Dead Machine wrote:
the666th wrote:
Dead Machine
Nazi ideology is dangerous because its very ideas, not because the people. When enacted, politically, it can only have grim repercusions. As for its supporters: its not the skinheads that are beating a few immigrants that are the dangerous, they never were. Actually, 99% of the nazi supporters are, surprisingly, decent people who would never harm physically anyone. They will bitch, like you say, on internet forums and wherever, and will no get out to kill jews and blacks. But this makes them not less dangerous. You know why? Because, if given a chance (and in circumstances of national distress, because that's when this kind of things happen), they will go out and vote someone who should never get voted. That is their power.
No, there aren't enough of these crazy fellows in any one county, nation, etc to vote ANYONE into office by themselves. They'd need support from other groups, and those other groups would be committing political suicide by aligning themselves with Nazis.
Nazis aren't dangerous anymore. It's a fact.
There aren't enough to vote??? They can't form coalitions? Ever heard of Joerg Haider?
"Haider was re-elected to governor of Carinthia by a landslide in 1999. Later that year, the Freedom Party finished second in general elections with a stunning 27 percent of the vote. With the political leverage gained from the 1999 election, in 2000, the Freedom Party succeeded in joining the new Austrian government as a coalition partner. This development lead to an outcry from many in Austria, the international community as well as Jewish and non-Jewish organizations around the world, and finally culminated in Israel's recalling its ambassador from Vienna. The European Union imposed sanctions on Austria. While Haider resigned as head of the Freedom Party in 2000, he continued to be a major influence behind the scenes, and retained his position as Governor of Carinthia."
Who is this guy? Here's some info and quotes:
Haider first gained international attention in March 1986 during the controversy surrounding the return of Walter Reder, an Austrian born former major in the Nazi SS, who was freed by Italy from a life sentence he was serving for his role in the mass killing of Italian civilians in 1944. For Haider, the controversy was ridiculous, as Reder was "a soldier who had done his duty."
Haider has utilized terminology reminiscent of the Nazis, announcing, for example in October 1990 a "final solution to the farm question."
In the July 1991 debate in the Carinthia provincial parliament, Haider, then governor, declared: "An orderly employment policy was carried out in the Third Reich, which the government in Vienna cannot manage." In face of a national and international uproar, Haider apologized for his remarks, but said "What I said was a statement of fact: that in the Third Reich a large number of workplaces were created through an intensive employment policy and unemployment was thereby eliminated." Haider, who resigned over the controversy, did not mention to particulars of Nazi labor policy, including military buildup, forced labor, and concentration camps.
In May 1992, while the government was embroiled in a scandal involving a provincial government's decision to honor a gathering of Wafen SS veterans, Haider defended the decision. Haider instead accused the Interior Minister in Parliament of engaging in "primitive attacks" on "respectable" war veterans, while turning a blind eye to immigrant perpetrated crime.
Haider spoke out against the Austrian government's plans to compensate 30,000 Austrian victims of Nazi rule, including Jews, Communists and homosexuals. As he told an elderly Austrian audience in April 1995, "It is not fair if all the money from the tax coffers goes to Israel."
In May 1995, the Freedom Party was the only major Austrian political party absent from ceremonies at Mauthausen death camp marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the liberation of the camp. Just before the anniversary, Haider had referred to Mauthausen as a "punishment camp," implying that those interred there were criminals.
During a ceremony commemorating World War II veterans which is known to attract former SS officers and neo-Nazis, Haider called the crowd, including an array of former SS officers, "decent people of good character" and applauded them for "sticking to their convictions despite the greatest opposition." Haider defended his appearance at the event, saying: "The Waffen SS was a part of the Wehrmacht and hence it deserves all the honor and respect of the army in public life. Everything I said in that video was completely acceptable." In a television interview following the event, Haider claimed he did not know the Waffen SS had been branded a criminal organization by the post-war Nuremberg war crimes tribunal, adding: "It doesn't interest me in the least."
Ok, you get the point, which is not that he is a second Hitler, but that people like that can still get voted, can still be part of a government and can still have an impact. And they don't even need a majority for that. Hitler himself never won an election, he lost to Hindenburg twice, and never score more than 37 percent. The NSDAP never held the majority in Parliament, not even after the dishonest elections Hitler organised in March 1933, using his power as chancellor. Hitler was never democraticly elected to power, but he got there because he did have some votes and because he was very able at political games and at exploiting the system's flaws.
I know nazis aren't a force now, but the ideology is dangerous, and therefore they are a potential danger. All it takes is a charismatic leader, some type of national distress (economic depression, war threat or whatever) and some luck (or rather, badluck) and this phenomenon can launch itself. When Hitler joined the German Workers' Party (which will be later renamed National Socialist German Workers' Party - NSDAP), it only had 40 members and noone would have considered it dangerous.
