I re-read this - written by Dorothy Thompson in 1941 - every so often, and it holds astonishingly true: Who Goes Nazi?
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"It’s fun—a macabre sort of fun—this parlor game of “Who Goes Nazi?” And it simplifies things—asking the question in regard to specific personalities.
Kind, good, happy, gentlemanly, secure people never go Nazi. They may be the gentle philosopher whose name is in the Blue Book, or Bill from City College to whom democracy gave a chance to design airplanes—you’ll never make Nazis out of them. But the frustrated and humiliated intellectual, the rich and scared speculator, the spoiled son, the labor tyrant, the fellow who has achieved success by smelling out the wind of success—they would all go Nazi in a crisis.
Believe me, nice people don’t go Nazi. Their race, color, creed, or social condition is not the criterion. It is something in them.
Those who haven’t anything in them to tell them what they like and what they don’t—whether it is breeding, or happiness, or wisdom, or a code, however old-fashioned or however modern, go Nazi. It’s an amusing game. Try it at the next big party you go to."
(9/9)
@mothninja yes. Spot on
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I re-read this - written by Dorothy Thompson in 1941 - every so often, and it holds astonishingly true: Who Goes Nazi?
https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/
(1/?)
@mothninja
Excellent, and still (very) relevant in 2026. -
"It’s fun—a macabre sort of fun—this parlor game of “Who Goes Nazi?” And it simplifies things—asking the question in regard to specific personalities.
Kind, good, happy, gentlemanly, secure people never go Nazi. They may be the gentle philosopher whose name is in the Blue Book, or Bill from City College to whom democracy gave a chance to design airplanes—you’ll never make Nazis out of them. But the frustrated and humiliated intellectual, the rich and scared speculator, the spoiled son, the labor tyrant, the fellow who has achieved success by smelling out the wind of success—they would all go Nazi in a crisis.
Believe me, nice people don’t go Nazi. Their race, color, creed, or social condition is not the criterion. It is something in them.
Those who haven’t anything in them to tell them what they like and what they don’t—whether it is breeding, or happiness, or wisdom, or a code, however old-fashioned or however modern, go Nazi. It’s an amusing game. Try it at the next big party you go to."
(9/9)
@mothninja Such a good article.
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@mothninja "He has the brains of Neanderthal man, but he has an infallible instinct for power." 1941.... Plus ça change...
@littlemouse @mothninja This was the part that seemed particularly applicable to today's oligarchs:
"His body is vigorous. His mind is childish. His soul has been almost completely neglected."
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"It’s fun—a macabre sort of fun—this parlor game of “Who Goes Nazi?” And it simplifies things—asking the question in regard to specific personalities.
Kind, good, happy, gentlemanly, secure people never go Nazi. They may be the gentle philosopher whose name is in the Blue Book, or Bill from City College to whom democracy gave a chance to design airplanes—you’ll never make Nazis out of them. But the frustrated and humiliated intellectual, the rich and scared speculator, the spoiled son, the labor tyrant, the fellow who has achieved success by smelling out the wind of success—they would all go Nazi in a crisis.
Believe me, nice people don’t go Nazi. Their race, color, creed, or social condition is not the criterion. It is something in them.
Those who haven’t anything in them to tell them what they like and what they don’t—whether it is breeding, or happiness, or wisdom, or a code, however old-fashioned or however modern, go Nazi. It’s an amusing game. Try it at the next big party you go to."
(9/9)
@mothninja Bertolucci's "The Conformist" is about one of these. A disquieting watch.
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I re-read this - written by Dorothy Thompson in 1941 - every so often, and it holds astonishingly true: Who Goes Nazi?
https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/
(1/?)
@mothninja A former boss of mine German by birth, was reflecting about his youth and growing up during WWII and said, "You know, I would have been a good Nazi." I imagine many of his generation played a version of Who Goes Nazi. It was chilling.
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@mothninja A former boss of mine German by birth, was reflecting about his youth and growing up during WWII and said, "You know, I would have been a good Nazi." I imagine many of his generation played a version of Who Goes Nazi. It was chilling.
@timcurry holy cow. Yes, chilling indeed.
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@mothninja Thank you, Anna, for posting this. I had read it a few years ago and thought about it recently, but couldn't find it!
Now bookmarked!@jayflo glad it found its way back to you!
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I re-read this - written by Dorothy Thompson in 1941 - every so often, and it holds astonishingly true: Who Goes Nazi?
https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/
(1/?)
@mothninja who goes Nazi is the resentful. People nursing a grudge. People with privilege who believe themselves aggrieved. Who want to "set things right".
My God, that is the entire MAGA movement. The King among them is Trump. The richest man who constantly believes he is taken advantage of, so that resentment gives him permission to do anything.
But everyone of them, no matter how small, has been told he is justified in holding onto his grudge, the problem is other people who must be purged.
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@mothninja who goes Nazi is the resentful. People nursing a grudge. People with privilege who believe themselves aggrieved. Who want to "set things right".
My God, that is the entire MAGA movement. The King among them is Trump. The richest man who constantly believes he is taken advantage of, so that resentment gives him permission to do anything.
But everyone of them, no matter how small, has been told he is justified in holding onto his grudge, the problem is other people who must be purged.
@Urban_Hermit @mothninja Egged on by Elon, who actually is the richest man, and yes, he too bears many grudges. One of them seems to be that not enough people in the world think he should play god.
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@Urban_Hermit @mothninja Egged on by Elon, who actually is the richest man, and yes, he too bears many grudges. One of them seems to be that not enough people in the world think he should play god.
@grammasaurus @Urban_Hermit @mothninja a lot of "world owes me something."
Trump is the big puzzle. He has this massive revenge complex. I have no idea who did what to him, ever, other than let him grow up a rich entitled shithead without blowing his balls off with a pistol in military school.
I sense he wants to dig up his dead father just so he can yell at him.
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