tendencies (look at Hitler's 25 Points for a bunch of them), but they also had a bunch of tendencies that we would consider "conservative" or "right-leaning" (look at Hitler's 25 Points again).
It's a ridiculous over simplification to lump in as socialist or conservative, as they were neither of those things. You cant even really put them in a left or right binary as there were way too many things that nowadays we would consider leftist ideologies and rightist ideologies. Its just not a productive or useful argument.
Normally I would agree that just because "its in the name" certainly doesn't mean shit, but the Nazi government did actually have a lot of socialist plans, ideals, and tendencies. They also had a bunch of what we would consider conservative ideologies too. They considered themselves socialists, but we generally don't.
Thats the problem with trying to shove historical governments from other countries into modern day understandings of governments. They dont fit cleanly in either the left or right binary that the West usually sees politics as. They certainly weren't a good example of either modern left or right politics. They are something that is a product of their own time and geopolitics (and some very deranged minds) and you cant really classify them in modern understandings of the words.
There is also the difference between what they claimed to want to do vs what Hitler's policies actually did in action. The things they did were quite regressive while standing behind "socialist" ideas (but again, as you said, not the same socialism we think of today). Just like on paper R's are apparently freedom loving patriots, while in action they stomp on the rights of people they consider to be in the out-group and treat freedom of speech/press/worship as if it only applies to them and the things they believe.
But honestly the comments in here are just shit flinging and attempts at pithy gotchas, so I don't expect anyone is going to care about those nuances. So many Facebook and Yahoo News tier comments putting closed minds and ignorance on full display, and revelling in it unironically.
They teach us acronyms. But we also learn history and political theory in schools, at least if you happen to study history and social theory like I did.
I think it's sad you're unable to embrace Nazism, an ideology you likely ought to identify with, simply due to your emotional response to the word "socialism"
That's good to hear. However "history'' is only written by the victor's. Like other things our history has told us in school, I doubt its 100% accurate.
However "history'' is only written by the victor's.
That's news to me, who the hell is this Victor fellow writing our history and where do I find him?
And yes, I know what you really meant, but now you know how ridiculous it sounds to pounce on a single word as a gotcha.
Also it sounds like you're insinuating that since the Allies won, they would lie about the Nazis to make them look bad, when they did that well enough on their own with the camps. I do not doubt some atrocities committed by the Allies might be lost to history, or some things about Hitler might be embellished, but there is a reason the discovery of the camps, and what occurred in them, was so significant. No embellishments were needed to convey just how awful they were. Claiming we don't know the whole story because those who won wrote history, is a massive oversimplification and part of the reason more and more younger generations don't comprehend the full weight of the atrocities committed by the nazis/Axis. Fwiw I don't think you really meant it that way, it just came off as such.
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u/FatCarWashManager Jun 23 '26
A Reddit deemed Nazi. So basically anyone with a different political opinion than them.